David G. Smith
Steak Knife Member
This time I had no volonteers, so I had to do it all myself. Used some cardboard and taped it unto a window in my garage. I used one 650W with CTB on it and pointed it directly at the gap. As I was the "actor" and camera man all in one. I pulled focus on a wooden stick, started recording and then replaced the stick with myself. Did not work out too great. But I can live with it for testing purposes
In the original shot there also seems to be some fill that is filling out Leo's hair a bit. And I should have turned my body and my head more towards to camera, did not see until watching the footage
Also my 650W is again a bit too harsh. I should invest in a dimmer or either a 300W bulb. Or I could have stopped down a bit more. Once again not easy to see when not having a actor
I love your attempts to learn lighting; keep at it.
I take it you do not have much money to buy gear, so I will offer some suggestions that can be had on the cheap.
As for a dimmer, I use the Harbor Freight Router Controllers which is a standard voltage rheostat and it works great as a dimmer for lights under 1000 Watts. The do warm up a bit so keep an eye on that. They are fused so you will want to have spare 15 amp fuses with you, and they are also sold by Harbor Freight.
Dimming a tungsten light will make it warmer so having some CC gel around to deal with that is a good idea. You can also dim a light by using ND gel or scrims. You can get standardized scrims for your 650s. They come in full single which lowers the light by one stop, full double which lowers the light by two stops and in half singles and half doubles. The half scrims allow you to control the exposure for portions of the beam spread of the light and can be adjusted by rotating them. This lets you light objects in for foreground and back ground to the same light level...Ish, with one light. Using a scrim lowers the intensity of a light without affecting the color temp. Scrims are wire mesh, very much like commonly available window screening and a low budget DIY solution is to actually use metal wire window screens, cut to size with a good pair of tin snips, for lowering the intensity of a light without affecting the color temp. This may take a little trial and error to get the level of light control you need but the material is very cheap. If you are using the scrims near the lights make sure that you use metal screen material. I have some unconventional lights in my kit and I have several rolls of metal screen material that I have cut to use as light control for them. I like a very tight pattern screen made with black colored material. As a safety tip, watch out for the cut edges of the screen material. It is sharp and will play hell with you fingers.
Having blank frames to apply diffusion, gels, or screen material is pretty important, IMHO. You can make some very versatile, sturdy and inexpensive frames from 1/2" PVC pipe. I made two 48"X48", two 36"X36" and two 24"X36" frames out of 1/2" PVC pipe for a cost of less than $25.00. That includes the price of the pipe, corner elbow pieces, T-connectors and the PVC cement. Another safety tip, make sure that you can open the jar of PVC cement before you leave the hardware store. It is sticky stuff and I have had instances where the can caps were sealed tight when I got to making the frames. Just an FYI. The largest frame size you can make with 1/2" PVC pipe, that is stable IMHO, is 48"X48". I leave a 36" pipe in the bottom T-connector for mounting.
To mount these kind of frames you need a grip (Gobo) head that will take that sized pipe. I am a fan of the dmk2 E-Image Gobo Grip Head from these guys on eBay.
You will need stable stands to set up and use frames, and most other light controls. That is actually a topic for another thread, but you should think about it. I have a big pile of cheap stands, and have sworn them off. The best low budget stand that I recommend is the Matthews Studio Equipment Maxi-Steel light stands. Of course, if you have to use inexpensive stands, I understand but good stands are a great investment and will service you for a long time. Cheap stands are, well... Cheap stands and are a PITA to deal with on a day to day basis. Of course you have to do what you have to do.
Like David W. Jones suggested, also get some sandbags. They are indispensable. I did a post on some inexpensive ones I got, but they do not seem to be available anymore. There are a lot of inexpensive unfilled sandbags available on eBay. Pick up a few, fill them with dry sand in double plastic bags and you should be fine. I think that you might want to pick up some more lights. I have some inexpensive suggestions for that but it is late and I am going to bed.
