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Home-depot lighting, is it viable?

thefilmgeek

thefilmgeek

Given the amount of equipment I'm having to purchase this coming summer, I don't actually have the 1000+ dollars to shell out for a professional light kit, like the Lowell lights you can pick up.

I was curious if just picking up the self-standing flood work-lights from home depot could accomplish the same thing? Digital doesn't require the lighting that actual film does, so theoretically this looks like it would accomplish the same thing as thousand dollar professional lights.

Has anyone shot any semi-professional work with just store bought lights, like this? I'd be anxious to see your results, or any feedback you had on it.
 
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You're probably better off picking up a couple of 500w lights to use as your key, then you can use the 250's as fill. and you'll want another for a hair light, which should probably be equal or brighter than your fill -- I tend to prefer brighter.
 
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Really the most powerful I could find was a dual-head work light, which are two 250w lights on a big tripod (so 500w total). So should I just buy another one of these and have a total of 4 lights shining as my key light source? (this will come up to a total of 1000w, 500w per tripod @ 250w per head)
 
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I'm surprised the 250s are the largest you could find, I have a few 500's, and they were each somewhere in that $20 range as I recall. At any rate, it's always better to have too many lights than not enough of them.. ;)
 
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I'll try a different home depot, and hit a lowe's as well and see if I can find a single 500w on a tripod. Then I can just use the dual 250w's as the fill.

A buddy of mine who is good with electrical work is going to install a dimmer on the lights as necessary for me, so that's neat. I gave him your basic suggestions and he said he could easily do it.
 
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thefilmgeek said:
I'll try a different home depot, and hit a lowe's as well and see if I can find a single 500w on a tripod. Then I can just use the dual 250w's as the fill.

A buddy of mine who is good with electrical work is going to install a dimmer on the lights as necessary for me, so that's neat. I gave him your basic suggestions and he said he could easily do it.
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Another option is to build a dimmer box.. just an electrical box you can plug into the wall or an extension cord, with a dimmer connected to a standard electrical socket. I used one of these with two dimmers on it to good effect in my last 48hr film to simulate cars passing (lights came up, then dimmed quickly, and red lights came on and dimmed, etc).

You might also want to check out Walmart, they also carry these lights I believe. I know I've seen 750W versions at a couple places.. never looked closely at them, but I believe they have a 500W bulb and a 250W bulb in a single fixture. I also have a couple of smaller 125W clamp on halogen work lights that work good as little kickers, and for adding a bit of fill in strategic places in the background and such. Another thing to look at are those twisted tube flourescent bulbs that screw into a regular light socket. I've got a few of those that I use in the aluminum scoop light fixtures, and a couple china balls of various sizes would be a good investment as well. :)
 
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Make sure your dimmer can handle the wattage. It will say on the box. Halogens need a different dimmer than incandescent, also. Buy the combo dimmer to be safe.
 
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What is the recommended set up for outdoor/daylight shooting? do you still need a 3 pt lighting system with a white reflector board (foamcore)? Also, how do you adjust the white balance?Do you use a white card with natural light or a white card using the lamps? I'm just now learning about white balance and the different temperatures for lighting, so is this even a valid question and issue? It's amazing how the quality changes after fooling around with the white balance on my little sony mini-DV.
 
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EvsFX08 said:
What is the recommended set up for outdoor/daylight shooting? do you still need a 3 pt lighting system with a white reflector board (foamcore)? Also, how do you adjust the white balance?Do you use a white card with natural light or a white card using the lamps? I'm just now learning about white balance and the different temperatures for lighting, so is this even a valid question and issue? It's amazing how the quality changes after fooling around with the white balance on my little sony mini-DV.
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Yes, you would still use 3 point lighting in most instances.. the sun, obviously, would be the key light -- on bright sunny days anyway. Then you can usually bounce in your fill and hairlight. for white balance, you want to put your white card in the lit area, zoom in on it, and white balance that. You could also use slightly offwhite cards, or put colored gels in front of the lens and then white balance to get different effects. I'm of the opinion that's better left to post though.
 
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Will Vincent said:
I'm of the opinion that's better left to post though.
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I'm with ya on that, Post is my comfort zone. A guy I know saw some of my editing/VFX work and asked me if I could shoot his next music video, because didn't you know that anybody who specializes in VFX can shoot video too?HA! Anyway, since I'm just starting out in filming and this will be his 2nd music video, I agreed. So now I'm just trying to figure how to get the best quality settings out of my camera so I can make something of decent quality. We shoot in February, so I'll post it here when complete for constructive criticism I'm totally open to all suggestions and recommendations. It'll be my first real creative production, everything else I've done was simple documentaries or productions someone else shot and I finished it in post, or some other simple video work I shot. Anyway,how's that class VFXphd going?
 
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I already have two of the aluminum scoop lights with high watt halogens in them, so that's good to go. Basically all I need to do (apparently) is find a good 500w worklight and I should be good to go (since the twin worklight I have, has detachable 250 watters)
 
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Yup yup, I have the maximum wattage bulb safe for the scoops in them, I've used them for extended periods before on cheaper little shorts so they are good to go.

The whole halogen worklight is the new thing for me. :)

I'm going out this saturday to look at dimmers, and to search for a single 500w lamp as a key light.

My concern is that perhaps a 500w is too bright for a small enclosed room? (Like a little workshop in a basement, cement walls, cieling, floor)
 
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I've just used worklights raw (I lack you guys' expertise tech and touch) but they're wonderful for massive light!

Bounce them off a wall or a ceiling to cut alot of the harshness, or use a reflector for fill light and close down the ap a bit to compensate. Keep the wall they're flooding onto out of the frame so you don't get the harsh light/sharp shadows falling there, and they're fun indeed. But basically I've never been able to control their massive light. And if a bug flies past ... it looks like someone's shooting tracer bullets at you!
 
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Hehe. I'm in Virginia, and it's pretty chilly over here. Unfortunatley, I'm going to actually start shooting in June... which means I'm gonna be shining these big 'ol halogens on my actors in a confined space in like 90 degree weather lol.

I guess I'm gonna have to bring fans and keep the area cool, and hose down my actors with ice water after every take. :)

To stop down the exposure, is it done digitally, or do you just raise the f-stop so the aperature is more closed? (Using XH-A1, has lots of manual control over all that)

I was concerned about it killing what little shallow depth of field I'd be able to achieve if I start closing down the f-stop.
 
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you can either raise the f-stop number or add neutral density filters to stop down. A circular polarizer will also stop down a bit for you and allow you to dial out some refelctions/specular highlights caused by the lights.
 
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I actually wanted to throw on some solid ND filters so I could keep my f-stop as wide as possible.

Now, as far as ND filters go, or any filters for that matter, I'm a complete moron.

I assume ND filters come in various 'thicknesses' that gauge how much light they block?

Also, do they affect the shot at all, that is colors or picture quality?
 
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