Lighting: Quick Falloff, Best Tools?

D

doofalot

Active member
I'm trying to light a small room and I am trying to find the right type of lights to hit the subjects but fall off quickly after a short distance so I don't get the sitcom everything lit up real bright look. Suggested type and power of lights from any experts?
 
China bulbs are cheap and great for this. They will fall off greatly after 2 ft depending on the wattage of the fixture.
 
Dont be afraid to get in and flag the heck out of that light. Just shot an interview in a small room this morning and the key was all over the back wall washing it out. One flag and no more washed out background. I've just started to really take lighting seriously and try new things and the biggest improvement I've made was when I started actually all of the light that I was throwing out there. Barndoors are great for control, but flags, nets, diffusers and the random crap I keep finding to put in front of a light are my favorite thing in the whole world.
 
Fluorescent softlights with honeycomb-grids are great for that purpose. Even in smaller rooms you can have an almost black background while the subject is nicely lit.
 
A softlight like a fluorescent unit is so hard to control that the barndoors would be ungainly and wouldn't fold over each other properly for storage. Thats why eggcrate filters or added flags to the sides are necessary for side spill control. As Barry mentioned, a big softbox (with fabric eggcrate) is a good option. We normally carry a fluorescent softbox kit for $155 called the CL-SFT1. The bulb for it will be back in stock early next month.

http://www.coollights.biz/clsft1-cool-lights-fluorescent-video-softbox-fixture-p-33.html

It excels at this kind of thing and doesn't heat the room up. Available in 3200K or 5600K.
 
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