Author Topic: Modifying construction lights - will it burn? (Read 14022 times)

Daneel · « **on:** March 12, 2007, 05:04 »

Hi all,

I'm using a few of these 500W construction lights for my "just for fun" studio lighting:

I would like to diffuse the light by taping a bedsheet directly in front of the lamp. Will it get too hot, i.e., will the bedsheet burn or is it ok?

Please no speculation - I'd like to hear your experience.

Many thanks,
Michael

sim · « **Reply #1 on:** March 12, 2007, 07:10 »

Sounds risky to use a normal bed sheet.

Look for a fire proof bedsheet/material in the baby section of your local baby store. Quite often baby crib bed sheets are made of fire proofed material.

I am guessing that your lamp will kick out alot of heat so be careful and I am sure that you have an extinguisher nearby!

Daneel · « **Reply #2 on:** March 12, 2007, 07:11 »

Hi!

You are right...in the meantime I got another suggestion: Mount umbrellas in front of the lamp...seems to be used regularly by amateurs and pros instead of an expensive softbox...

All the best,
Michael

PenelopeB · « **Reply #3 on:** March 12, 2007, 07:47 »

That sounds like a great idea! Think I'll go to Home Depo.

Daneel · « **Reply #4 on:** March 12, 2007, 07:59 »

Hi Penelope,

a smaller version of that setup works like a charm for me for isolating smaller objects. I built myself a small "light tent" out of wood and with a bed sheet around it. Then I use three of the construction lamps for lighting - from left and right and from behind to blow the shadows out.

Works very nicely.

For the bigger version I'll need a lot more light - I think 4-5 of the 500W lamps. But they are very cheap, so it's not much of a problem. It's harder to get white umbrellas ;-).

All the best,
Michael

leaf · « **Reply #5 on:** March 12, 2007, 09:02 »

those lamps get SUPER hot.. i wouldn't want to enclose the heat/light with anything. i would rather hang a bed sheet a few feet away from the lamp and shine the light through that.

stokfoto · « **Reply #6 on:** March 12, 2007, 09:11 »

I wouldn't tape them on the lights directly they do indeed get very hot.once I had an attempt to use it with my home made light tent with some bed sheet and the fabric started to burn in no time I might have placed them too close to it . of course resistance of the fabric against fire is important ,mine were obviously not so resistant but if you place them so close to the sorc of light they will evetually cath fire sooner or later.I use 3 of them now-for still life shots- what I do is I reflect the light from sheets from a safe distance and set up everything compsotion etc first (except for exposure)then turn the lights on adjust exposure shoot and turn them off.this will make it safer and saves energy.
oh well until I got proper flashes I will keep doing what I am doing and hoping not to burn the house down:)

steve-oh · « **Reply #7 on:** March 12, 2007, 12:01 »

I've used a similar set up. I removed the wire cover (because it did cast shadows) and I've used all sorts of material. It will burn through if it is touching the glass. If you tilt the head down and hang the sheet or fabric over the handle so the material is away from the glass, it will be ok for a few minutes. You'll start to smell something burning eventually.

If you have a white ceiling, you can point the lamps up to bounce the light.

Good luck!

mangia · « **Reply #8 on:** March 12, 2007, 14:19 »

I'm using them too but they are very very veryyyy hot after only 5 minutes... Also light color is not ok. It goes to yellow when temp. is rising...

Daneel · « **Reply #9 on:** March 12, 2007, 14:44 »

Quote from: mangia on March 12, 2007, 14:19

I'm using them too but they are very very veryyyy hot after only 5 minutes... Also light color is not ok. It goes to yellow when temp. is rising...

This is no problem. I can fix it with custom white balance and raw post-processing.

So far I'm using (in my cellar):
1 white bedsheet which is pinned to the wall
2 500W construction lights which are directly facing the bedsheet in order to blow out any shadows
2 500W construction lights which face the model (white umbrella mounted in front of them for light diffusion)

I plan to add another 2 500W with an umbrella tomorrow.

This will work fine, since the electric curcuit in the cellar uses a 16A fuse.

This will also give me enough (diffused) light I think.

The hard part is only to find a second white umbrella. It's really though to find these.

All the best,
Michael

steve-oh · « **Reply #10 on:** March 12, 2007, 14:58 »

Seems you got it figured out pretty well.

With all those lights, have you looked into getting a beginner lighting kit for photographers?

Remember, if you are shooting people under the construction lights, it will get very hot, and they will sweat.

Look forward to seeing your shots. Please keep us updated!

Daneel · « **Reply #11 on:** March 12, 2007, 15:09 »

Quote from: steve-oh on March 12, 2007, 14:58

Seems you got it figured out pretty well.

With all those lights, have you looked into getting a beginner lighting kit for photographers?

It would be _much_ more expensive for the same amount of light. I prefer my homebuild solution :-)

Quote from: steve-oh on March 12, 2007, 14:58

Remember, if you are shooting people under the construction lights, it will get very hot, and they will sweat.

Look forward to seeing your shots. Please keep us updated!

You will certainly see them! Although probably not on StockXpert - they are still rejecting 95% of what I upload (photos which are well accepted at the other big 6 and of course many of the smaller agencies) - so I'm getting demotivated to keep working with them - seems that my photos are incompatible just with them.

