How many watt seconds do I need?

"Michael Benveniste" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 14 Dec 2004 01:55:21 GMT, teflon
wrote:


Just clamps - small metal ones. You can clip any gel to any light in a few
seconds - except a softbox, where it is simpler to clip it on the inside
frame. 10 seconds. Brilliant for quick lighting changes and adjustments.

BTW. ND gels reduce output. They can't affect the "evenness" of a light. I
don't see how they can - but correct me if you've experienced otherwise.

The gel reduces light evenly only if it's clean and flat. Any
wrinkles, clamp points, tape residue, etc. can create unevenness and
shadows.

If you can get a gel to lie correctly inside a medium-sized softbox or
on a beauty dish in 10 seconds, more power to you. The one time I
tried to gel a softbox for color correction I gave up in frustration
and ended up switching to a reflector and umbrella.

--
Michael Benveniste --
Spam and UCE professionally evaluated for $419. Use this email
address only to submit mail for evaluation.

This sounds like an in house discussion, is there room for an outside
comment?

If money is tight fly mesh is good for reducing light output it also works
fine when shooting groups to reduce light on the people closer to the unit.
Likewise on a seated pose where the legs tend to get too great a share of
the light, some scrim or mesh across the bottom of the light box works a
treat. Held on by spring clips.

Sorry if I interrupted your discussion. Please continue.
--
Otzi

"Michael Benveniste" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 14 Dec 2004 01:55:21 GMT, teflon
wrote:


Just clamps - small metal ones. You can clip any gel to any light in a few
seconds - except a softbox, where it is simpler to clip it on the inside
frame. 10 seconds. Brilliant for quick lighting changes and adjustments.

BTW. ND gels reduce output. They can't affect the "evenness" of a light. I
don't see how they can - but correct me if you've experienced otherwise.

The gel reduces light evenly only if it's clean and flat. Any
wrinkles, clamp points, tape residue, etc. can create unevenness and
shadows.

If you can get a gel to lie correctly inside a medium-sized softbox or
on a beauty dish in 10 seconds, more power to you. The one time I
tried to gel a softbox for color correction I gave up in frustration
and ended up switching to a reflector and umbrella.

--
Michael Benveniste --
Spam and UCE professionally evaluated for $419. Use this email
address only to submit mail for evaluation.

This sounds like an in house discussion, is there room for an outside
comment?

If money is tight fly mesh is good for reducing light output it also works
fine when shooting groups to reduce light on the people closer to the unit.
Likewise on a seated pose where the legs tend to get too great a share of
the light, some scrim or mesh across the bottom of the light box works a
treat. Held on by spring clips.

Sorry if I interrupted your discussion. Please continue.
--
Otzi

On 14/12/04 3:14 am, in article ,
"Michael Benveniste" wrote:

On Tue, 14 Dec 2004 01:55:21 GMT, teflon
wrote:

The gel reduces light evenly only if it's clean and flat. Any
wrinkles, clamp points, tape residue, etc. can create unevenness and
shadows.

In theory perhaps, though in practice it doesn't show. There is so much
light bouncing around it doesn't distort the light so that it's noticeable.

If you can get a gel to lie correctly inside a medium-sized softbox or
on a beauty dish in 10 seconds, more power to you. The one time I
tried to gel a softbox for color correction I gave up in frustration
and ended up switching to a reflector and umbrella.

....which changes your lighting completely.

I found that cheap metal clips of about an inch long (I bought them six on a
card 'Made in Asia') fixes half a gel quite nicely to the four rods inside a
medium box. Brollies are trickier and will only do it if I really have to
use one, though it's still do-able.

10 seconds was a bit of a lie really. Just under half a minute actually. ;]

On 14/12/04 3:14 am, in article ,
"Michael Benveniste" wrote:

On Tue, 14 Dec 2004 01:55:21 GMT, teflon
wrote:

The gel reduces light evenly only if it's clean and flat. Any
wrinkles, clamp points, tape residue, etc. can create unevenness and
shadows.

In theory perhaps, though in practice it doesn't show. There is so much
light bouncing around it doesn't distort the light so that it's noticeable.

If you can get a gel to lie correctly inside a medium-sized softbox or
on a beauty dish in 10 seconds, more power to you. The one time I
tried to gel a softbox for color correction I gave up in frustration
and ended up switching to a reflector and umbrella.

....which changes your lighting completely.

I found that cheap metal clips of about an inch long (I bought them six on a
card 'Made in Asia') fixes half a gel quite nicely to the four rods inside a
medium box. Brollies are trickier and will only do it if I really have to
use one, though it's still do-able.

10 seconds was a bit of a lie really. Just under half a minute actually. ;]

On 14/12/04 3:41 am, in article
, "otzi" wrote:

This sounds like an in house discussion, is there room for an outside
comment?

If money is tight fly mesh is good for reducing light output it also works
fine when shooting groups to reduce light on the people closer to the unit.
Likewise on a seated pose where the legs tend to get too great a share of
the light, some scrim or mesh across the bottom of the light box works a
treat. Held on by spring clips.


If it works, then it's the right way to do it.

I personally don't see photography as an exact science.

teflon wrote:

I personally don't see photography as an exact science.

It is though. Totally governed by physical/chemical laws. The art lies
in the application of the laws.

--
dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.05...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico

teflon wrote:

I personally don't see photography as an exact science.

It is though. Totally governed by physical/chemical laws. The art lies
in the application of the laws.

--
dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.05...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico

teflon wrote:

I personally don't see photography as an exact science.

It is though. Totally governed by physical/chemical laws. The art lies
in the application of the laws.

--
dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.05...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico

Michael Benveniste wrote:

If you can get a gel to lie correctly inside a medium-sized softbox or
on a beauty dish in 10 seconds, more power to you. The one time I
tried to gel a softbox for color correction I gave up in frustration
and ended up switching to a reflector and umbrella.

You can get gel sheets that are the size of the softbox. Then slight wrinkles
and tape goo don't affect the rendered light (visibly).


--
-- r.p.e.35mm user resource: http://www.aliasimages.com/rpe35mmur.htm
-- r.p.d.slr-systems: http://www.aliasimages.com/rpdslrsysur.htm
-- [SI] gallery & rulz: http://www.pbase.com/shootin
-- e-meil: there's no such thing as a FreeLunch.

Michael Benveniste wrote:

If you can get a gel to lie correctly inside a medium-sized softbox or
on a beauty dish in 10 seconds, more power to you. The one time I
tried to gel a softbox for color correction I gave up in frustration
and ended up switching to a reflector and umbrella.

You can get gel sheets that are the size of the softbox. Then slight wrinkles
and tape goo don't affect the rendered light (visibly).


--
-- r.p.e.35mm user resource: http://www.aliasimages.com/rpe35mmur.htm
-- r.p.d.slr-systems: http://www.aliasimages.com/rpdslrsysur.htm
-- [SI] gallery & rulz: http://www.pbase.com/shootin
-- e-meil: there's no such thing as a FreeLunch.