use of umberellas in lighting

[Libby]

I am using cheap lights right now. They actually work pretty well but for the fact that the light is bouncing off the fake wooden wall behind me (me being the 'actor' in this shot). It really bothers me to see this white circle against the wall which is clearly coming from the light in front of me. I put a small latern there to make it look like the light was coming from the latern...but it still bugs me.

I was thinking of the use of umberellas that might tone down this light while still keeping me well lit. I would like to try an umberella except for the fact that no one sells white umberellas that I could clamp onto the side of this light.

So 2 questions really: Is there a place to just purchase a white umberella to clamp on? Or is there something else I can do to get rid of that white blur on the wall from the light? I did move the light to get rid of that blur but it defeated the purpose as I, the subject was no longer well lit.

Thanks.

Maybe soon I will invest in some inexpensive lighting system...but for now I want to try to work with what I have.

 

[Ernest Worthing]

u can buy umbrellas and different umbrellas brackets to suit ur needs.

check out bhphotovideo and browse around.

to get rid of the circle on the background, u can use a bunch of different DIY methods to create a simple frame with a sheet of diffusion paper (or a replacement that acts as such) between the light and the wall. this should help spread the light more evenly and remove the circle.

u can also just move the light further away which will make ur circle larger, perhaps filling the frame so you can not tell if theres a circle behind you. but i dont know if you can afford to do that bc you will be losing light as u move it further away. doubling the distance will lessen one stop.

if u tell me more about the end result u want to achieve thru ur lighting, maybe i can offer other options etc like other products or doing different things with angles, framing...

 

[chilipie]

Ernest has lots of good suggestions - diffusing the light in some way will make this much less obvious. You could aim it through diffusion paper, or bounce it off a white wall or sheet of white polystyrene or foamcore.

There are loads of cheap (though very flimsy) lighting umbrellas on eBay that have a fairly standard fitting - this is just a more controlled way of bouncing the light.

Maybe we could help a bit more if you posted some screenshots and/or lighting diagrams.

 

[Libby]

Its bascially one of those brown walls that look like wood..cheap wood. But I have something that is white that I can move between the bar (scene is suppose to take place in a bar) and the wall...it perhaps wouldn't look so obvious.
I am going to try that and check out online for umberellas in future.

Thanks.

 

[Arachnid]

Put the light higher and aim down so the light doesn't bounce off the wall. Then reflect some light upwards to lesson shadows.

 

[knightly]

I'd also suggest moving the light farther to the side and up, then using the falloff edge of the light (the edge of the cone of light produced) on the background to even out the spill if you have no spill control available.

On our sets, we call that feathering the background. We end up with the light being pointed slightly in front of the subject rather than right on them.