Arri 650W soften

P

Polaroid22

Well-known member
Hello,

I have 2 Arri 650W, but they are very harsh. I allready put a double full scrim into one, put a umbrella(photography) in front of it. But I find it still quite harsh. So I moved my actor more closely to the lightsource, it helped a little but is not as practical. Also when I use my umbrella, the light scatters all over the place. So I am thinking about making a softbox tomorrow.

Any other tips to making my Arri 650W into a Soft sexy light, that I can still aim?

Cheers
 
I assume you are talking about Fresnel lights? You did not say.

They are designed to be "focussed" and direct and not what one usually would use for a soft source.

If you are talking about open faced lights...you can use a diff frame or create a soft box ..or even bounce them.

Large sources are softer than point sources. Remember that the frame, soft box or bounce board becomes the "source". Not the lamp.

Closer the large source....the softer the source becomes.

A photographic umbrella would be considered a small source.

Light scatter is something one just has to deal with. (Control devices)
 
IMO shoot through a 4X4 frame.

This allows you still to gel to daylight.

Trouble with bouncing is if the light is filtered one can get a lot of orange leakage..

Softboxes and gels are nasty, in general the wrong softbox can burn

S
 
thanks,

Yes I was talking about fresnells. Do you change white balance when you shoot with fresnells? Or do you always gel it with CTB?
 
Adding doubles scrims will not soften the light. It's for reducing the intensity. Buy a chimera xs will fit fine. Bigger units I would book light if I needed softer but this will help a lot. Or simply putting diffusion on the barn doors will help.
image.jpg
 
Yes thanks, yes I knew it was just for reducing the light. 650W from half a meter on a person is quite strong. Therefor I bought it. yes I tried adding some baking paper onto the barn doors. Only problem I had then it spilled everywhere(lighting the room), as I just turned off all lights at night. I am going for a total black pitch look with a soft half lit face.
 
You can have a 4X4 near your subject and then move the light back to control the brightness, also this should be quite a lot more spill free than a dogs dinner of tracing paper.

Focus the light so it only hits the 4X4

Of course some light will then bounce back from the 4X4 diffuser so you can flag that off,

You might just have the wrong fixture for the job. Also consider a lower wattage globe?

S
 
I just open the barn doors, and attach diffuser with bulldog clips, using a full half sheet. 650W Arris are very bright. If you can afford to waste the light then a dimmer and CTB can work for you, dimming the Arri makes it go warmer, then the Blue will cool it down, and waste lots of light in the process - you can tweak the dimmer to get white back.
 
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