Reddit reviews 8.5 INCH CLAMP LIGHT

Hey, I do theater lighting so I think I can help, though I'm not the best photographer.


Gel is pretty easy to get your hands on. Look on Google for a Theatrical lighting company in your area, any one that rents gear should sell gel, it goes for about $6 for a 2' by 3' sheet, most of which can be reused. Be careful putting it to close to particularly hot light because it can melt. Get a Swatch book while you're there to see all the ones they sell, Rosco and Lee are the leading brands. If you're in the Ann Arbor, Pittsburgh or Chicago area you can have some of mine, I've got too much.


In terms of lighting equipment, you don't need to spend much. I've lit entire (extremely low budget) musicals with lights from the hardware store. These lights are cheap and directional and you can tape gel right over it: https://www.amazon.com/Power-Zone-Clamp-Light-PZ-300/dp/B000KKLPOU


To control intensity with these lights you can either buy portable dimmers which aren't too expensive, use ND filters (another kind of gel) or different wattage lamps (light bulbs). They each have strengths and weaknesses but I wouldn't worry about it yet, just play with whatever is cheapest.


LEDs are nice because you can change color, but you don't need expensive ones. I believe Amazon sells some for cheap with RGB control, but for faces I would stick with incandescent light, tends to make the actress look better.


In terms of the photos, they look great. One thing I try to do is light the subject and the background separately. An amber model on a blue background really pops. Lighting the background or actor from two different angles with different colors also leads to a nice effect, you seem to have figured this out, but keep playing with it and try doing it with different lights for the subject and background.


Anyway, keep it up and let me know if you have anymore questions.

Sure, or you can use clamp lights as well. They sell them at hardware stores. However both lights are impossible to focus (flood/spot) and difficult to shape. If you buy these lights you'd definitely also want some light-shaping materials to make them usable, like bounces, diffusion (this is a good kit, but foamcore is widely available too as a bounce) black wrap, and gels for color correction. Some solid flags with C-stands would also be a very useful investment but if that's outside your budget you might have to improvise. I'd also get some dimmers for those.

This Rocket Jump Film School video on harnessing sunlight might be immensely helpful to you. All you really need are a little planning, some foamcore, and a white bedsheet, and you can get all kinds of lighting effects out of plain old sunlight. I've also seen a lot of people recommend clamp lights, which should be readily available at your local hardware store. Those bedsheets and foamcore boards will be useful with these lights too.

Miniature photography is one of my favorite hobbies, for the best results I suggest spending the money on a good light box with diffused sides and top such as this . After that got to lowes/home depo/ harware store get a few clamp lamps and some day light bulbs for them. Put one lamp over the top and one on each side. (I put mine at a 45 degree angle so half goes to the sides and half to the front of the box.) So for $70 bucks max you will have a perfect set up for shooting minis, just remember to do things like focus stacking to get fully focused shots. In my flikr pool is examples of this, almost 90% of the stuff here is shot in a light box with this setup.

http://www.amazon.com/Power-Zone-Clamp-Light-PZ-300/dp/B000KKLPOU clamp light i use, i think i got it at Marc's for 4$
http://www.walmart.com/ip/GE-Lighting-89094-GE-89094-20-Watt-Energy-Smart-Daylight-CFL-Light-Bulb/21153816
not that exact bulb, but make sure its 6500k...daylight. I grow chaeto and mangroves like no other. Replace the bulb once a year

>And they do not produce enough light to be of use.

I disagree here. I use a pair of clamp lights like these with daylight CFLs for various things:

• Background lights
  
• Tabletop photography
  
• Cheap rim lights
  
  I wouldn't imagine using them as your only or main source of light, however with quality daylight CFL bulbs, you've got some pretty handy lights. Kind of how some working pros use torches(UK)/flashlights(US) in some situations to help light things.