Clamp Light Control

iams3b

iams3b

Member
I've been searching everywhere but can't find any suggestions..

You all know what I'm talking about, those piece of crap but very budget friendly clamp lights? With the aluminum bowl that directs the light in every direction possible?

I was wondering if anybody knows of an easy way to get rid of that 180 degree direction and make it more spot-lightish? I'm finding a big problem of my light lighting up the entire background in small rooms when I don't want it to..

I'm thinking of a barn door effect, but all the DIY barn doors look extremely labor intensive and not what I'm looking for.


I'm using small 150watt eco-friendly bulbs that dont get hott so fire is not a primary issue. My first idea was using a shoe box and cutting it out so it fits around the bulb, cut out the other end so its like a spot light.. but that isn't easy to add/remove.

Any DIY-ers have suggestions?
 
Where can I get black wrap ? Is it stable enough to hold shape?

Just for fun I decided to try my shoebox idea... I gotta say, it's "interesting"

229695_10150165787262015_634812014_7197905_5189959_n.jpg

(P.S. I don't care about how it looks in person, as I'm a cheap college student just trying to learn lighting on my own. I only care about the end result on camera)
 
Black wrap is a great idea. It's heavy weight aluminum foil with flat high temperature black paint on it. Attach it to the reflector with wooden clothes pins. Go down to your local grip and electric house and plead poverty. They will either give you some used blackwrap that's come back on the truck from a production or sell you some by the foot. A whole 50' roll of the stuff is under $25. With a bit of care the stuff is quite durable and will last many uses.

The shoe box idea looks like a real fire hazard to me.
 
iams3b said:
(P.S. I don't care about how it looks in person, as I'm a cheap college student just trying to learn lighting on my own. I only care about the end result on camera)
Click to expand...

You should try and use the real stuff as much as possible anyways....This way you know what blackwrap is, what it's capable of, and what you can use it for later. People will look at you funny if you pull your shoe box out on set....well, most of the time at least.

As Slondon said, go to your local rental house, just tell them you want some scraps of blackwrap and see if they'll give it to you. At our shop we have so many pieces laying around that it'd be hard to say no.

Good luck!
 
You can try flags made of 2'X3' black foamcore from a crafts store. In the short end cut a slot 1/4" wide and 2" long and clamp it in the jaws of a grip head on a stand. Cheap and works just as well as a $50 flag.
 
Yes, that right. My suggestion of PARs is to make the best use of the 150 watts. Clearly, we're working on a tight budget here. So simple tools are best. I like the shoebox. It got the light headed the right direction. If it were painted white inside, even better. A generic incandescent or fluorescent spreads light in every direction. The PARS reflect the light in one general direction (spot or flood) with the built-in reflector; making most use of the light, similar to the shoebox, but more efficiently. Once the light is at least going in the general direction of the scene, barn doors and black wrap can control light as needed. The use of cardboard painted flat black will work nicely. Using flags or doors without first getting the light moving in the right direction works, but its wasting light.
 
Of course, that is good advice. I was curious though. I measured a 100 watt PAR (that's what was handy) and it's surface measured 209F. Paper ignites at 451F; Cardboard, probably much higher. So IAMS likely didn't burn his shoebox because it was well below that temperature. But as Richard says, ....
 
I was looking at those PAR lights when I was in home depot, but I didn't know how they would look.. I'm probably going to make a trip back and check it out next time.

@Richard: I was using a really weak CFL bulb in that, so no worries. I would never stick my 500w incandescent in there though!

I'm really interested in this black wrap that everybody's talking about, I've never seen any in person but it sounds extremely handy... I would love to use a huge black board as flags, but I can't think up of an idea to hold one in place. As of now (I'm in practicing mode just pointing lights and seeing what works) I love just pointing a light at a white wall, works great for these tight spaces I'm probably going to be shooting in
softlight.png


But that's limited as far as positioning, but a friend of mine sent me this: http://www.flickr.com/photos/l_s_g/4458144902/ Thinking of giving that a try soon :)
 
Beauty dishes are used a lot in still photography and they work great. When used fairly close up they are large compared to the subject so they cast soft shadows. They work equally well for movies.

You know what you would really enjoy? A good book on lighting or cinematography. Try your library they usually have them or try Amazon and look for used copies at good prices.

If you know what a grip head is you put them on the top of a stand and they will hold a 2'X3' black foamcore flag. Just cut a 1/4'X2" slot in the short end and slide it into the grip head jaws.
 
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