Lighting YOUR House

[Chad Stockfleth]

Us all being cinematographers or some such, how do you go about lighting in your own home? I ask because I just bought a house and have been giving it some thought.

 

Pictures would be awesome!

[Logan Schneider]

I use Dinos over the dining table and a Bebee as my nightlite. Occasionally I will turn on a Ruby Seven to read by.

[Chad Stockfleth]

wow, really? i can't imagine your energy bill.

[Matthew Buick]

There is a switch on the wall of every room... :lol:

[Chad Stockfleth]

what helpful responses!

 

i mean, c'mon, you think about how to light things all day and then you just use the overheads in your house?

[Chris Keth]

I would be quite happy to light my whole place with china balls of various sizes. They look good with the compact fluoros in them to save energy, too.

[Matthew Buick]

Sorry. I would probably light with a amber-gelled China Ball in my Kitchen for a nice soft light. Perhaps a Kino on the Bathroom ceiling. Perhaps a three wick candle to go to sleep by.

[Shane Bartlett]

I don't have any pictures available, but during the day our living room is lit entirely by a large, floor-to-ceiling north-facing window with red sheer panels to warm the daylight just a little. It is very soft. I love sitting in that room. At night, lamps with standard bulbs: warm and intimate, goes well with the hardwood and dark leather and wood furniture.

 

This past summer, I replaced the hideous fluorescent tubes in my wife's kitchen with daylight balanced bulbs. She was amazed by how much better she could see! And by how much better the difference in color temperature made the kitchen look--right down to the color of the walls.

 

Our bedroom is similar to the living room. Wood walls, hardwood floor, all wood furniture. One north-facing window, and one east-facing window. Looks amazing in the morning, and nice all day. At night, again, a single lamp that I found at a junkstore. It has the most amazing off-white shade of just such a thickness that the warm light is extremely soft.

 

If I could shoot in these conditions all the time, I'd be happy.

[Alex Haspel]

 

id just have those instead of normal power outlets, and then let the grip and electric crew imprisoned in my basement vary the lighning depending on my current mood

[Chris Keth]

 

id just have those instead of normal power outlets, and then let the grip and electric crew imprisoned in my basement vary the lighning depending on my current mood

 

Devious. I like it. Do you ever have them do a firelight gag for hours on end or TV flicker for a whole movie? :)

[Matthew Buick]

I'd run all my high powered light of the 240v mains in Britain. What's the worst that could happen. ;)

[Luke Prendergast]

 

I have plenty of windows on all sides so take advantage of natural light during the day. Venetians in every room but the living area, which has unbleached muslin over the windows (it took 30 metres of it!). Soft and a little dim is what I find most comfortable to live in.

In the second pic, with the translite of the bum (the companion top half is on the opposite wall), the overhead is in a normal conical desk lamp shade used upside down. There are a couple of 650w profiles on winchups for specials.

Everything is on dimmers so I can warm it up and drop the level at night. I love tungsten so no daylight balanced anything here, no flos and no CFLs. And definitely no MR16 downlights. Anywhere there's a bulb in the ceiling I haven't shaded, it's a crown-silvered type so it's bounced from the ceiling. Theres not a light in the place that can shine directly in your eyes.

Gradients of light are something else I love so any workspace has at least a desk or floor lamp to compliment the room's base exposure.

[Phil Rhodes]

I live my life illuminated almost solely by the lambent glow of video displays.

 

Vitamin D deficiency rocks!

 

Phil

[Hal Smith]

CF's everywhere except the living room ceiling fan and a 2XF40 with GE Chroma 50's in my office. Much of the lighting is table and floor lamps with colorful shades like repro Tiffany's. In the past I tried lighting my living room with a pair of S4's bounced off the cathedral ceiling. I liked the look a lot but the frau objected even though the S4's were the white architectural versions and I was using a pair of close to new baby stands that still had all their paint on them. She had a problem with what they looked like and also with running two 575 watt bulbs to light the room. "Gosh hon, I could have put 750's in them, what's your problem"? :)

[Michael Nash]

Indirect lighting everywhere. Nothing's worse than one big light in the center of the ceiling -- makes the room feel small, gloomy and oppressive. I'll take four 40w lamps in the corners over one 100w in the ceiling any day.

 

Since I'm such a design and architecture buff I've got too many cool lamps around. All my lamps are down low (table height or so) and near the walls so that the glow reflects off the walls and ceiling. You'd be amazed at how much lighting the walls opens up a space at night, versus lighting the center of the room.

 

I also like color, and in the living room/home theater area I've got teal party bulbs washing up the wall behind/next to the TV. The other tungsten practicals are on dimmers (for movie viewing) and the teal offsets the orange dimmed lights for a more "neutral" viewing environment.

 

I'm trying to find ways to incorporate more CFL's, but can't stand the ghastly green spike (I don't care what CRI they claim, it ALWAYS looks green to me). So far I've only got one 3500K bouncing off some blue tile, so it looks more blue anyway. I've got a paper diffuser around another tungsten practical in the nearby dining area which is slowly aging to yellow, giving a nice contrast to the blue.

 

Real-world lighting design (as opposed to photography) is about three types of light; Ambient lighting, task lighting, and accent lighting. I try to combine the accent lighting and ambient lighting from the same units (creating a low ambience), and use more direct task lighting only where I need it.

[Tomas Koolhaas]

China balls, ikea dimmers and bouncing lamps off the walls.