worklights and the dvx

H

homer

Well-known member
I'm planning on making a short next month with my dvx and I was wondering about using gels for tweaking the lighting.

I'll be using some worklights that I picked up at the hardware store that have some quartz halogen lights that are very warm in their color. On my past projects I used them, then tweaked the color in editing. I wanted to not have to tweak so much this time and get it right on set.

My question is, would using gels (like blue) turn the warm light to a white light?
 
thanks ryvac

yea altering white balance can a pain with multiple light sources. I'll just pick up a set from bh or wolf camera since they're closing shops. anyone else notice that btw? wolf camera is scaling back and getting rid of some inventory. I saw some deals.
 
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Unfortunately no. it's based on a store by store basis. One store I went to was closing down and they had a 5 ft reflector for 25 bucks. Another had a 250 dollar 3 piece light kit (with umbrellas) for 180. But the store near me seemed to be ok in their traffic flow, thus no deals.
 
homer said:
anyone else notice that btw? wolf camera is scaling back and getting rid of some inventory. I saw some deals.
Click to expand...

I don't know what's going on with B&H, but they might be scaling back simply due to the economy. Wolf Camera, however, has been owned by Ritz for several years now. Ritz recently filed for bankruptcy, which explains why they are starting to close stores. I know that a lot of their retail locations have suffered for a few reasons, including the poor economy, their not-so-attractive prices, and Internet discounts.
 
Manual white balance is the right way to do it. I'm not sure why you say that it's difficult to do with multiple light sources. Are they all halogen work lights? You should be able to manual white balance once to your key light and you're set.

The only time you really would use gels with these is to match one to daylight if you're shooting near a window. Or, if you used some colored gel for an effect.
 
thanks Joshua, sorry let me clarify. If I'm using halogen work lights that have a bright yellow hue and also using the daylight breaking through the windows. I would imagine white balancing the worklights would throw off the light source from outside. I think I may need to experiment to see if this is true. anyone with experience agree or disagree? that's why I was thinking of using gels to balance the light at its source.

c2v you're right about the stores closing. Although I think from a business point of view, a lot of the technology is overpriced (for several reasons, nothing too illogical, just stuff like lack of competition and specialized markets). Hopefully this will get the manufacturers to create products that are cost efficient and high quality. I dunno though, we'll see
 
Will you also be using the light from the windows, or just see the windows in the shot?

I would guess the worklights are around 2800K instead of 3200K (tungsten).
If you use Full CTB gels on the worklights and WB for them, you'll probably have something a little warmer than normal 5600K daylight, maybe something around 5200?

But if you balance under the gelled lights, or in a mix of the gelled lights + daylight, you should be OK, the window itself (if you see it in the shot) may be a little bit blue though.

Time for a test?

Hope this helps,
Chuck
 
Ok im not a pro in this topic but what i usually do is to balance my tungstens(hallogen work lights in this case)to match the light coming through the window or put a gel on the window to balance with the tungstens

I rarely work with both since their color temperatures are different ie tungsten is 3200 and daylight(depending on time etc)is usually 5600 though some pro's here use both sometimes..depending on the look they want!

I also use the white balance preset on my DVX to save time!

This link will sure help you alot
http://www.ryanpatrickohara.com/Index1.html
 
Thanks chuck and ryan. so i'll use the white balance function to offset the warm hue since it saves time and does the job. But ryan looking at your work (btw, if you're not a pro then you're at least damn good) it may benifit me to get the gels when I want to easily create a stylized look. I especially like the look you have in the cows where the guy is sitting in bed next to the night stand with the lamp.
 
homer said:
If I'm using halogen work lights that have a bright yellow hue and also using the daylight breaking through the windows. I would imagine white balancing the worklights would throw off the light source from outside. I think I may need to experiment to see if this is true. anyone with experience agree or disagree? that's why I was thinking of using gels to balance the light at its source.
Click to expand...

Gotcha, I've used the same type of worklights in the past and also noted they go somewhat yellow/red as compared to normal tungsten 3200k. I've also done the exact type of shot you are describing. I was shooting someone against a window, and using the worklight to fill in. I used a full CTB gel to try to match the daylight, and it came close, but still a bit warm, though pleasing. If the dyalight coming through the window is the predominant light source, you'll want to manually white balance for the daylight.

Some notes of caution, though. The worklights were so hot that the gels were nearly melting. A Full CTB gel cuts nearly two stops of light, so the 500w halogen was basically cut to 125w power. Not a lot of light for all the power and heat and danger you're going through.

The simplest solution is simply to use white bounce cards to bounce some of that daylight into the shadow side.

Another solution would be to pick up some daylight balanced compact fluorescent bulbs. A couple small bulbs will give you just as much light as a gelled work light, but run a lot cooler and safer. You need to have some daylight lights around for exactly these type of situations.
 
wow thanks joshua. do you know where I can pick up those bulbs? this is the worklights that I have
HERE

and they use these bulbs
HERE

when I went to the hardware store they didn't have a option for florescent. Maybe I just need to switch to a florescent housing structure. hope those are cheap.
 
yea I took a look at florescent setups at the local hardware store its definitely the way I"m going to go. It's cheap, white light, and easy to modify. I just wish it was more eco friendly. thanks for your help guys.
 
Did you look at the Compact Fluorescents (CFL)?
They fit a regular screw in socket.
Look for a multi socket (3 socket) fixture, ideally with some sort of reflection to help bounce light away from the fixture.
Or maybe those silver worklights with the clamp on them, like you might use to work on a car?

And be sure to check the color temperature of the bulbs.
They have slightly odd color temps, I think they're:
Warm 2800K
Bright 3500K
Daylight 6500K
Go for the daylight.

And manual white balance.

They're eco friendly in using 1/3 the power, just don't break them with their mercury inside!

Good luck,
Chuck
 
perfect chuck thanks. I'll invest in a fixture that can handle the 105w cfls, 4100k is what i'm finding in that wattage (I'm sure it'll be the perfect hue), this will be great. I did see these at the local big box hardware store, but I just passed over them. Its funny how being determined to do get one thing accomplished can overshadow better solutions.
 
Well, if you want to match daylight, you need to find closer 5600k CFL, or you are back to gelling. 4100k will look warmer than daylight. It might work in a way, as fill light coming from inside a room near a window, without looking as warm as tungsten or halogen.

Try here: http://www.naturallighting.com/web/shop.php?crn=651 Natural Lighting has a lot of lights at 5000k, but some at 5500k and 5600k. Bear in mind, the conversion factor for CFL to normal bulbs is 6:1, so a 200w CFL is equiv to 1200w tungsten. However, because CFL's emit light all over, unless you have a good reflector, much of the light is not focused on your subject. More practically, it's a round 4:1 with a good reflector. I have 55w and 65w 5600k CFL's, and if I put them together, it's usually a good daylight at close range.

You also need to find a bulb with a decent CRI rating, in the 90's, high 90's preferably.
 
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