Difficult lighting situation: shadowy, dark room.

[gen_b.]

<p>I'm looking for some tips on how to reconcile a difficult lighting situation. I shoot self-portraits (and record video) in a 12x20 (~) room with an east-facing window that seems to produce nothing but shadows and filtered light because of a tree. Cloudy, blown-out winter skies do not help, either.<br /> <br /> At present, I can use no lower than ISO1600 at F/2 or below, despite having nearly blinding lights on. I have one overhead hi-hat (60w), and a standing lamp with 5x60w bulbs that flex in any direction. Even when I use custom WB, I still seem to get golden-orange photos, but that is usually the least of my worries.<br /> <br /> If I could get enough light for an F/5.6 & 1/60 or better shot, with ISO 400, I'd be content. I am a bit of a perfectionist, and I don't really like the look of a flash, or post-processed images to remove noise.<br /> <br /> <br /> Would it be best to get an off-board flash, plus a reflector/diffuser, or to purchase additional lighting? <br /> <br /> What are my options? Any recommendations?</p>

[ellis_vener_photography]

<p>get an off camera light and aim it up into a ceiling corner behind the camera. Since you are doign video aswel as stills, get a good hot light. A Lowell Tota-light is a good option. You can get 650 or 1000 watt bulbs tota-lights.</p>

[ellis_vener_photography]

<p>get an off camera light and aim it up into a ceiling corner behind the camera. Since you are doign video aswel as stills, get a good hot light. A Lowel Omni or Tota-lights are a good options.</p>

[mike_earussi1]

<p>Yellow tungsten lights are naturally lacking blue light and no amount of custom WB will add blue light, it will just boost the signal on the blue channel which can add noise. The best solution is to get 500w-1000w hot lights and add blue filters to them which will turn them into daylight color balanced lights. Then you can just shoot at normal daylight WB and be fine.</p>

<p>There are many different brands, one of which is the one Ellis mentioned. But another common one is Smith-Victor which can sometimes be found used for very little money. But do expect the room to get very hot with several thousand watts of infrared being radiated into a small space. In the winter it just becomes a space heater but in the summer good air conditioning is a must. Another problem when shooting people with 500w-1000w lights is that they are very bright and can quickly induce headaches in your models/clients so it also helps to have a Variac or Potentiometer of some kind to lower the intensity until you're ready to shoot. Plus makeup tends to run with that much heat so a dichoric heat reflecting filter is also helpful plus it keeps your client cool.</p>

[jpo3136b]

<p>If you're getting into continuous lighting, you may want to look into CFLs. Idea is, it's not the lamp, so much as the lightbulb. They now come in a wide variety of temperature corrections, run cooler, use less electricity, and last longer than older-style tungsten bulbs. I considered getting some this past year, but opted for a strobe instead. As I was looking around, I noticed that there are several companies basically stuffing CFLs into little light banks and selling them off.<br>

Before I looked into a lighting kit company, though, I would look at what the lightbulb manufacturers are offering. Some of the "Grande" Mogul size bulbs really kick out a lot of light, but they'll run up to $100.00 apiece. Might be a way to get an advantage out of your existing equipment.</p>

[jpo3136b]

<p>If you do, when you get to looking at the CFL lighting kits, I think you'll find that there are basically two kinds of trends in the designs. One group will rely on a large collection of smaller bulbs. The initial kit cost on these are usually a little lower. The individual light bulbs seem like the operating costs will be really cheap. However, to get the output, many of these designs employ a dozen or so of the lightbulbs at a time. </p>

<p>In the second group, the lightbulbs will be large and expensive. I noticed that most "photography" supply companies seemed to have a fair markup on those. I found one company, called MaxLite, that was apparently supplying some other companies with lightbulbs. Purchasing directly from them through their website might save some cash; depending on who you buy from, maybe as much as 40%. </p>

<p>This second group of CFL light kit designs will seem more expensive at first because of the larger, more expensive bulbs. However, I believe that as long as you are not transporting the lighting kits frequently, it might make sense to consider those. The downfall is that if one of these larger bulbs breaks, you're out a hundred bucks.</p>

<p>I mention the lightbulb manufacturers as the place to start because after I got to looking at their retail prices, and comparing those projected costs to the retail value of the lighting kits, it seemed that an unusually large portion of the initial outlay in a CFL light kit rested with the choice in bulbs, and those bulbs supplied with the kit. The actual housings for the light kits were sometimes apparently responsible for less than 40% of the kit cost. </p>

<p>Have a look around. Hope this helps. J.</p>

[James G. Dainis]

<p>You should also bear in mind that light intensity varies inversely as the square of the linear measure. If you have a 60 watt bulb at 3 feet, if you move it back to 6 feet (twice as far), the light intensity is 1/4th as strong, the same as having a 15 watt bulb at 3 feet. If you were to move the 60 watt bulb back to 9 feet (three times as far) the light intensity is 1/9th as strong, the same as having a 6.7 watt bulb at 3 feet.</p>

 

<P>If you have the subject 3 feet in front of a backdrop and the light 3 feet in front of the subject, the light is twice the distance from the backdrop and will receive 1/4th of the light intensity, or be two stops darker than the subject.

[dbcooper]

<p>Just an idea: http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/03/lighting-101.html</p>

<p> </p>

[wentbackward]

<p>You need light, just get down to a hardware store and buy a few cheap lights, spread them around the room. Increasing ISO just increases sensitivity to light, you've pushed that as far as you can take it. Reducing aperture lets more light in but shortens depth of field, which I'll assume you need to preserve, so that rules out expensive lenses. Your only choice then is more light. Have fun, get creative, think about the mood you want and buy some lights, tungsten or halogen ok, but perhaps some fluorescent tubes may be better. Also some easily positionable reflective surfaces will help!! Again, doesn't need to be professional photography equipment, a sheet and a pole would work. The reflectors would help in the morning too, as your window is east facing.</p>

[gen_b.]

<p>Late at responding, I know, but thanks for all of the suggestions.</p>

<p>Since I asked this question, I've read through the Strobist "lectures", and am waiting to find an SB-24 at a good price. I'm very excited at the prospect of having more control over my indoor lighting, instead of being a slave to the lamp and the window.</p>

<p>I bought a CFL, to test out, but I discovered that they do not work on lights that have dimmers, which my entire house pretty much has. I've heard there are certain models that will work (a specific GE model, in particular), but I've yet to go and pick some out.</p>