Cucoloris patterns?

O

OldCorpse

Rockin the Boat
Digital Juice have a "Shadow Kit" which is basically a set of cucoloris solutions, which they ordinarily price at $599. They are running a sale right now for $279, but to me, it's still way out of my budget for an item like that. I happen to have the Alzo Easy Frame Diffuser Reflector, which is 40" x 40". The DJ Shadow Kit uses a 36" x 36" frame to which they attach a window matte exactly the same way as Alzo attaches their rags. It would be super easy to make one's own matte window to put on the Alzo. All that I would need would be the cucoloris inserts (which are attached to the matte window with velcro). The cookie patterns are on transparent gels. What I need are the actual cucoloris patterns. There are of course commercial solutions, for example: $37, $37, $37, $558 etc., but if you were to buy a few you quickly run into a lot of money (for me). Now, I realise that you can put anything that you like that would make an interesting shadow, so the world is your oyster. However, I wonder if there are not already ready-made patterns that I can download or otherwise copy for free (or near free), that way I can get a bunch without breaking the bank. I think it would be a neat thing to have in your kit. Does anyone know of where you might get these - google is not finding anything for me - for free or super affordably? TIA!
 
Thanks, cseeman, I saw those, but they're like 12" x 12" and I was hoping for something that would fit closer to the DJ Shadow Kit size of 22"x22" or 24"x24" for the slightly larger Alzo 40"x40", which gives you options as far as how close/far to move to the light vs pinning it on a fresnel as on the ShadowFoil solution. But definitely, that's something to keep in mind!
 
I guess one can blow up and print them out on 24"x24" paper and then cut them out. Even if you found patterns online in file format (I haven't) you'd still have to print them out on large paper.
 
I just bit the bullet and ordered that shadow kit. Pretty much the only time I'll buy any digital juice products is when they do their crazy sales. I bought their 8' butterfly kit a while back for around $300 too.

I know it seems steep, but if it holds up it'll be worth it to me.

My previous solution for patterns were to cut foam boards and store them in a single art portfolio case like this. Probably the least expensive solution out there.
 
I hear you, Macaholic, if you have the $, go for it. Problem is I have so much gear I still want to buy I just cannot afford $279 for something that I know I can do in almost the same quality for like, $50. And yes, I got the DJ butterfly - in fact I got 2 of them, long story :) - they used to be like $400 and less with sales, but now they've hiked their price up to $700, so they can go pound sand at that price, but whatevs, I've got 2 of them. What can also be a good deal from DJ are their flag kits when those are on sale, usually about $100 off the regular price, I got two of their pro and one of the smaller kits... gotta watch though that they don't ding you bad on the shipping, which they can easily do, which is like $70, so right there your $100 discount goes out the window... and also their gel diffusion and color correction kits which I also bought a few of, decent deals, especially when on sale. Sometimes they run sales on their Aura Three Point Lighting fluorescents - regular at $700, but I've seen them on sale for as little as $200 at which point they're a good deal - I wish I pulled the trigger back then at that price, but have not seen it that low again when I looked.
 
About the cukes: I made some from black gator board (1/8" rigid foamcore like material). Found the patterns in an old Mathews catalog. Scanned them into Photoshop and scaled up to about 17x22" and printed on 4 sheets of letter paper...1/4 of the pattern on a sheet. Taped them to the gator board and cut the patterns out with a Dremel. I don't use them on every shoot, but 5 years later, they're still in great shape. Small grip head on a C stand or gooseneck w/clamp on the light stand itself work fine.
Hope this helps.
Ken
 
Ha, ha, genius. I am now thinking of buying the ShadowFoil and doing what kplo described above with the patterns... wish there were more patterns in that collection though.
 
OldCorpse said:
Ha, ha, genius. I am now thinking of buying the ShadowFoil and doing what kplo described above with the patterns... wish there were more patterns in that collection though.
Click to expand...


In effect, the ShadowFoil is the affordable template. If you change frame sizes, you simply copy and blow up for a bigger template.
 
Man. Just get some black foamcore and an exacto knife, grip it in a knuckle. I spent the 80's and 90's on hundreds of sets and never saw anything store-bought for that use - at least not for the usual 2' x 3' size range.

Want to be more permanent, get some 1/8 luan plywood and use a jig saw. But I have a pile of foamcore cukes that have been used for years and years, they work fine and you won't mind slicing holes bigger or taping smaller for specific shots.
 
Nice thing about cookie patterns: you can make them from almost anything. Leaves against a white sky, windows against a hot exterior, etc. Anything that looks good in hi-con B&W is great for cookie experimentation. Photoshop is your friend!
Ken
 
I divide the image into as many 8 1/2x11 sheets of paper it takes to make the size cookie I need (I make a negative image so that only the parts to be cut out are in black...no use wasting a lot of ink).
Ken
 
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