Recommended lights for a small interview?

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ejdge

Well-known member
I've usually rented my lights from stores but have felt the need to start building a lighting kit. I feel like the lowel kits I have been renting produce a very cheap looking image for interviews.

I need to shoot a series of interviews in a room with a white backdrop/background. It is a standard interview setup so shoulder length and up.

My budget is around $300-400 and it would be ideal if the light(s) could double as lights to use during wedding receptions or outdoor as well.

I have a few LED lights that I plan to use as hair lights as well.
 
The first question for you is what kind of lighting do you want for your interviews? Do you want large and soft looking light or hard and edgy?

The light instrument itself might not be as important compared to the light modifier you will use to actually "shape" it. For quick and dirty soft light you can shine 1000w bulb through a shower curtain or diffusion frame. If you want something that takes less setup time then probably a fluorescent fixture. A softbox might be a consideration too if you want less spill out the sides..

You can mount a softbox to almost any open face or frensel light so maybe you stick with open face lights, or maybe think about an ARRI frensel which can have more uses outside of the softbox.

As far as wedding receptions or large areas in general, a few open faced 750-1000w light aimed at the ceiling is going to be far more useful than some a fluorescent fixure or softboxes.. . so it could be tough to get a "one light fits all" type of situation.
 
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The variables might be whether you need to have fast setup and take down, and how portable they need to be. For indoors and where I have plug in, I use the Lowell Rifas. They are more than you are budgeting, but they allow very fast setup and take down, critical in an interview setting, you can use hot or cool lights in them, (I usually use cool), and they pack really well. Check them out. For field use, I switch to Light Panels 1x1s. I have batteries that allow me to shoot interviews anywhere, even standing in a river(! I braced the light stand with a couple of sand bags I packed). You might want to save up a bit more and get a pro setup. I've had some lower cost lights, and, well, I can only say you get what you pay for! You might check out visugeek's idea, though, as he seems to like it for the price.
 
I'll second the two or three CFL softbox idea for this situation- so easy to get nice looking interviews compared to dealing with hard light. I once picked up two umbrella type softboxes on Ebay that fold up into a small bag, complete with stands and lamps for $50 (don't see them anymore though). These are not for the professional who works daily, so don't expect any of the cheap Chinese fixtures to hold up well- just plan on fixing or replacing them periodically, and you'll be OK - after all, you can probably buy 6 for the price of a name brand.
 
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