timmyquest
28th of December 2004 (Tue), 22:56
I first came across the idea to buy one of these puppies after watching a clip from sportsshooter.com about painting light on your subject’s (http://www.sportsshooter.com/special_feature/2003_luau_video/lightpainting/index.html). I never got to buying one though until I was doing some Christmas shopping with my girlfriend at Home Depot (it was actually a Manards but I don’t think that’s a national chain...so we'll call it Home Depot :D ). I was getting bored with my girlfriends shopping and something big caught my eye. A 2,000,000 candle power spot light. What more? It was only $20.
I bought it for the sheer coolness factor alone. After a few weeks of shining it in peoples faces, using it to warm my fingers up on cold nights while browsing POTN, and chasing animals away at night, I finally got the bright idea (that’s a pun) to get around and apply it to photography.
First I found a translucent (non-dyed) plastic lid to a container in my kitchen. I though "ahh, this is perfect" as it was about as clear as an omni-bounce and nearly exactly the same size as the light its self. Unfortunately though it didn’t soften the light for the same reason an omni bounce really doesn’t. The size of the light source was still the same.
Tonight though, I had an epiphany. Mpix.com sends their prints wrapped in a piece of cardboard which is placed inside a wax paper bag. I decided to give the wax paper bag a try, and to my surprise I found it did exactly what I needed.
Because it is a bag, it kind of opens up thus becoming larger. Because of the wax it spreads the light throughout the entire bag which because of the red text gives you a nice powerful light source that has been softened.
For $20 and some wax paper I’ve gotten a huge light and a home made soft box.
I'll let the photos speak for themselves (not really, I’ll explain a little)
This is the light
http://www.questphotos.com/cheaplight/thelight.jpg
This is the rig
http://www.questphotos.com/cheaplight/thetrick.jpg
This is the effect
http://www.questphotos.com/cheaplight/theeffect.jpg
Here are a few showing it in use (this was just a quick thing as the batteries in the light were dieing, it has a recharge. inside, and i also need to go get one or two more so i dont get the shadows)
Light alone
http://www.questphotos.com/cheaplight/1.jpg
Light with fill flash (notice the colors on her left side, these are from the flash. I guess you'd never be able to tell as the WB would adjust to the different colors, but...for what it's worth right?
http://www.questphotos.com/cheaplight/2.jpg
Another, the light a little closer
http://www.questphotos.com/cheaplight/3.jpg
This is without the paper.
http://www.questphotos.com/cheaplight/withoutit.jpg
I bought it for the sheer coolness factor alone. After a few weeks of shining it in peoples faces, using it to warm my fingers up on cold nights while browsing POTN, and chasing animals away at night, I finally got the bright idea (that’s a pun) to get around and apply it to photography.
First I found a translucent (non-dyed) plastic lid to a container in my kitchen. I though "ahh, this is perfect" as it was about as clear as an omni-bounce and nearly exactly the same size as the light its self. Unfortunately though it didn’t soften the light for the same reason an omni bounce really doesn’t. The size of the light source was still the same.
Tonight though, I had an epiphany. Mpix.com sends their prints wrapped in a piece of cardboard which is placed inside a wax paper bag. I decided to give the wax paper bag a try, and to my surprise I found it did exactly what I needed.
Because it is a bag, it kind of opens up thus becoming larger. Because of the wax it spreads the light throughout the entire bag which because of the red text gives you a nice powerful light source that has been softened.
For $20 and some wax paper I’ve gotten a huge light and a home made soft box.
I'll let the photos speak for themselves (not really, I’ll explain a little)
This is the light
http://www.questphotos.com/cheaplight/thelight.jpg
This is the rig
http://www.questphotos.com/cheaplight/thetrick.jpg
This is the effect
http://www.questphotos.com/cheaplight/theeffect.jpg
Here are a few showing it in use (this was just a quick thing as the batteries in the light were dieing, it has a recharge. inside, and i also need to go get one or two more so i dont get the shadows)
Light alone
http://www.questphotos.com/cheaplight/1.jpg
Light with fill flash (notice the colors on her left side, these are from the flash. I guess you'd never be able to tell as the WB would adjust to the different colors, but...for what it's worth right?
http://www.questphotos.com/cheaplight/2.jpg
Another, the light a little closer
http://www.questphotos.com/cheaplight/3.jpg
This is without the paper.
http://www.questphotos.com/cheaplight/withoutit.jpg