no budget lighting

[benglowney]

I am shooting a short in a few weeks on little to no budget. I think renting HMIs is probably too expensive and I might have to use mostly tungsten to save money. Any suggestions on what to do? Any ways to try to replicate something like a 1.2k HMI soft source?

 

Thanks for the advice.

[Freya Black]

I am shooting a short in a few weeks on little to no budget. I think renting HMIs is probably too expensive and I might have to use mostly tungsten to save money. Any suggestions on what to do? Any ways to try to replicate something like a 1.2k HMI soft source?

 

Thanks for the advice.

 

You mention HMI's so I assume you are mostly shooting in daylight conditions? You could look into daylight kinos?

 

love

 

Freya

[Brian Drysdale]

You could punch a couple of 2K Blondes with CTB through a diffusion frame. Although, the cheapest daylight lighting is using reflectors - poly boards can bought at your local DIY

[Jon Rosenbloom]

Is this for interiors? 1.2k HMI's go for about $500/day, plus insurance, etc. You could spend half that on a couple rolls of full cto, or 3/4 cto and gel your windows - if they're not too big.

[julie kain]

hi, good idea. But If you want to do shooting, you have to spend some and also light is very important for shooting or photography. Here you could see more lighting effects halogen bulbs, compact fluorescent bulbs, LED lights.

[Chris Pritzlaff]

I am shooting a short in a few weeks on little to no budget. I think renting HMIs is probably too expensive and I might have to use mostly tungsten to save money. Any suggestions on what to do? Any ways to try to replicate something like a 1.2k HMI soft source?

 

Thanks for the advice.

 

Post more info on what you are hoping to accomplish and details about the location and scene, and the members of the forum might be able to offer advice for your specific situation

[benglowney]

Post more info on what you are hoping to accomplish and details about the location and scene, and the members of the forum might be able to offer advice for your specific situation

 

Yes. I don't have the budget to spend $500 a day on 1.2ks with flicker free ballast(I'm used to shooting in ny, though rentals are not quite as bad as $500 out here)

 

Thanks all. I am shooting a long cafeteria through which daylight streams through the windows--ideally there will be at least one rather large shot showing a large part of the cafeteria. I also hope to shoot down a long hallway where the motivation comes from florescent overhead lighting, if anyone has advice on keeping equipment out of a shot like this, thanks.

 

We are shooting on a Canon 5D. Probably going for 500ISO and around a 2.8/4 aperture.

[Jon Rosenbloom]

Check out M David Mullen's threads on "The Sophomore."

[Chris Burke]

Yes. I don't have the budget to spend $500 a day on 1.2ks with flicker free ballast(I'm used to shooting in ny, though rentals are not quite as bad as $500 out here)

 

Thanks all. I am shooting a long cafeteria through which daylight streams through the windows--ideally there will be at least one rather large shot showing a large part of the cafeteria. I also hope to shoot down a long hallway where the motivation comes from florescent overhead lighting, if anyone has advice on keeping equipment out of a shot like this, thanks.

 

We are shooting on a Canon 5D. Probably going for 500ISO and around a 2.8/4 aperture.

 

 

daylight balanced CFLs can work great and are very cheap. Very bright as well. great for soft light.

[Adrian Sierkowski]

One of the cheapest, punchiest, no frills lighting units to rent is the PAR 64. It's something that with a VNSP bulb can created a strong shaft of light and hell you can buy them for around $150 with bulb from B/H photo. Now, for your daylight you might want to look into using them with 1/2 CTB on 'em which'll get them "close" to daylight yet a little bit warmer then the ambient skylight. And, in the long hallway scenes, you might be able to just bang 'em off of the ceiling, if it's white, to boost overall ambiance then use some smaller fixtures around to mold some highlights. It's one of those things I like to have around on a set, even if I just have one of 'em, because I know eventually I'll have to use it for something!

[timHealy]

Low budget lighting=plan your shoot on the sun's position and use bounces, large nets, and silks if needed.

 

best

 

Tim

[J. Lamar King IMPOSTOR]

I second Adrien and have done it many times. 1K PAR's through a thick dif like 216 or Grid to smooth out the multiple beams. Works great. I usually cluster about 8 to 10 behind a 4x frame with diff and CTB. Comes out about like a 4K HMI. Better to use the MolePAR's but rock and roll PAR's will work and are very cheap to rent.

[Hal Smith]

Can you change out the overhead fluorescents? If you're lucky and they are 48" tubes you could swap them for GE Chroma 50's with a color temp of 5K and a CRI of 90. They can be purchased in the home stores in two packs for around $9. Chroma 50's aren't quite as good as Kinoflo bulbs but they're close and one heck of a lot cheaper.

 

For the lighting geeks among us: GE also makes a Chroma 75 which closely matches reflected skylight. I've never used them but it would be interesting to try using them for fill on an outdoor shot in the shade on an otherwise sunny day.

[AlexJBender]

Hi Ben

 

I know it's been mention in other post here - but I would suggest a good way of lighting this with little money, is to stick with tungsten source lights and use a full CTO with a diffusion. Use a ultrabounce or silk on a frame if possible to soften any hard sources. For closer work, a daylight chinaball is great option, held above head height works really well and can easily be gelled and diffused for little money. If you're budget can stretch to it, a great light to get hold of is a source4. Because the beam is so sharp, you're able to bounce from ceilings or polly boards with great efficiency and little fall off.

 

Hope this helps

 

 

Alex