Hot Light vs. Keno?!

Hi all!

 

I am shooting fashion in a studio on Thursday. I have worked on "real" fashion sets before, but am not as

experienced with strobes, etc, as I would like to be for a shoot, so I'm leaning towards some sort of continual

light, just to make the day go smoother. (I'll experiment on my own time, ya' know? Also, the budget isn't

really too high, so we're trying to reduce the amount of equipment we'll need.)

 

Anyway -- after much research on here, and talking to the lighting rental guy, he's talking about "keno" lights.

I'm not familiar with those at all!

 

What we're gonna' be doing is just plain old white background shots, so my plan is 2 lights for bg (separated

from the subject w/ cutter/board, whatever the proper word is), and a main light forward/side of model w/ a

reflector to soften the shadows.

 

(If this sounds like a bad idea, I'm up for suggestions, this is just very similar to what I've seen on set.)

 

 

My worry is that I'll make the models sweat too much w/ hot lights.

 

The lighting rental guy is suggesting 4x4 "Keno" lights, but I've been having some problems finding much info on

them.

 

My other concern about constant light is that it's probably harder to control the amount going to the background

vs the subject, yes? (I know on the "big" sets I've worked on (w/ strobes, etc), it's VERY easy to stop up/down

the bg/foreground levels.)

 

So -- any suggestions on Keno vs. Hot Lights would be GREATLY appreciated.

 

Thanks!!

If your models can hold very still you might be able to use Kino-Flo fluorescent lights. You'll be dealing with long, slow shutter speeds and wide open f-stops, none of which are conducive to making the day go smoother.

 

Hot light will have the same slow shutter speeds and wide apertures plus they'll be HOT !

 

Strobes are the right choice.

yeah - i was kinda' worried about them not being powerful enough....

watt per watt kinoflos are more effcient than tungsten or quartz-halogen lights and I doubtthatthey are any cheaper than good flash equiment to rent. if you don't know how to operate lights, hire an assistant who does but of course you as the director are in charge of them creating the effects you want.

trust me, ellis... is the budget allowed for me to get an assistant i would. good advice, though

he he... i mean IF... i'm a bit manic from lack of eating, can you tell?

 

... time to get lunch.

 

nice website, btw

thanks a lot, ellis & brooks for your quick responses.

 

the studio i'm going to has a speedotron (sp?), pack which has basically the stuff that was used on the pro fashion shoots i worked at (well -- not as MUCH stuff, but...), so i'm just gonna' reproduce what i learned on those sets, and try the strobes (like you said, brooks).

 

wish me luck! should be fun. (plus -- they're going to MTV, so hopefully i'll get some future work out of it!)

Kino flo fixtures are beautiful. I would suggest shooting at asa200 and the fastest lens you have like a 50/1.2 or 85/1.2. The

4' 4 tube lights with grids should work quite well.

Make sure you read the Speedotron manuals before you start.