I keep a large hunk of rip-stop, about a meter wide by 2.5 meters long, folded in my kit bag when I shoot on location. I can tape it up over a window to get lovely diffuse light for portraits. It cost me under ten bucks.
I thought that if you created a box from white foamcore, cut "windows" in it and glued (Elmers) rip-stop over them, you can point your desk lamps at the windows and fill the box with diffuse light. Then shoot through a front opening. On Tue, Feb 28, 2017 at 9:06 PM, Mark C <[email protected]> wrote: > That's a good idea. Several years ago I bought some white nylon and stapled > it to a couple old 16 x 20 wooden frames - basically a DYI diffuser. I wish > I had hung onto them - tossed them when purging the house of excess stuff. > > > On 2/28/2017 6:34 PM, Bruce Walker wrote: >> >> Mark, here's an alternate diffusion suggestion: white rip-stop nylon >> fabric from the fabric store. Quite cheap, very white, and fairly heat >> resistant. It's essentially what soft boxes use. >> >> >> On Tue, Feb 28, 2017 at 5:55 PM, Mark C <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>> I'm just doing desktop macro work with a couple of goose neck desk lights >>> and small pieces of white foam core for reflectors. Incandescent bulbs >>> are >>> an option but the heat is a concern. I currently use wax paper to diffuse >>> the lighting - would need to rethink that approach with hot lights. In >>> the >>> past I have used flashes, but need continuous light to take advantage of >>> pixel shift. >>> >>> Mark >>> >>> >>> On 2/28/2017 11:29 AM, Bruce Walker wrote: >>>> >>>> I agree that tungsten bulbs are generally quite good for faithful >>>> colour, and it's easy to colour correct for them. >>>> >>>> OTOH, they are hot as hell. :) I once did a fashion shoot using a >>>> cheap $40 dual head 500W garage service light that I bounced off >>>> reflectors inside a retail store, and just about cooked everybody. But >>>> I loved the results. >>>> >>>> And one really nice thing about tungsten is that, like a lot of old >>>> film gear, nobody wants it and it's cheap. I was recently given a >>>> Lowel Tota in great shape, with a heat-resistant silver umbrella. >>>> Almost $200 new at B&H. >>>> >>>> Those little common bayonet base tungsten halogen lamps with a 40 >>>> degree beam spread are great if you are lighting up close, like for >>>> macro. >>>> >>>> >>>> On Tue, Feb 28, 2017 at 11:00 AM, Mark C <[email protected]> wrote: >>>>> >>>>> Thanks, Bruce. I'm not trying for exact color reproduction but just >>>>> want >>>>> consistent results and reasonably rich colors. Some of the bulbs I've >>>>> tried >>>>> produce muddy colors and some are difficult to adjust / color correct. >>>>> I'll >>>>> continue experimenting and will take a look at the LED panels. I took >>>>> a >>>>> look at the LED bulbs sold by B&W and they did not seem to have >>>>> remarkable >>>>> CRI ratings but were a lot brighter than what I can find retail. >>>>> >>>>> From what I read it sounds like tungsten bulbs are generally >>>>> excellent >>>>> at >>>>> color reproduction, so there is always that route as well. >>>>> >>>>> Mark >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> On 2/27/2017 4:58 PM, Bruce Walker wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>> Whether you need to worry about CRI or not depends on how fussy you >>>>>> are. If you are shooting products (including fashion) for a living you >>>>>> would (or should, anyway) be fussy and CRI is critical. Also if you >>>>>> shoot people and like your skin tones to be well rendered, or natural. >>>>>> >>>>>> So if you find that don't really care about CRI then any old light >>>>>> sources will do and buying random LED bulbs until you get the results >>>>>> you like will be fine. >>>>>> >>>>>> But if you, like me, really do care about CRI then I suggest you stick >>>>>> to LED panels and bulbs that are made for photography. Avoid all the >>>>>> consumer products (eg whatever's on sale at Walmart). LEDs that are >>>>>> made for commercial store displays have better CRI because they care >>>>>> about colour rendition for stuff they are selling. I have some of >>>>>> those by way of Amazon and they have surprisingly nice light. >>>>>> >>>>>> See what B&H Photo or Adorama has available in your price range. The >>>>>> 500 and 1000 LED panels are reasonably priced these days and put out a >>>>>> lot of good light. Fotodiox is a more budget source with good strong >>>>>> lights. >>>>>> >>>>>> Many photo LED panels use DC power, so definitely no flicker. AC >>>>>> powered ones? Dunno. >>>>>> >>>>>> Where I notice CRI making a huge difference is when I shoot with a >>>>>> calibrated colour workflow -- ie using a colour-checker card, and >>>>>> calibrating the monitor with a colorimeter. Then I can really see what >>>>>> normal consumer room lights do to skin versus shooting with strobes >>>>>> that have a very high CRI. I can even tell the difference between >>>>>> shooting with Profoto pack and head strobes and the less expensive >>>>>> Paul Buff lights. >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> On Mon, Feb 27, 2017 at 3:30 PM, Mark C <[email protected]> wrote: >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Does anyone here have advice about selecting LED lights for studio >>>>>>> work? >>>>>>> >>>>>>> I've tried several consumer bands with mixed results. I understand >>>>>>> that >>>>>>> the >>>>>>> color rendering index (CRI) rating is supposed indicate how well the >>>>>>> bulb >>>>>>> displays colors, but my experience so far has not shows any strong >>>>>>> correlation between that actual results. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> So far I've tried 4 different brands of bulbs, with the best results >>>>>>> coming >>>>>>> from Earthtronic bulbs with a mediocre CRI 81 and the worst coming >>>>>>> from >>>>>>> GE >>>>>>> Reveal with a respectable CRI 93. IMO, the Reveal bulb was the least >>>>>>> accurate of all four brands that I tried in terms of color rendition >>>>>>> and >>>>>>> also banded noticeably (do LEDs flicker?) >>>>>>> >>>>>>> So - how do you tell what LED's will work the best - or it just trial >>>>>>> and >>>>>>> error? >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Mark >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> -- >>>>>>> PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List >>>>>>> [email protected] >>>>>>> http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net >>>>>>> to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above >>>>>>> and >>>>>>> follow the directions. >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>> -- >>>>> PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List >>>>> [email protected] >>>>> http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net >>>>> to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and >>>>> follow the directions. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>> >>> -- >>> PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List >>> [email protected] >>> http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net >>> to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and >>> follow the directions. >> >> >> > > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and > follow the directions. -- -bmw -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
