Fill light ideas

Green Hornet

Green Hornet

Veteran
I was just thinking of some ideas to use for fill light.

I am thinking of a minimum light solution to bring an average interior room up to the level to avoid noise.
I usually use Lowel tota lights up high to raise the upper light level, but was thinking of using these down low.

I think it might be good to discuss some ideas for this.

My initial thoughts were to use the lantern chineese globes. Not sure what they are really called, but I saw them in Target the other day.

Has anyone used this type of lighting for fill on Digital video?
I have used it for a Sony PD150 and it works great for main exisiting light on that camera due to it's smooth noise free and low light image.

For HD and the HVX200, I think it could only be used for fill, with a more powerful main source. I will have to shoot a restuarant interior soon, if using this light, what power bulb do you think I should use? Again, I only want a small amount of fill.
 
Hornet... you are on the right track bro. I bought those same chinese lanterns from Target when I was in a pinch for lighting. They work really really well. Just make sure you buy the white ones and not the off-weight beight or colored balls unless you are looking for some stylized look.

I would say though that I used them to suspend the lanterns above the subjects and off a c-stand. They do light up the room but not like a viddo light wood.. like it's diffused and not really designed to throw the light.

I also don't know what kind of wattage you could push to with these cords. I just had like a 60 watt bulb.. but it would be sweet to switch that out and put in some color balanced photo flood bulbs. They make 100w, 250 and 500watt.. or I should say that they have them in town in stock.. probably make more varieties... I think the 100 w would work.. but probably nothing higher....


Another cool thing is that after I used them for the shoot I just hung them in my office and they are my office lighting. I have 5 of them in my room and they look really nice.. and they were cheap... which is teh best thing.. and if I'm in a pinch I can pull them down and use them again....


I'd say that if you have a c-stand with an arm.. you can use them for all kinds of things... Also, my sister in law bought us two lamps that are basically the same thing as the lanterns but they are about 5' tall verticle lanterns with 4 lights on the stem. They are dimmable... and a lot brighter than the lanterns. Kind of light a cheap kinoflo and I've used them in my living room to shoot portraits of my kids.. Really not a bad thing at all....

So for my 2 cents I'd say to get 'em. They look great as decoration and work to a degree... and for cheap. Just watch your wattage and you'd be all set. I'd also say that you could use this as kind of like a cooke. Put some faberic on the lantern to cut some light and cast some patterns... Especially if you spin the light.. wouuld be a very interesting affect....


I would also recommend that vidlight they are selling. Seems to be very portable bright and cheap....

Keep us up to date on your findings and I hope this helps!
 
You know, I have a pair of 750-watt Lowel Tota lights that I'd like to make softer. Any suggestions on soft boxes? I've never used them.
 
Bounce your Tota off the ceiling or off of a wall.
If it's still too bright, use a dimmer to bring it down.
That's how I use Tota's.

-BillP
 
I have umbrellas, but honestly they tend to absorb way too much and don't reflect enough unless you use them at close range (and make the subject sweat!).
 
I'm not sure if this is practical for video, but back in the day I made a softbox for my still camera by putting the flash inside one of those cheap styrofoam coolers that cost $1.99 and then covered the opening with wax paper. I forget exactly how many stops I lost but the results were interesting. I also experimented with lining the inside of the box with aluminum foil.

How about putting a long parabolic reflector behind a fluorescent light and then mounting some frosted plastic or wax paper in front? I guess the big challenge is minimizing light loss from the frosting.

Who's a good source for frosted plastic?
 
jeffyjones said:
You know, I have a pair of 750-watt Lowel Tota lights that I'd like to make softer. Any suggestions on soft boxes? I've never used them.
Click to expand...

As a heavy softbox user, if you're going to go that route, don't cheap out. The cheap ones don't last long.
 
I don't mean to be a lighting snob --- and I really do understand people needing to keep costs down. But there is something to be said for the quality of the lights you use. Five years ago, I shot my first "indie" movie with lights from just anywhere. It worked, but it didn't look great --- and I didn't understand why until I started buying good lights --- light with a CRI above 85 or so.
Also, it doesn't make any sense to me that people on this forum, who've spent $6-10,000 on a camera, are now going to be shooting their stuff with $25 lamps from Target. Prices for good lights have come down because of indie filmmakers like us and there are some good bargains to be had. I recently bought an HMI from Alzo lighting which completely rocks! I also have some Lowel daylight flourescents that are fantastic.
 
Darwinandpaine,

I know exactly what you mean, but five years ago, would you have listened to your advice, and saved up for real lights, or just gone ahead and shot your feature w/ whatever Home Despot lights and DIY spirit you had at the time? I think it's just part of the learning curve. The only thing that really makes me want to correct someone is if they are going to try something dangerous...

...like putting a styrofoam cooler on a 500watt shop light!
 
