For self-taping my child's acting audition at home, what would you recommend in terms of an inexpensive lighting solution? The background is a painted wall or paper or muslin. I borrowed a friend's hot light setup up which consisted of 1 Lowel omni, 1 Lowel pro, and 1 Lowel trota, and got great results setting up a basic 3 point system with some diffusion bouncing light off some white foamcore I have lying around, but it was definitely overkill and way too hot, especially for the small room. I'm thinking of picking up an inexpensive floro light with a softbox for the key, and then just using a reflector for the fill and backlight, or maybe adding another inexpensive floro light for the fill or back. But would I be better off with a floro with an umbrella instead of softbox? Also, what wattage should I be looking at for the floro for this purpose? I'm not making a real movie, but the audition should be well lit and casting directors are starting to request good lighting along with good audio. TIA! Oh, and ideally I'd like to keep the whole set up well under $300 or better yet, much cheaper but not the work light solution...
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Self-taping audition
- Thread starter kiss
- Start date
Greg Smith
Veteran
I'm not a big fan anymore of hot lights for small interior locations (homes and offices). That Lowel kit is pretty nice and is similar to one I used for years, but fortunately, times have changed. In addition to being very uncomfortable in a small room, tungsten lights consume a lot of power, need to cool down before you can pack them away (maybe not a big concern in your situation), and the cost of replacement bulbs is a significant ongoing expense.
A few questions I would need answered to give a complete response are: How big is the room? Do you want to do a semi-permanent installation, with the lights hanging from the ceiling perhaps, or will they be on stands and put away after each shoot? I'm also not sure what constitutes "good" lighting for your needs -- do you just want a basic, high key, flat and clear look, or do you want to achieve more drama and depth in your scenes with the use of shadows and higher lighting ratios? The latter will require not only more creativity, but some "hard" light sources as well. What kind of camera are you using (this will influence what kind of lighting level is required)?
I would look into some of the two-tube, 2' biax fluorescent lights from Cool Lights or similar (e.g. http://www.coollights.biz/cl255p-cool-lights-portable-watt-softlight-p-66.html) for key and backlights, or perhaps some of the cheap fluorescent softboxes from Cowboy Studio or one of their competitors (not the highest quality, but selected to keep it in your budget range). See http://www.cowboystudio.com/product/c16/p16-33.php for an example. You might be able to improvise some of this with Home Depot style fluorescent fixtures, but mind that they have good, high-CRI, photographic quality tubes in them.
LED lighting might be even better, but units with both sufficient output and good color are probably still too expensive for your budget.
I doubt any of these inexpensive sources will produce enough output for you to do a lot of bouncing or further diffusion on them, so I'd aim for trying to get at least a three-light set to start out with. Backlights can be "harder" than key or fill without affecting the quality of your images much (you might even prefer the look), so you might be able to use a simpler light source there.
Hope this helps.
- Greg
A few questions I would need answered to give a complete response are: How big is the room? Do you want to do a semi-permanent installation, with the lights hanging from the ceiling perhaps, or will they be on stands and put away after each shoot? I'm also not sure what constitutes "good" lighting for your needs -- do you just want a basic, high key, flat and clear look, or do you want to achieve more drama and depth in your scenes with the use of shadows and higher lighting ratios? The latter will require not only more creativity, but some "hard" light sources as well. What kind of camera are you using (this will influence what kind of lighting level is required)?
I would look into some of the two-tube, 2' biax fluorescent lights from Cool Lights or similar (e.g. http://www.coollights.biz/cl255p-cool-lights-portable-watt-softlight-p-66.html) for key and backlights, or perhaps some of the cheap fluorescent softboxes from Cowboy Studio or one of their competitors (not the highest quality, but selected to keep it in your budget range). See http://www.cowboystudio.com/product/c16/p16-33.php for an example. You might be able to improvise some of this with Home Depot style fluorescent fixtures, but mind that they have good, high-CRI, photographic quality tubes in them.
LED lighting might be even better, but units with both sufficient output and good color are probably still too expensive for your budget.
I doubt any of these inexpensive sources will produce enough output for you to do a lot of bouncing or further diffusion on them, so I'd aim for trying to get at least a three-light set to start out with. Backlights can be "harder" than key or fill without affecting the quality of your images much (you might even prefer the look), so you might be able to use a simpler light source there.
Hope this helps.