All the best,
Michael

ps: Sorry...that last paragraph probably doesn't belong here but in a seperate thread/forum...just couldn't help it...

steve-oh · « **Reply #12 on:** March 12, 2007, 15:48 »

No problem. Like I said, I use a similar set up, so I'm curious to see how others manipulate the light from these puppies to capture their shots.

Good luck!

Daneel · « **Reply #13 on:** March 12, 2007, 16:11 »

Thanks! I'm really looking forward to that in particular because my daughter (9 years old and a really cute face) is already very motivated :-D.

We did some test shots without the umbrella(s) and one could really see how hard that light is. Additionally I really had to push the exposure in post-processing to get rid of the shadows. Those were some "ok" photos, but not really acceptable. I'm sure that I'll be able to do much better with the enhanced setup...

All the best,
Michael

Daneel · « **Reply #14 on:** March 14, 2007, 05:56 »

Hi all!

Some first shots taken in my "home-built" "below 100 USD" photo studio:

She isn't always that cooperative though *g*:

What do you think?

All the best,
Michael

CJPhoto · « **Reply #15 on:** March 14, 2007, 06:26 »

They look very good.

My guess is that the last one will sell best.

I dont do people shots but my guess is you need to think about what people want and do photos to cater for that. Otherwise all you have is very high quality family portraits. Just looked again and the first might sell well too.

Daneel · « **Reply #16 on:** March 14, 2007, 06:31 »

Quote from: CJPhoto on March 14, 2007, 06:26

They look very good.

My guess is that the last one will sell best.

I dont do people shots but my guess is you need to think about what people want and do photos to cater for that. Otherwise all you have is very high quality family portraits. Just looked again and the first might sell well too.

Many thanks! You are completely right, those were just "test shoots" which came out so well that I simply submitted them ... and they got approved.

However, I think the second and the third might sell as well. A designer can use these to draw attention to a specific element of his design - e.g., a new product. The girl would then be looking at this product.

I've quite curious how they will perform.

I'm only uploading these at SS and DT at the moment. Some of the other agencies have a rather complicated system of handling model releases :-(.

All the best,
Michael

Daneel · « **Reply #17 on:** March 16, 2007, 03:28 »

Hey Steve,

Quote from: steve-oh on March 12, 2007, 15:48

No problem. Like I said, I use a similar set up, so I'm curious to see how others manipulate the light from these puppies to capture their shots.

Guess what? StockXpert accepted almost all of these portrait shots (around 20-25). Which reviewer did you bribe?

Just joking ... seems like those are in demand, so I should produce more of those for StockXpert ;-)

All the best,
Michael

steve-oh · « **Reply #18 on:** March 17, 2007, 08:31 »

Congrats, Michael. Great shots!

As you already know, all micro sites are different. Seems you've found what the StockXpert reviewers are looking for, and all it took were a couple of umbrellas.

Thanks!
-Steve

Daneel · « **Reply #19 on:** March 26, 2007, 06:14 »

Hi all,

some more photos which I took in my "cheap-ass" photo studio - this time with a bit of a story in mind. Around 90% of the first batch of 50 was already accepted at StockXpert

What do you think?

All the best,
Michael

ps: The previous photos of my daughter are selling quite good :-)

Greg Boiarsky · « **Reply #20 on:** March 26, 2007, 09:10 »

You might reconsider the angle of your lighting. Your model has fairly deep shadows around her eyes and her neck/chin are brighter than her forehead and cheeks.

Also, on my monitor at least the colors look a touch too cool.

The poses in images 3, 5, and 6 are saleable, I think.

Quote from: Daneel link=topic=1420.msg12691#msg12691

What do you think?

All the best,
Michael

ps: The previous photos of my daughter are selling quite good :-)

GeoPappas · « **Reply #21 on:** March 26, 2007, 10:07 »

Quote from: Daneel on March 26, 2007, 06:14

What do you think?

Are you using a wide-angle lens. For some reason, some of the photos look like they have wide-angle distortion.

litifeta · « **Reply #22 on:** March 26, 2007, 19:15 »

Well I use 4 x 500 construction lights, and have purchased a light tent. Despite post processing I still cannot get the background white.

So tell me how you did these photos, they look GREAT!

Daneel · « **Reply #23 on:** March 27, 2007, 04:40 »

Quote from: GeoPappas on March 26, 2007, 10:07

Quote from: Daneel on March 26, 2007, 06:14
What do you think?

Are you using a wide-angle lens. For some reason, some of the photos look like they have wide-angle distortion.

Hi!

I'm using a Sigma 18-50 f2.8 - could be that I used it at the wide end some times...

All the best,
Michael

Daneel · « **Reply #24 on:** March 27, 2007, 04:44 »

Hi!

Quote from: litifeta on March 26, 2007, 19:15

Well I use 4 x 500 construction lights, and have purchased a light tent. Despite post processing I still cannot get the background white.

So tell me how you did these photos, they look GREAT!

Many thanks. If you use a light tent make sure to put one of the construction lights behind the light tent in order to blow out any shadows. Also use custom white balance...

All the best,
Michael

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Author Topic: Modifying construction lights - will it burn? (Read 14022 times)

Daneel

sim

Daneel

PenelopeB

Daneel

leaf

stokfoto

steve-oh

mangia

Daneel

steve-oh

Daneel

steve-oh

Daneel

Daneel

CJPhoto

Daneel

Daneel

steve-oh

Daneel

Greg Boiarsky

GeoPappas

litifeta

Daneel

Daneel

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