Studio lighting

[Richard Budig]

Thanks, everyone, for all your replies to my initial post. It's kind of nice knowing I'm not the only shlub out here who does not have one of those million dollar studios. Somehow, I imagined all of you in your pristine settings turning out great art by north light. I truly do envy those who have it, but I'm encouraged by those who don't have it, and still manage to make something out of nothing.

And by the way, did you all know that you can buy perfectly good 5,000 degree Kelvin neon tubes at WalMart/Kmart or most other "marts" for around $5 a tube? I'm not trying to cheat all those guys we see in the magazines with their high priced "north light" bulbs, but the fact is, they are available for not a lot of money at the big stores like K-Mart, et al. Just be sure you get the 5K light. They are marked on one end of the bulb. If in doubt, get a clerk from that department to help.

Also, if anyone feel chintzy for using neon, go to www.richardschmid.com and read his comments about his studio, or read the article about his studio in this month's The Artist Magazine. He uses banks of these same 5K neon tubes, so I guess that puts a lot of us in good company.

Thanks for all the help.

Dick Budig

[ReNae Stueve]

Well, now we are getting into my home turf.

Richard, when you say neon,I know you must mean fluorescent. You are correct in your goal to have a Kelvin temperature of between 4500 and 5000 degrees. However, what is more important than that is the CRI of the lamp. Lamps purchased at K-mart or Walmart under the name GE are not made by GE and do not have true chromaticity ratings or CRI data.

Your first goal is to get a good VCP or Visual Comfort Probability. Place your lamps in such a way as to reduce shadows and scalloping. I prefer indirect. As Karen has noted, paint your walls a neutral in value 4, and paint your ceiling with phosphorus reflective paint then hang your 4

[Karin Wells]

there are LOTS of tricks to simulate this if you have a little handyman in you, a movie screen and space.

Could you tell us more?

[ReNae Stueve]

Karin,

Yes, I would be happy to draw up some plans, but it's not that hard, and if you have the basic idea you can make something that fits your room.

Think of a light source as a pat of butter. You can have it in a clump or you can spread it out very thin. It's still a tablespoon of butter. You can direct and redirect it to suit your needs.

You can't see the sun when you look out of a North-facing window, but light is reflected off the atmosphere into the room. So when there is no window and no sun, you have to make a light box that simulates this.

Build a lightweight box that is 3 ft. taller and 2 ft. wider than your ideal window but wide enough to accommodate your fixture length of three to four feet. Cut your "window" into the center leaving most the three feet on the top, and hinge that side for access or make your blank wall the back. You might put your three/four sided box on a table with castors so you can move it. Either way you must have a reflective surface on the inside.

You place your 4' 2lamp strip with white reflectors (this is referred to as an industrial strip by the way) against the window side, above the window frame in the uppermost corner. If your room is already very bright, you may repeat with a single tube on each vertical side, or you can just diffuse the ambient light. Your box doesn't have to be more than 18" deep, by the way.

The light should then be directed to the back wall, where it will bounce back through your window. Everything inside is covered with projector screen material. This is what we have found works best in some of the simulated windows I've done. If you can't do this, you must at least make sure that the color is neutral white to maintain color balance. To get a really great "tube" of light create a "chute" or an angled windowsill. You do want to make sure your "butter" isn't pouring out the sides so caulk if needed. Remember, everything inside is white reflective material.

OR, you can rig up many light strips using halogen and fluorescent as I have built into the cavity of a bedroom closet, then use MDF to make various vignettes. I prefer the incandescent/halogen because they are dimmable. Obtaining dimmable electronic fluorescent fixtures can be really pricey.

You can get your fixtures pre-wired with a convenience plug or do it yourself, but if you don't know anything about wiring fluorescent ballasts I'd have someone do it for you.

Whew!!!! Sounds like a great deal of work. As for me, I'm trading rooms. I'm gong to move my bedroom in here where the windows face South and East and put my studio in the front bedroom that faces North.

The weekend warrior marches on. No wonder none of my male friends will come over any more.


11/11/02 PS. Kelvin Scales are based on the temp of sunlight at high noon. dawn and dusk.....? the FX folks use filters and gels. Dimming any source brings it down into the warm tones.