Outdoor lighting?

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ep82

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Hello

Just a quick question.
I tend to do alot of outdoor photography (well try to anyway) and majourty are of cars. And I was wondering if there is any lighting you guys can suggest I can get, for Night photos....
I want to use some kind of flood light to light up some areas but I would like it if it's more of a white light then yellowy lights.


The other thing is, as I am using it outdoors, it needs to be able to get power somehow. and ideas??

Here is the results I am trying to get.

6yh92e.jpg


IMG_4456.jpg


MOODYGARAGELOWLIGHT_1.jpg


s14b.jpg


s14d.jpg


Oh and I am a complete noob. Any tips would be great :)
Thanks everyone:)
 
i can't see the pics (cos the work computers wont allow me to) but have you considered tool hire palces like HSS. im sure they would have flood lights and the generaters to use them out doors.
 
Get yourself over to strobist.com and find out about using flash guns off camera. The problem with using floodlights is the colour cast they give off. Ignore anyone who says you can fix it in RAW conversion, you can if it's the only light source bit if you're mixing it with ambient light or any other type of light source you'll need to use gels to correct the lights to give off the same colour temperature. The problem with using gels on flood lights is they may melt the gels due to the heat they pump out. The Quantum flash system is supposed to be very good for outdoor work, battery powered and incredibly powerful for their size but they're not cheap.
 
Well I dont mind if the colour is abit off cos I can always make adjustments with photoshop.

Ideally, I would like something like the first pic. You can clearly see the lights and it's really powerful. And I would like to buy it more than hiring it. BUT I would like something fairly cheap :p cos I am spending more of my money on lens.

I saw some post on here about buying a flood light from builder center etc but can anyone tell me where is the best place to buy from? I am from the southwest UK.
 
try machinemart

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/categories/search/work-lights-floodlights


but lets run this through a bit . . .

if you're working outside with possibility of damp then go for a 110v system, probably a H&S requirement for outside temporary electrical on any commercial site that you are using.

if you are going to have a 240v mains source from the site mains then use centretapped 110v transformers and distribute at 110v

500W per lamp stacks up to a lot of juice quite quickly so you'll have to get right quantity of transformers and ratings to suit the lamps

don't forget on commercial property they'll all need current pat inspection certification (lamps leads transformers gensets)

if you're not going to have mains electricity then a genset will be needed. 500W a chuck for the lamps again starts to get into a lot of kVA and out of the diy field. You're into the frame type genny, how big a van have you got?

If you're doing this on the fly without site approval and need to do a runner quick then forget it, you'll have some nasty burns if you try to move hot halogen lamps and gensets in a hurry, you could even set fire to the boot of your car if you throw them in hot.

this cheap budget solution starts to look expensive quite quickly

the fluorescent based worklamps could get the costs lower due to their lower power requirements, but I have a feeling you could have trouble running a big fluorescent load on a genset

so is this a professional venture thatneeds to do it properly to get satisfied clients?, because those 500W halogens have a dirty big bare straightline bulb that is going to shine off the car bodywork and you are not going to get any shutters or colour filters or diffuser stuff to fit to them without burning your fingers off and possibly starting a large and nasty fire in the underground carpark of your choosing.

oh yes, underground & multistorey carparks, they've probably got rules about hot equipment

you have got insurance?
 
sorry if that was a bit of a dark (!!!! :LOL:) viewpoint

if you're taking pics on our or your mates driveway then fine get a couple of 240v worklamps on stands (or the small ground ones) but they pull a lot of juice, they get very hot, keep them away from everything. You have to have some practical sense with them and some electrical sense or you'll get hurt. They're not photographic lights and they wont give perfect results, but that may just add character to your shots!

if you're using commercial property sites like your example photos then you are in a different ballgame, tread carefully & follow the rules

sorry, used to do H&S, it gets stuck in your brain :bang:
 
Thanks Wookie

Never really thought about machinemart.

Hmmm. whats a genset?? I wont be using mains cos I will be outdoors, prob in a car park or country side.
Dont worry, I wont be using it in a multistory carpark :), I will just find a multistory with plenty of white light if I needed to.
So H&S wont be an issue. Unless I need it up in the hills in the country side or in a open car park.
Those are pretty much what I had in mind but how will I get power to those bad boys??
 
Multi stories with white lights? that's a good one. As for H&S not being an issue, any time your photographing on private property with constant hot lighting and power leads everywhere you might want to consider H&S and the liability implications.
 
look on machinemart at generators sets ( = gensets )

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/categories/search/generators


roughly speaking kVA = kW

so one 500W flood will need at least 500 VA = 0.5 kVA

you've got to make sure you are higher with the genset rating than your load so you'd pick a genset rated at least 600VA probably 750VA for one lamp

2.5 or preferably 3kVA for 4 lamps

BUT look at the noise these things kick out, they are not stealth devices.
Plus they're heavy, and you're into refuelling issues and that is a dengerous area too. Petrol is dangerous stuff when you start sloshing it about, petrol vapour in your clothes plus hot lamps = human torch. It happens, people die slowly from the burns.

if you try using them anywhere you better have permission first, that includes public carparks and council land.

do you have good lawyers?
 
