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April 7, 2006

lighting: par cans

by sven at 12:00 pm

I just got my par cans in the mail.

dramatic blue lighting

As I had hoped, these lights allow me to create more dramatic lighting.

American DJ PAR 46 Can with Lamp

The PAR 46 is what's lighting all the test photos here.

Odyssey PAR 16 Pro Pin Spot

The PAR 16 didn't come with a bulb -- and I'm a little confused about what I need to get for it -- so it hasn't been tested yet. Just to give you a sense of scale: this one's small enough that a 60watt bulb wouldn't fit inside of its housing.

blue gel

The blue gel produces the happiest results. As Gretchin pointed out, I could use it to suggest a moonlit night.

red gel

The red gel created surprisingly saturated results. If I hadn't taken this shot myself, I would have sworn it was photoshopped... But no -- the pic is unaltered.

green gel

The green gel didn't really do much for me one way or the other.

Prior to the arrival of the par cans, I'd been using lights that are made for photographers doing portrait shoots. They are amazingly bright -- the par can can't compete at all. I suspect I'll order another par can or two in the not too distant future... Maybe some PAR 64's? I'd like to be able to do a traditional three-point lighting arrangement.

I'd also really like to get dimmers for the lights -- but I haven't been able to find anything appropriate yet. If I could dim my white lights, then maybe I could use them together with the par cans... which would be nice.

posted by sven | April 7, 2006 12:00 PM | categories: movies, stopmo