- Greg
I'm using a Canon T2i (with magic lantern). It has great low light capability. Need portable - figure set up & break down once per month in a small dining room or den area with the furniture cleared away just for that day. Not sure about depth, but I think flat is fine since they're really only looking for something well lit and without distractions like shadows. I think good skin tone/coloration and good eye color pop are probably the only other things to consider. Also, it's mostly a close up shot from chest to top of head during the actual reading of the audition sides, although at some point on the tape you sometimes zoom out for a quick full body shot. Can I get away with one floro softbox fixture and a reflector for the fill? Also, I've read on here that the Cowboy lights should be avoided if possible, so I assume another brand might be better in terms of build quality of the fixtures and stands (e.g., Britek, Smith-Vector, Impact...etc.). Given the portability factor, the ease of storage and setup of the softboxes is also a concern since it looks like there's a range of difficulty in terms of setup and break down of different brand softboxes.
j1clark@ucsd.edu
Veteran
For self-taping my child's acting audition at home, what would you recommend in terms of an inexpensive lighting solution? The background is a painted wall or paper or muslin. I borrowed a friend's hot light setup up which consisted of 1 Lowel omni, 1 Lowel pro, and 1 Lowel trota, and got great results setting up a basic 3 point system with some diffusion bouncing light off some white foamcore I have lying around, but it was definitely overkill and way too hot, especially for the small room. I'm thinking of picking up an inexpensive floro light with a softbox for the key, and then just using a reflector for the fill and backlight, or maybe adding another inexpensive floro light for the fill or back. But would I be better off with a floro with an umbrella instead of softbox? Also, what wattage should I be looking at for the floro for this purpose? I'm not making a real movie, but the audition should be well lit and casting directors are starting to request good lighting along with good audio. TIA! Oh, and ideally I'd like to keep the whole set up well under $300 or better yet, much cheaper but not the work light solution...
For children, I'd recommend pretty much a 'soft' light, with either a big softbox, or a bounced light. I don't know if a 'dramatic' lighting setup, would really benefit a child actor all that much. Perhaps a hair light
to separate out the back ground, and a darker background than 'muslin'. As a note, you can 'paint' painter dropcloth muslin from Home Depot, and make a fairly good backround...
Here's a quick 'tutorial' on painting a backdrop.
If you're on a really tight budget, why not grab some diffusion and put it in front of the lights? You can get it for $5-$7 a sheet. Perhaps some 216. You're still dealing with the heat and power consumption, but it fits your budget. 1 2x55 flo from cool lights with the stand adapter would blow your budget, used it may come in just under.
+1 for the cheapo CFL softboxes, I have a pair and they pretty much sit in the closet (an absolute pain to take apart and put back together), but for your uses they'd work.
+1 for the cheapo CFL softboxes, I have a pair and they pretty much sit in the closet (an absolute pain to take apart and put back together), but for your uses they'd work.
Thanks for all the suggestions so far. How about this with a matching Impact stand for the key light and then something improvised for the fill & backlight -http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/800824340-USE/Impact_OCTACOOL_9_Octacool_9_Fluorescent_Light_with.html
This seems better than the super cheap CFL fixtures, but I'm not sure if the difference is worth it. Would this throw enough light off to just use a reflector for fill? I was able to bounce a lot of light around with the Lowel hard lights, but I'm not sure if it's more difficult to do when your main light is diffused CFL.
This seems better than the super cheap CFL fixtures, but I'm not sure if the difference is worth it. Would this throw enough light off to just use a reflector for fill? I was able to bounce a lot of light around with the Lowel hard lights, but I'm not sure if it's more difficult to do when your main light is diffused CFL.
Greg Smith
Veteran
That's a usable softbox, but really only one step above the bottom-of-the-heap stuff like from Cowboy Studio. (Which was not a random selection, by the way. There are lots of companies selling fairly similar cheap lights, but at least Cowboy has a reputation for filling its orders without hassle, giving honest advice, and providing some level of after-the-sale support. In other words, they won't rip you off, which can't be said for many of their competitors.)
I'm skeptical any of them will produce light that can be bounced much. The Lowels you have experience with act much more like directional point sources and are more amenable to being reflected. But they also produce very harsh shadows when used directly on the subject. An actual mirror might be your best bet if you want to try bouncing with softboxes.
- Greg
I'm skeptical any of them will produce light that can be bounced much. The Lowels you have experience with act much more like directional point sources and are more amenable to being reflected. But they also produce very harsh shadows when used directly on the subject. An actual mirror might be your best bet if you want to try bouncing with softboxes.
- Greg
Thanks. I guess I'll pick up a Cowboy softbox CFL kit. Last question - for my specific use should the backlight be a regular softbox aimed from off to the side, a softbox aimed from above on a boom, or can I just get away with a cheapo incandescent source from the back, in which case maybe I could get a slightly better 2 light kit?