Lighting Question

[funkymonk1984]

Hi Guys,

I am new to filmmaking but have also wanted a career or at least an involvement in the industry as a hobby but my life took a different path and now I have decided to make a go of it.

I have aquired various equipment over the past months as seen below;

Canon 600d (T3i)
Canon 50mm f1.8 Prime Lens
Canon 18-55mm IS ii kit lens
Manfrotto 055XPROB Tripod legs
Manfrotto MVH502AH Fluid Head
Rode Video Mic Pro
Zoom H1 Recorder
2x Continous Lights (soft box) 5500k bulbs
PC with After Fx, Premier and Final Draft

I also have other miscellaneous stuff like a reflector, gaffer tape, white balance cards etc

I am throwing most of my study into storytelling and structure (reading story, substance, structure, style and the principles of screenwriting by Robert McKee currently) but I also wanted to do some test shots, practicing camera work and getting used to my set up.

My first question would be to do with lighting.

I set my two lights up in a 3 point lighting manor as the key and fill (had to soften the key as it was close to subject due to limited space (used a sheet) and I used a practical light (lamp) as a back light.

The light was obviously very "daylight" due to the 5500k bulb and I'm guessing I need to get the colour temp more around 3200k to achieve a tungsten look more in line with indoor evening shots? How can I achieve this?

Is it a case of purchasing different bulbs or diffusing the light using some form of gel? The lights as mentioned are soft boxes so not sure how gels can be used?

Also I would like to make a China ball light but can't seem to find recommendations for hardware relevant to the uk market can anyone help?

 

[Zensteve]

The light was obviously very "daylight" due to the 5500k bulb and I'm guessing I need to get the colour temp more around 3200k to achieve a tungsten look more in line with indoor evening shots? How can I achieve this?

Is it a case of purchasing different bulbs or diffusing the light using some form of gel? The lights as mentioned are soft boxes so not sure how gels can be used?

Sure, just go get some different colour-temp bulbs from the local hardware store. My local one has 4 different colours; the K should be printed on the packaging somewhere.

Yes, you could use gels instead, too. There's no reason why you can't clip a big ol' piece or three to the from of the softbox. Don't forget that additional transmission layers mean a cut in light for each layer, though.

Also I would like to make a China ball light but can't seem to find recommendations for hardware relevant to the uk market can anyone help?

You should be able to buy one off Ebay or similar, no problem. No need to actually make them. They pop right out round, like a flattened concertina. Just add bulb.

 

[funkymonk1984]

Thanks

I went to a hardware store and highest temp they did with an E27 screw bulb was 2700k in colour temperature...what do people tend to go for cus I was reading 3200k is tungsten look.

Also there were so many types of bulbs does it really matter which you use?

 

[wheatgrinder]

Your using the right words, but you don't quite have the underlying theory in your soul. no problem, you can get there quickly.

its called white balance. You get to tell your camera what "temperature" white is. Whatever light source you tell your camera is supposed to be "white" all other light sources will shift in color accordingly....

So if your using tungsten you set your cameras white balance accordingly, to indoor tungsten, thus light from tungsten sources will be white, but if you have sunlight coming in the window that light will be blue.

If you set your camera to outdoor sun as white, then tungsten light will be orange. Get it?

You use CTB or CTO (change to blue and change to orange) gels on the lights to make the two different sources "balance"

You need to experiment. An afternoon with your camera will sorta show you how this works. Go through each "wb" setting and take a shot of each light source.

set camera to SUN
Shoot outdoor shot
Shoot indoor shot with tungsten light
Shoot indoor shot with florescent light

Set camera to indoor light
Shoot outdoor shot
Shoot indoor shot with tungsten light
Shoot indoor shot with florescent light

repeat for each White Balance preset on your camera.