Really Really Cheap Lighting Kit

[Rick Wise]

John, fabulous “stamp-collecting” analogy! I’m going to steal that for my students! Thank you.

As for the 1K Arrilight itself: that’s raw lighting, an open-faced unit. So long as you use relatively thick diffusion set off from the light at a good distance, or else bounce it into a piece of foam core, it will work as your key.

Be sure you get: the barn doors, a single and a double scrim, a stand, and 2 bulbs (one as spare), a couple of sheets of the following: 1/4 CTO, 1/2 CTO, 1/4 CTB, 1/2 CTB, 1/4 plus-green, 1/4 minus-green. I’d also get a couple of sheets of 1/2 grid cloth and also full opal. I’d buy the light and accessories from BHPhotovideo myself. (No need to get Arri stands, but don’t get the cheapest ones either.)

Rick Wise
director of photography
San Francisco Bay Area
and part-time instructor lighting and camera
grad school, SF Academy of Art University/Film and Video
https://www.RickWiseDP.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rwise
email: Rick@RickWiseDP.com

[John Sharaf]

For fast and dirty single source key with a light like the 1K Arri we’re talking about, my favorite approach is to take a roll of heavy white diffusion (we used to use shower curtain or “Vinyl-lite” but Lee 129 or 216 is good too) and un-spool it from a roll while hanging on a c-stand arm in front of the open faced light.

This way you get to reuse the roll indefinatly (use a spring clamp to keep from totally unfurling) and create a large (4×4′) source light. If you stage your shot far enough from the wall behind the subject you don’t even have to worry about controlling the spill.

Another cheap and elegant application is to use a photo strobe umbrella (either white for softness or silver for strength) as a reflector. Hold it in a c-stand head to aim effectively.

JS

[Bill Davis]

Rick,

In all my years, i’ve somehow never worked with someone who used the jargon “platypus” – is this a west coast term for a Cardillini clamp or similar?

Just curious.

[Rick Wise]

Also called a duckbill, also called a quacker or a Quaker. It’s a vice-grip with two 6’x6′ plates welded on to hold foamcore, beadboard, etc. Mathews makes them (probably some others do too.) https://fwd4.me/9Df. (The picture is a bit hard to read as the white surface of the top plate blends into the white background. tsk, tsk….

Rick Wise
director of photography
San Francisco Bay Area
and part-time instructor lighting and camera
grad school, SF Academy of Art University/Film and Video
https://www.RickWiseDP.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rwise
email: Rick@RickWiseDP.com

[Bill Davis]

Understood.

Seen them for years in the Markertek catalog – just never connected them to this particular bit of jargon.

Back probably 15 years ago, I hit a “clearance” sale with a lot of Bogan ususual grip gear. They had four of the FORK style foamcore holders and since I was flush at the time, I bought them all in a “one money” deal. It represents the best system (albiet foolishly expensive at list!) I’ve ever seen for holding foamcore sheets in place, so that’s all I’ve used since.

See, no matter how long you’ve been in the industry – theres always something more to learn.

Happy holidays all!

[Todd Terry]

I find duckbill/Quaker/platypus clamps invaluable, and use them every day (earlier today included)…. but if I recall, the “real” duckbill clamps from Matthews are somewhere in the $75 neighborhood, maybe a tad more.

We make our own for less than $10. All you need is a pair of Vice Grips (even the cheap knock-off no-brands from Harbor Freight tools), a long 5/8″ bolt (cut the threads off and weld it on), and a couple of small pieces of sheet metal (welded into the jaws).

Assembly is a no-brainer. The only tip I have is to take the spring in the Vice Grips out before you weld, and put it back later… the spring location is right adjacent to one of the welding spots, and the heat will fry it. In the first one we made we ruined the spring that way.

Pocket the saved $65, or spend it on something else you need. 🙂

T2

__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com

[Alan Lloyd]

I’d add some white silk as well. Nice to have the “directional” option for diffusion. (The beam spreads out on a right angle from the “texture” of the silk diffusion.)