I don't know if you'd call it a fill light but I use Kino flos to set an ambient light in the room. Usually I set the room to a measured f1.4 to f2.2 so I have no crushed blacks (unless I intend to crush them then I flag those areas off. I usually try to shoot my key at 5.6 or slightly higher and not let my highlights go beyond f11.
 
Green hornet,

Back to your original question... There are many confounding vairables that have to be considered. You are shooting in a restaurant and want to bring up the interior level... Is it to match outdoor sunlight? Are there even windows? How big is this place?

My gut feeling is to get a couple of open faced lights, probably 1-2k worth, and bounce them off the ceiling with a wide spread, just out of frame (assuming the ceiling is white). That should raise the interior level. If you have windows and it is day, you may want to gel the lights with a full CTB , but you can use 1/2 CTB if you need more light, it should be close enough. You can also put some scrim on the windows to help bring down the outside level. Use balck plastic bug screen (.5-1 stop) from Home Despot, or you can use the darker black shade screen in the garden section (~2 stops). Avoid the temptation to double it up, as that will cause a moire pattern. Use additional window tinting gel, or rolls of Rosco ND if you have it.

When you mentioned using chinese lanterns, were you thinking about using these as practicals, or as out of frame lighting units? For practicals they would be great, but you might have to put small globes inside (the DVX can't handle over exposure) or put them on dimmers. If you are thinking about using them as lighting units, they would work great on close shots, but for wide shots I would just bounce light of the ceiling for soft fill.
 
J,
Yes, I would have listened had someone told me. I thought that light was light, and knew nothing about CRi, etc... I was ignorant, not stupid or willful.
I'm a big believer in learning from others. That's why I love these boards. To me, learning only by experience is foolish and a tremendous waist of time and resources.
But I accept your comments and the spirit in which they were given. Some people just have to learn the hard way. I'm not like that and I wish someone like me had gotten to me earlier. Hopefully, people will see that this was the spirit of my comments.
And, by the way, I wasn't shooting my project with a $7-10,000 camera. It seems to me that there's very little point of getting this fantastic camera that makes beautiful images if you're not going to use lights capable of creating such an image. That's just my opinion, though.
 
jazzx said:
How about these:

Lowel Ego Digital Imaging Light - Review:

http://www.digitalvideoediting.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=37894

They look promising and are on the cheap.
Click to expand...


Now that might be an excellent find. I wondered what the hell those were when I saw them in a mag. Anyone use them? I wonder how they would hold up over time though.. Might be a good bargain... certainly a lot cheaper than a kino... but obviously less manageable.
 
I've never used or seen them but as a reference I looked up Kinos flo Kamio from 1' lux 1210, 2' 495 3' 290 & 4' 185 so this fixture is about 3 times the kamio. I wanted to place it against the mini and micro Kinos, but I don't have the meterics on those. Really I don't see a whole lot of use for this fixtuer, looks to big to hide in a vehicle (thats what the mini and micr kinos are mainly used for. Throws too little light for a set light, may work as a practicle?, but I think I'd rather just have the bulub in a regular lamp for a practicle.
 
j said:
Green hornet,

Back to your original question... There are many confounding vairables that have to be considered. You are shooting in a restaurant and want to bring up the interior level... Is it to match outdoor sunlight? Are there even windows? How big is this place?

My gut feeling is to get a couple of open faced lights, probably 1-2k worth, and bounce them off the ceiling with a wide spread, just out of frame (assuming the ceiling is white). That should raise the interior level. If you have windows and it is day, you may want to gel the lights with a full CTB , but you can use 1/2 CTB if you need more light, it should be close enough. You can also put some scrim on the windows to help bring down the outside level. Use balck plastic bug screen (.5-1 stop) from Home Despot, or you can use the darker black shade screen in the garden section (~2 stops). Avoid the temptation to double it up, as that will cause a moire pattern. Use additional window tinting gel, or rolls of Rosco ND if you have it.

When you mentioned using chinese lanterns, were you thinking about using these as practicals, or as out of frame lighting units? For practicals they would be great, but you might have to put small globes inside (the DVX can't handle over exposure) or put them on dimmers. If you are thinking about using them as lighting units, they would work great on close shots, but for wide shots I would just bounce light of the ceiling for soft fill.
Click to expand...


The location is pretty big, maybe 5,000 sq feet.
Most shots will be reletively close up.

My goal for the lanterns is only to prevent crushing the blacks.
For fill.

The room is painted black, as is the ceiling.
 
Gopher_Greene said:
I don't know if you'd call it a fill light but I use Kino flos to set an ambient light in the room. Usually I set the room to a measured f1.4 to f2.2 so I have no crushed blacks (unless I intend to crush them then I flag those areas off. I usually try to shoot my key at 5.6 or slightly higher and not let my highlights go beyond f11.
Click to expand...


I think this is the information I was looking for.

I want to retain the atmosphere of the location.
I don't want it "day lit".
 
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