Jeff Anderson
Custom Title!
Yeah I'll second the Rifa's for the OP - we've got one at work and its great little light. I'm getting addicted to this no heat, low power draw thing. Its like some sick game...
Light kit for interviews
- Thread starter dwcwiak
- Start date
Jeff Anderson
Custom Title!
I know I'm not Dan, but that sounds like a decent kit to me - I have succumbed to the fact that even in my tiny traveling kit a light for the background would be nice - gonna think about it a bit more but probably going for a cdm150 from coollights.
puredrifting
Major Contributor
Hey Doug:
That would totaly work light-wise but don't forget scrims, scrim bags, barndoors and light stands. Yup, you add all of the stuff and then the kits begin to make sense. I have tried to price out various permutations of Arri kits versus just buying the lights alone and it turns out that the kits, while not really discounted heavily, are a pretty good deal.
Look hard too, they make hundreds of versions of their kits, you'll be amazed if you pull them all up and look on the B&H site. The new kit I would kill for is their mini fresnel kit, two 300 watt fresnels and two 150 watt fresnels in a cute little case. That plus my Softbank IV would put me in hog heaven!
Best,
Dan
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Jeff Anderson
Custom Title!
well I've added the CDM 150 to the kit. After playing with the light more and looking at it closely with my wife as the talent a background light broken up with cookie or just as a slash of light would help alot I think. It just looks so drab and boring in the background. I'll probably start a new thread and see what you guys think of my lighting once its here. Oh and thanks for the critiquing guys, always nice to get a second opinion from people that are actually good at this!
sunporchmedia
Well-known member
If you rotate your key 90 degrees and walk it off further to the side you can get the nose/chin shadows you want. If that wraps the light further around the face than you want, you can work the light at a 45 degree angle, or, if you have enough overall light output, clip some black fabric to the barn doors at the end.
The softness of the source is due mainly to the size of the source relative to what it is shining on. A two-tube flo is thus much softer in the long dimension, parallel to the length of the tubes. So, if you want a harder chin shadow but softer across the width of the face, go horizontal. If you work the light vertically as you have done, you will never get a distinct nose or chin shadow unless the bottom of the fixture is above the nose. And this could create other artifacts that you may not like.
You can also clip some light diffusion to the front of the fixture, with the barn doors open as full as possible. Though it cuts down the light output, it makes the source "bigger", and thus softer--especially in the short dimension (perpendicular to the tubes).
The softness of the source is due mainly to the size of the source relative to what it is shining on. A two-tube flo is thus much softer in the long dimension, parallel to the length of the tubes. So, if you want a harder chin shadow but softer across the width of the face, go horizontal. If you work the light vertically as you have done, you will never get a distinct nose or chin shadow unless the bottom of the fixture is above the nose. And this could create other artifacts that you may not like.
You can also clip some light diffusion to the front of the fixture, with the barn doors open as full as possible. Though it cuts down the light output, it makes the source "bigger", and thus softer--especially in the short dimension (perpendicular to the tubes).
Jeff Anderson
Custom Title!
Hey Sunporch thanks for the tips - rotating the fixture to horizontal sounds like a great idea - totally makes sense. I'm not quite sure I understand what you're saying about rotating the key though - Say I'm facing 0 deg, would the key be at 45 or 90 in what you are talking about? 90 creating longer shadows and 45 flattening it out a bit. I'll give these a shot later and see how it comes out. Thanks for the tips!
Cool Lights
DVXuser Sponsor
Sounds like we need some flozier accessories next! We actually are working with a company here to make an elastic banded edge flozier to go around the barndoors on the portable units and that would fit the need your talking about there Mark when you need an effect like this.
Matt Gottshalk
Resident Preditor
Funny you say that, I bought 2 kino Floziers for those cool lights I just bought!
Cool Lights
DVXuser Sponsor
Do they fit okay? Remember the Diva is about 2 inches longer than our product.
sunporchmedia
Well-known member
Sorry to be confusing. There are three factors here...
1. How high is the key light?
2. How far off to the side is the key light?
3. In what direction is the light rotated (horizontal or vertical or somewhere in between)?
Re: 1: If you want a defined chin shadow you will want the bottom of your key light to be roughly at the chin level or higher.
Re: 2: If you want the side of the face to fall into shadow, walk your light further around to the side of the talent rather than close to the camera position.
Re: 3: If you turn the light vertical, #1 will be harder to achieve (you have to take the light higher) and #2 will be easier (you can get a shadow on the side of the face with the light fairly close to the camera). If you want to have a relatively defined chin shadow, but still have a shadow on the side of the face, one thing you can do is rotate the light somewhere in between (hence my 45 degree comment). The characteristics of a two-tube fixture gives you options to experiment with.
Jeff Anderson
Custom Title!
Ahh now I understand the 45 deg! I'll have to play with that some and see what look I like the best. THanks for the in depth explanation Sunporch!
Matt Gottshalk
Resident Preditor
They are a little loose, but are easily adjusted with the pull cord.
sunporchmedia
Well-known member
If you are handy with a sewing machine you could buy some white translucent curtain material an some elastic and sew your own.. Much cheaper than paying $80 or so.
Cool Lights
DVXuser Sponsor
Well that's the trick isn't it? ;-)
sunporchmedia
Well-known member
In my case, I just cut some diffusion sheets and clip 'em to the doors. I like the DIY flozier idea and may sew myself one, with either elastic or drawstring, but it's not a priority. I'm definitely gonna save some money for my next Cool Lights purchase...whatever that might turn out to be... 