500W lamps outdoors don't give you very much light - the way to do this is with multiple flash.
 
awp said:
500W lamps outdoors don't give you very much light - the way to do this is with multiple flash.
Click to expand...

yes I was going to point that out when ep82 had realised how much gensets cost :D

big flashgun, manual shutter release and a tripod together cost less than a genset!

also much simpler (y)

and safer :clap:

and easier to lug about :LOL:

saw a good example of the multiple flash technique here recently, it was a vauxhall parked in front of gates outside a colliery I think, can't find it at the moment
 
Ah cool. That seems to work as well. and like you said. it's easier to lug around and safer.

OK then, so where is the best place to get one of those bad boys??
Like I said I am a newb so I was wondering if this multiple flash means it's a seperate flash detached from the camera and triggered by remote or the camera?

And does this mean Setting the camera to manule, leave it expose for (say 10 sec) and make the flash to flash in different places?
And looking at Kev M's pictures, how do you get the flash to be so soft? I mean only light a certain area?? when I tried flash outdoors, I tend to light quite a big area up...

Sorry for the dumb Q.:crying:
 
big proper flashguns tend to have a manual test button, dont know if they will all fire at full power though

definately need to put the camera on a good solid tripod, best with a remote shutter so you dont knock it

different ways of setting the camera that I can think of, never done it myself but the theory goes something like this
- full manual and do a couple of test shots to get the settings to produce the background exposed to your liking. Make the settings long on the shutter speed and small (bigger number) on the aperture, that'll increase depth of field to get more of the background in focus but more importantly you want to push the shutter speed long enough to be able to run around doing the flash thing. Very small aperture should I believe also create star bursts from bright lights in the background. When you've got the background settings right then take the shot and while the shutter is open you wander around the car pointing the flashgun at it from every angle you want the light and pressing the manual flash test button.

and robert's your father's brother

thats how i'd try it, but I know nothing and never done it

anybody got the real answer?
 
Buy a set of Interfit EX-150's for 200 squid, two inverters and two car batteries (fitted into a rucksack or toolbox type thingy each). tada

1 totally portable flash studio that weighs about 3 ton :)

but would work !
 
weight is one problem, . . . but wouldn't be for long if you put a wet lead acid in a rucksack :LOL: :LOL: :LOL:
 
Cool Wookie. That is what I thought. Thanks for the info. :) you've been a great help

is there any good sites I can get a flash gun from? or should I just pop down to jessops or my local camera store? Will I find any good price of ebay?
 
Its a question of a bit of trial and error. Tripod mounted camera, remote shutter, long exposure and you run round the car and manually fire the tripod. Requires some considered experimentation

Rather than a lead acid battery you could use the sealed gel type batteries that are available.
 
andrewc said:
car batterys are quite heavy, but that is what trollies were invented for.
Click to expand...

You can pick up some cheap trolley toolboxes nowadays

Wookie said:
weight is one problem, . . . but wouldn't be for long if you put a wet lead acid in a rucksack :LOL: :LOL: :LOL:
Click to expand...

A 12v drycell can be had cheap enough nowadays

But seriously, there is a chap on POTN that uses something similar for his outside shots(drycell and inverter).

His results are really good.

I was thinking of building it all into a trolley toolbox I have, with a charging circuit to make life easier (it fact might just have a bash over the christmas break :D ).
 
that's got potential, what's the mains power rating on those studio flashes?

you'd still end up with leads everwhere though, unless the flash was mounted on the top of the cart, could get expensive having seperate inverter & battery for each flash, and they would be hard to reposition if doing multiple fire with one unit

but it's all a bit complicated compared to a standard flashgun and a tenner's worth of AA batteries from ikea in your pocket.
 
Wookie said:
what camera kit are you using?
Click to expand...

I have a Canon 400D

Yeah. I just want something simple and cheap :naughty: so a flash gun sounds like a good plan but not if they are £200 cos I would rather spend it on a lens.
 
snap, same kit

can't help you much as I'm in the same boat, I'll soon be looking for a new flashgun for mine as my old Phillips flash went "weeeeeeee . . . bang" the other day. I've already spent the wife's money on a new lens or 2 so must delay the flashgun purchase.

the proper canon flashes seem a lot of money, lot of good reports on them but still a lot of money (£160 for the cheaper one)

trouble appears to be that canon's TTL flash metering system is good but not compatible with most non-canon flashguns, and I also keep reading warnings that some flashguns have very high trigger (hotshoe) voltages that can fry the electrics in the camera

for what you are doing wandering around a car manually operating it probably any old flashgun would work, if its got a manual flash button. (dont think about rigging a switch, the internals of a flashgun work at thousands of volts, they'll stop your heart, literally)
BUT you could destroy the camera if you fitted any old flashgun to the camera.

I found that metz have a recommendations page for their guns to suit particular cameras here: http://www.metz.de/en/photo_electronics/flashlight_recommendations.142.html

So far I found the metz 36 AF-4C is about the cheapest at £75 new (eg. http://www.morrisphoto.co.uk/ProductDetails~man~Metz~productID~7033~categoryid~250.html) that may have some potential but I need to do some homework on it, its not very powerful compared to some of the other guns and I have not checked to see what its spec and functionality is like.
 
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