Module 30 |
Updated: 04/27/2009 |
LightingInstruments
"Quartz" Lamps |
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A C-clamp or pipe clamp (on the right, above) is used to attach the light to the studio's ceiling grid.
Because of the safety hazard
a falling Fresnel light some 5 meters (17 feet) feet overhead represents, a safety chain or cable should always be used along with the C-clamp. These wrap around the grid pipe and will keep a heavy light from falling if the C-clamp fails.
The distance between the internal lamp and the Fresnel lens can be adjusted with this type of light to either spread out (flood), or concentrate (spot or pin) the light's beam. This adjustment provides a convenient control over the intensity of the light, as well as the coverage area.
Ceramic
lamps, which were introduced by the Arri company in 2006, address several of the shortcomings of quartz
(tungsten-halogen) lamps.

First, they are much more efficient. A 250-watt ceramic spot provides as much light as a conventional 1,000-watt tungsten-halogen light. This means that for the same amount of light they take one-quarter the power.
Next, they operate at a much cooler temperature. If you touch a quartz lighting fixture while it's on, you would probably get a rather painful burn. Ceramic lights get warm, but not excessively hot.
Third, ceramic lamps last about eight times as long as a quartz, or tungsten halogen lamp.
And, finally, since they can operate on standard (low-wattage) 120-volt outlets, no special wiring, high-wattage dimmer equipment, or specially-trained studio safety people are required.
These lamps use a ceramic material to coat the inside of the lamp (hence the name). An arc with a continuous spark travels from one part of the lamp to the other and provides a relatively cool but intense 3,200K illumination.
What's the catch?
Ceramic lamps cost about eight times
more than quartz lamps. However, because of their cost-saving advantages,
they pay for themselves in the long run.
LED Lights
Scoops
Because there is no lens, the light is not projected any significant distance. As we will see, scoops are commonly used in the studio for fill light along with ▲ LED soft lights. Note that this scoop shown here has a square filter frame attached to the front. Colored gels, diffusers, and scrims can be slid into this frame to change the light in various ways. Ellipsoidal Spots |
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In some cases, a background pattern (see samples on the left) may be all you need in a medium shot or close-up to suggest a complete setting. For example, a colored stained glass pattern behind a person suggests that person is in a church.
Abstract patterns, or patterns suggesting the theme of a program, can also be used to break up what might otherwise be a blank background.
These can either be in the form of a cookie inside the light as indicated in the drawing above, or a large pattern mounted on a stand. When a coherent light source such as an ellipsoidal spot is directed at the pattern, a shadow of the pattern is projected on the background.
These large patterns are referred to as gobos, a term which stands for "go between."
Backgrounds, sets, and settings are discussed in
this section.
Although Fresnels, scoops, and ellipsoidal spots are the most used types of studio lights, there are also several other types of lighting instruments inclulding HMI lights. These are covered
here.
In ENG (electronic newsgathering) where quality is often secondary to getting a story, camera-mounted, tungsten-halogen or HMI lights (often called sun-guns) are sometimes used as a sole source of illumination.
These lights can be mounted on the top of the camera as shown here or held
by an assistant.
The one shown here has a tungsten-halogen (quartz) lamp. These are being replaced by LED units, which consume much less power. As we noted earlier, they also operate at a much lower temperature than quartz lamps.
Camera lights are typically powered by batteries -- often, the same batteries that power the camcorder.
When used as the only source of light they provide the same (questionable) quality as the familiar single-flash-on-the-camera does in still photography. As a result of the straight-on angle involved, picture detail and depth are sacrificed.
Plus, because of the relationship between distance and light intensity, the detail and color of foreground objects often becomes washed out, and objects in the distance typically go completely dark. (Recall the problem with tonal mergers.)
For these reasons, a camera light works best if important subject matter is all at about the same distance from the camera.
The quartz unites are often used outside in combination with a color-correcting blue dichroic filter to reduce harsh shadows created by direct sunlight. Most of the newer LED types don't need a correction filter, since their inherent color temperature can be either the color of daylight or incandescent light.
From lighting instruments themselves we now turn to
attachments that are used with these lights.
Adjustable black metal flaps called barn doors can be attached to some lights to mask off unwanted light and to keep it from spilling into areas where it's not needed.
While barn doors provide a soft cutoff (edge) to the perimeters of the light, flags provide a sharper, more defined cutoff point.
Flags consist of any type of opaque material that can block and sharply define the edges of the light source. They are often created and shaped, as needed, from double or triple layers of aluminum foil.
Flags are generally either clipped to stands or attached to the outer edges of barn doors. The further away they are from the light source, the more sharply defined the light cutoff will be.
Filter frames are typically a part of the barn door
attachment that slides over the front of lighting instruments. They can hold:
Each of these simply slides into the filter frame, which attaches to the front of the lighting instrument.
Now that we know the basics of lamps and lighting instruments, we're ready to put them into use. In the next Module we'll start with the most important light, the key light.
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