Portrait Studio Wall Color - Page 2

Joan Breckwoldt · 11-14-2005, 07:48 PM

Hi Garth,

Well, you are certainly right in that there are many variables in paint color! I had only thought of about half of them.

I have your address now so I'll get those samples in the mail tomorrow. I'm looking forward to your comparisons!

Joan

William Whitaker · 11-14-2005, 11:57 PM

Joan,

I think you were pretty fortunate. You obviously went into the right Benjamin Moore store!

Actually, I've given up on the formula. Instead, when I paint my new studio, I'm just going to go in and choose a color that matches my paint chip sample - or maybe a little darker.

Your backdrop is a fine idea. I think you will be very pleased with it.

William Whitaker · 11-15-2005, 12:00 AM

And by the way Joan, let me thank you and Garth for so graciously sharing your information with everyone here. Your contributions join with a great many others in making this forum a great resource.

Bill

Joan Breckwoldt · 11-15-2005, 04:24 PM

Dear Bill,

I am just so happy to be able to contribute the teeniest bit of information to this forum, I have gained so much from everyone here.

Since you put your studio address on this thread, I will send you a sample of what I just got from Benjamin Moore. You might find it interesting to compare it to what you've got.

I'm sending the two paint chips to Garth, we'll see what his spectrometer thingamajiggy says.

Joan

Richard Monro · 11-18-2005, 09:00 PM

I just had a revelation. I too am redoing my studio but am trying to match Bill's color to a Dunn Edward's paint chip. Interestingly the reflectance of that color is one of the lowest of the various grey mixtures. That means that there will be little reflected light colors influencing color mixtures. Another reason to go with a traditional color.

Garth Herrick · 11-18-2005, 11:57 PM

Yes, Richard, the low level of reflectance is very true. Lacking a decent window, I need supplimental artificial light (a bank of six fluorescent T-8 tubes). To get that artificial light to work, I have had to throw up two large white foamcore panels to coax the light over toward my easel. The light certainly is not bouncing off the Whitaker Gray-Green walls! That's for sure.

Garth

Joan Breckwoldt · 11-19-2005, 12:52 AM

I hope I'm not getting too far off the subject with this question about artificial light, but it stems from the comments about the studio wall color and how it affects the lighting on the model.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Garth Herrick

Lacking a decent window, I need supplimental artificial light (a bank of six fluorescent T-8 tubes).

Hi Garth,

Hmm, lighting. Such a challenge for me. I am so inspired by the photos that Bill puts up that I am determined to get some decent lighting. If I can't take great reference photos, I'll never paint great portraits. I believe I have searched every post related to artificial lighting on this forum and finally ended up with a Commerical Electric flourescent bulb. But after a few months of using it, I've realized it's not bright enough. So, in order to go with something portable (since I need to take photos of models someplace other than my tiny crowded 'studio' space), I' m thinking of going with a white-lightning set-up like Bill described or . . . the local camera store has a couple of 250 and 500 Watt bulbs (halogen or tungsten, I was looking at flashes and wasn't completely focused on the individual bulbs, can't remember exactly what they were). This would be the 'easy', i.e. cheap, way out, but I'm not convinced this type of light is what I'm looking for. My question, when it comes to portable lighting, is the white-lighting set up the best to emmulate north light?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Garth Herrick

To get that artificial light to work, I have had to throw up two large white foamcore panels to coax the light over toward my easel.

It's late at night, but I don't understand this at all! If you're using artificial light, why can't you just move your easel or move the lights?

thanks,

Joan

Garth Herrick · 11-19-2005, 01:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joan Breckwoldt

I ........ finally ended up with a Commerical Electric flourescent bulb. But after a few months of using it, I've realized it's not bright enough. So, in order to go with something portable (since I need to take photos of models someplace other than my tiny crowded 'studio' space), I' m thinking of going with a white-lightning set-up like Bill described or . . . the local camera store has a couple of 250 and 500 Watt bulbs (halogen or tungsten, I was looking at flashes and wasn't completely focused on the individual bulbs, can't remember exactly what they were). This would be the 'easy', i.e. cheap, way out, but I'm not convinced this type of light is what I'm looking for. My question, when it comes to portable lighting, is the white-lighting set up the best to emmulate north light?

Joan, I have no strobes for photography yet (as in White Lightning). Perhaps Bill could better address this. Since this type of light just makes a flash, your would need another light source to paint by.

Quote:

It's late at night, but I don't understand this at all! If you're using artificial light, why can't you just move your easel or move the lights?

Well my studio space just evolved in a quirky way. The fluorescent lights are somewhat fixed in position overhead, so I can't move them. My easel is actually about 6 feet away at a downward angle, which is not so bad. I would not want it any closer. I just needed the lights to be more intensified than they would be if they only had the dark walls as a (non)reflectve surround; hence the white foamcore panels as reflectors. This at least doubles the lumens on my easel and feels about as lumenous as the best hour of natural diffused daylight streaming in. Effectively it gives me daylight at night for extended studio time without adding more lights than I already have. Of course, nothing beats daylight itself, but I get very little of that. I would not want to convey that my studio is anywhere near an ideal setup, because it certainly is not.

Garth

Richard Monro · 11-19-2005, 08:12 AM

Joan,
Lighting is always an issue. There is a thread on the forum that goes into detail about lighting. However, I suggest that you visit this site to order light bulbs (http://www.lumiram.com/fluorescent.html). The bulbs you probably want to order are either the lumichrome 6500K (temperature in Kelvin) with a 98CRI (color rendering index) or the 5500K with a 95CRI. These bulbs simulate natural north light very closely. I have the lumichrome 6500K 98CRI in my studio.

Joan Breckwoldt · 11-20-2005, 04:56 PM

Hi Garth,

Thanks for clearing that up. I understand it now. Well, your studio may be less than perfect but it must be near perfect from the incredible work that you turn out!

Hi Richard,

Thank you for that website. On the same site are some 'compact' flourescent bulbs. I need a portable lighting system of some sort to take my reference photos with. I have plenty of daylight in my little studio, I just don't want people trapsing up here, through our masterbedroom (!) to get here. On the same website is this page:
http://www.lumiram.com/ecolume.html
and there are a number of full spectrum flourescent bulbs, the hightest having a wattage of 23 and temp of 5000 Kelvin. I have a similar bulb that is 19 watts and it just doesn't put out enough light to even create much of a defined shadow on the face. I need to supplement it with north light, which is sometimes difficult. There are a lot of trees around our house so there really isn't a great window to take photos by. But I could try their highest, the 23 watt.

Does anyone know if the 23 watt bulb would be significantly stronger than the 19 watt bulb that I'm using? I suppose I could buy two light stands and point two at my model (from the same direction, of course).

Joan