 Daniel A. Case |
Indoor lighting I know there are obvious advantages to buying pro lighting equipment but is there any real difference in a 3200k photo light and a 3200k light from somewhere like lowes or home depot. I'm on a slight budget so any info would be helpful.
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Maynard McKillen |
Dear Dan: What do you plan to photograph?
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Daniel A. Case |
I want to do close up shots of flowers, and different kinds of plants. Maybe a few insect close ups. Also I use 100-200 speed film with a maxxum 7 so if a off camera flash would be better let me know. Thanks,
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Maynard McKillen |
Dear Dan: You might consider this: the heat generated by continuous 3200K lights may damage the plants if placed too close. You yourself may find the working environment uncomfortable after the lights have been on awhile. You are probably also going to experiment with bouncing the lights into umbrellas, or otherwise modfying the light to make it more diffuse, which may reduce the amount of light reaching the subject and cause you to use slower shutter speeds. This increases the possibility the camera may move during exposure, and cause blur. None of these is sufficient reason not to try using 3200K light sources, but you increase the number of successful images if you are aware of these factors. Unless 3200K Photofloods have changed lately, which I doubt, using high wattage tungsten halogen worklights or lights using some type of tungsten bulb should give equivalent results. The color temperature of 3200K Photofloods did tend to change slightly as the bulb aged. If I remember right, the color temperature dropped, producing a slightly "warmer" light. You may want to research tungsten halogen lamps. It's possible, to your benefit, that thay are less prone to color temperature changes as the bulb ages. Since most color film gives "normal" color rendition with light sources similar to the sun (Is that about 5500 to 6000K, folks?)you would need to place an 80A filter in front of the lens (or gels in front of the light sources that produce the same correction), so your prints have color close to what you see. Looking at things in another way, dedicated off-camera flash can simplify exposure calculations, flash doesn't heat up a room, and you might even look into renting a ringlight for some of the macro work. Most smaller flash units don't have any kind of modelling light, so you won't see in advance what kinds of shadows the flash will create around the subject. A word of warning: macro can be addictively fun.
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Maynard McKillen |
Dear Dan: This is a postscript. Electronic flash puts out light at a color temperature close enough to sunlight that it does not require filtration to correct it.
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Daniel A. Case |
I think I will try the off camera flash and experiment with bouncing and maybe some diffusion of it. Thank's for all of your help.
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John A. Lind |
Daniel, Notwithstanding Maynard's comments and recommendations, there are a number of tungsten balanced films you can use with 3200K "hot lights." However, they are all professional films that you won't find at the corner drug store. Most of it is relatively slow film in the ISO 64 to ISO 100 range, the notable exceptions being Kodak's Ektachrome 160T and 320T (both are "slide" films). Daylight film is balanced for daytime with direct sun (not clouded over) at or near noon . . . about 5500-5600K. One must be careful when working with "hot lights" as they're not called that without good reason. They should only be turned on for as long as necessary to position and use them for the exposure. They should **NEVER** be left on unattended!! Not only is there the risk to harming subject material that Maynard mentions, one must be very careful with proximity to a ceiling and with "light modifiers" made of fabric, vinyl, plastic, foam, or cardboard/paper around them (e.g. umbrellas, softboxes, scrims, gobos, etc.). All of these can trap the heat, especially if used in the wrong manner, and it doesn't take long for a several hundred watt "hot light" to begin scorching things (or worse) that are too close, or are trapping the heat. -- John
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