Lighting with HMI's

[Brian Wells]

This must seem like a rather silly question, but how do I learn to light with HMI's? Are there any resources that come to mind? Sure I follow AC magazine and look at the setups there on big films. But, say if I wanted to shoot a daytime scene in a small room (12x12 for sake of discussion) with motivated light from a window and use some poly board or a Kino Flo for fill, what size of HMI would I put outside the window? I mean, how do you know what to ask for? Obviously experience, but in lieu of that what are some resources for learning this stuff?

 

If it came down to only having a single unit, would you see more utility (generally speaking) in a Par or Fresnel? 575W or 1200W?

 

Thanks.

[Matt Sandstrom]

i'd pick the 1200 for sure, but in my experience you need a bigger unit than that to simulate sunlight, maybe a 4k, especially if you're diffusing it. a bounced 1200 makes great fill for indoors lit by real sunlight though, and it's great for night shots, and you can run it on regular power.

 

/matt