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Tips for urban lighting at night
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So let me first start off by saying that i have a t3i so im not expecting super good results for night shots.
So around my town theres some sick urban spots but there infront of buisnesses and are only hit able at night. I do have a generator and some halogen work lights but they dont seem to work that well. the light isnt spread out like i need it to be so there are lots of shadows. are there any contraptions i can build at home to spread the light out? and also are Led lights better, the white light seems to be better than the yellow light if that makes any sense. any tips u guys have would be great as i am new to filming.
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You can look for some used Lowel Tota lights, we used totas all the time skating when I was growing up. They're much smaller than the home depot work lights. The light spread is is pretty large, and for being as small as they are, they're a pretty high output. Word of caution, they get insanely hot.
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LEDs are not as bright as halogens (typically). You would need a very large LED to have the equivalent light output to a standard 500w halogen.
i shoot urban with LEDs, but not because they are better than halogens. I use LEDs because I can use more of them with a really small generator. This is the only advantage you will get out of them as well (unless you invest a ton of money into lights).
Depending on the size of your generator use more halogen lights. Put them on stands that get them off the ground so they can throw light better. make sure that you have enough to be able to light both sides of the spot (at least one on the backside to use as a fill light). rule of thumb is at least 6 lights (3 stands) for a spot, however one stand of 2and 2 stands of 1 (total of 4 lights) will also work if your generator isnt big enough.
also long cords are important. I use 3x 50 foot cords and i have often experienced times where i could have used more. It allows you to get the best light placement on your spots.
if you are doing all of the above then invest in some better quality glass. an f2.8 lens, or even an f1.4 lens on that camera should give you usable results. the tokina 11-16 lens works great and is relatively affordable. the canon 50mm f1.4 is also quite affordable and gives awesome results.
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