How to bounce natural light?

eddiefruchter · June 29, 2004

Working with limited knowledge of lighting. Any information on bouncing/working with halogens/natural light is needed. Thanks.

Marty Hamrick · June 29, 2004

You shooting outdoors or indoors?Find where your source is and use a bounce card or reflector.

Marty

Laurent Andrieux · June 29, 2004

You could give us more informations.. If I understand that you don't have much artificial light and try to make it with the only incoming light, you can use mirrors of different sizes, put them on stands with clamps and consider them as your projectors, it works great. Also polystirene boards are great to fill-in

Laurent Andrieux · June 29, 2004

so go back to marty's answer then

NathanielR · June 30, 2004

4.) I haven't acquired any lights yet, but I feel that A Home Depot work light and a frosted shower curtain won't suffice.

Is that true? I've heard some tell that you could buya 600w halogen work light from home depot, and while it might not have the best color spectrum (which is a non issue in B&W for the most part), it would get the job done a heck of a lot cheaper than an professional light.

Of course, you wouldn't be able to direct it (at all), but for a broad fill, maybe a background light or something, would it work?

Alvin Pingol · June 30, 2004

>>>On this topic of Worklights... Has anyone used worklights before? I assume

>>>we all mean fluorescents.

I thought we were talking about halogen lamps?

Quote from NathanielR:

>>>I've heard some tell that you could buya 600w halogen work light from

>>>home depot, and while it might not have the best color spectrum (which is a

>>>non issue in B&W for the most part), it would get the job done a heck of a lot

>>>cheaper than an professional light.

>>>Also, how can I make a cheap bounce card, or is it just easier to buy one.

You can make a cheap bounce card by buying a 2 dollar foam-core project board. ;)

>>>Is this a tin foil matter?

If you want it to be. Wrapping the board, or portions of it, in foil will give the bounce card higher reflectivity and will therefore be more efficient. However, the light will not be as soft versus if you just used a bare, matte white board.

>>>Can I pick up a bounce card at a normal photo supply shop, or do I need a

>>>special one for motion picture film?

I would not spend my money on any "special" bounce boards unless you absolutely need to for some reason. Almost anything will work. For me, those foam core boards work well because they have a matte surface that still reflects light really well, and they are inexpensive and easy to find (so if one gets damaged you can pick another one up no problem). If you need something larger than a foamcore board, tape them together.

Hell, I've even used a white bedsheet draped over some furniture...

Michael Nash · July 1, 2004

Almost anything can be turned into a bounce board. The most common materials are foamcore and "beadboard", or 1-1/2" thick styrofoam insulation. Beadboard is a slightly brighter white with a softer dispertion, but the difference is subtle. Cut it to 4x4' and 2x3' sheets and run some 2" white gaffers tape around the edge to keep it from shredding. Most grips will make up a board with foamcore taped onto beadboard, so that there's a "hard" side and a "soft" side.

You can also use showcard, which is kind of a heavy posterboard and comes in a variety of colors (including silver and gold). This stuff is flexible and best for taping directly onto walls or conforming into corners and ceilings.

If you need more reflectance you can use tin-foil, silver spraypaint, or better yet Rosco flex material, which is a pebbley-silver material you can mount onto beadboard. There are also silvery insulation materials available from hardware stores. Get inventive.

With all of these boards you'll need some way to mount them in position. Usually that's with C-stands and the proper mounting hardware ("platypus" beadboard holders). The proper angle of reflectance is crutial for silver or mirrored boards. You'll also want some types of flags to control the spill of light.

Dan Salzmann · July 2, 2004

I don't think Sven Nykvist took too many drugs.

Yes, polystyrene will work, mirrors will work, even those silver sunguards for car windscreens. Just remember angle of incidence equals angle of reflection.

One little tip is to have a small pocket mirror with which you can find the angle of reflection.

That way you'll know where to have your gaffers position the larger reflector you will end up using.

Sam Wells · July 2, 2004

Nor am I sure he "used a lot of mirrors" ..maybe.. but my impression is he opted for simplicity.

-sam

Laurent Andrieux · July 3, 2004

working with mirrors is fun and great. I remeber on a "police" series (commissaire moulin), where regnier was directing, he needed to cover nearly every axis in a large room so the dp put all sources in a corridor and lit the scene from this place. Gaffers where happy as they didn't have to put them all over the place ! Easier to pack back !

Polystirene is what we always use in France have no doubt that it works

nykvist_fan · July 18, 2004

Eddie,

Foam boards work great. When I am in the U.S, I buy them at Wal Mart in the office supplies section for just under $2. Polystyrene is good. Buy it at a hardware store in a large sheet for under $20.