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Light

Light Fixtures 102(Relationship between lamp and housing)

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The light fixture is simply the housing for the bulb and bulb holder and a container so that theelectricity can be carried to the bulb safely.

All light fixtures have a few things incommon -Some safety featuresA method of turning it on and off, a safety screen or glass in case the bulb blows, a housing thatwill allow heat to escape bu t keep the light c ontrolled.Features that affec t light qualityA reflector to bounce light from the backside of the bulb, forward, a lens of some description insome cases, a Spot / Flood m echanism.BulbSingle ended (bi-post) or double ended, the bulb position in the housing and colour temperatureof bulb affect the output.Fixture / C ontrol Accesso riesBarn doo rs to control spill as the light leaves the fixture, gel/filter or colour frames, scrims andsnoots. More practically a means of fixing it to stands, se t wall or anything else.

This section look s at how these issues relate with each other, to create the various lightsources,

Lighting Fixtures (or sources)

Open Face FixtureThe most basic of fixtures whose features include, a spot/flood mechanism(generally) and a reflector (but no lens). They use quartz bulbs, 50% of the generatedlight bounces off the reflector m aking a soft light and the remaining 50% shines straightout of the front of the fixture creating harsh light. They burn very hot and could melt orburn things if placed too close to them. There should be a safety mesh. Exam ples are2k Blonde, 800w Redhead and 650w Pulsar. (See Sunguns)

Soft LightsA variation on an Op en Face fixture the difference being the shap e and size ofthe reflector and all the light em itted from the bulb is reflected off a white concavereflector, creating a soft light. Examples; 1.6 Zap Light, 2.5 Super Zap etc.

Cyc. (Cycloram a) LightingVery similar to Soft Lights, the reflector is shaped in such a way as to direct lightevenly over a c ycloram a wall, the fixture is often in multiple "cells" like Ground row, Pallas1,2,4 and wired so that a different coloured filter can be placed in front of each of "cells"to m ake changing the colour of the eye wall simple. Larger single lamps are alsoavailable such as LTM 5k Cyc.

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Fresnel FixtureUses a bi-post or single ended bulb, which stands upright in the fixture that has asilver reflector behind the bulb (50% reflected light) and a fresnel lens in front of the bulb.Acc ordingly the light is very controllable, in the spot position the lens causes a "hot spot"with a sm ooth was h toward the edges, in the flood position the light is evenly spread.

Most Film and TV lighting fixtures are fresnel and range insize from 150w - 24,000Watt.PAR Fixture

The PAR (parabolic anodized reflector) fixture was o riginally a sealed beam lightsource; the bulb reflector and lens was one unit - like a car headlamp. The best currentexample being Maxibrutes and Minibrutes, the advantage is a "punchy" beam of light,excellent for bouncing or giving crisp edges and dark shadows, when used withoutbounce. The introduction of MS R bulbs has rendered the original PAR bulb redundant;the bulb is mou nted bi-posts toward the back of the lamp and a highly polished reflectorsurrounds the entire bulb. All the light produced by the bulb is reflected off the shinysurface. Modern PA R lamps have a choice of Spot, Medium, W ide and Flood lensesthat can be placed in front of the fixture; some manufacturers also include a fresnel lenstoo. Daylight PARs are available from 125Watt to 12,OOOWatt - (an 18,000 Watt isbeing developed)

SilhouetteAva ilable in both Tungsten and Daylight this is a projector type fixture; the lightpasses through tw o adjustable co ncav e lenses giving the opportunity to make lightpatterns with crisp edges. Typ ically seen as a follow spot or lamp that utilises Gobos(steel template) to cast patterns on backdrops. A Dedo light is an example of thesilhouette principal. Available asconstant Tung from 650 - 2500 W att. Silhouette

fixtures are also available to suit flash heads, either as one p iece or an attachment thatmounts on the front of a flash head.Sungun

A battery operated light, typically open faced - other than a safety glass andavailable as Tungsten or Daylight. Usually run from 30v rechargeable sealed batterieswhose life is approx. 30 - 45 Minutes and may take as long as 3 hours to recharge.

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Standard Flash HeadA quartz flash bulb is mounted alongside a m odelling bulb and both are oftenprotected with a glass cover, which protects the "talent" from exposure to U V rays,softens the light and in som e cases alters the colour temp erature. The m odelling lampstays on at all times, while the flash bulb is fired in sync, with the cam era. Flash lamps

can get extremely hot under heavy use and accordingly som e units have fans built intothe head. A broad va riety of sizes according to manufacture. (500 joule - 8000 joule)Twin Head

Generally similar to a Standard Flash head, but it houses two flash bulbs (thehead lead splits to two feeds). The adva ntage for the photographer being that they canget twice the joules (light output) in the same head. Typically you will need 2 packs torun one twin head!Ringflash

Strip

The Ringflash, as its name implies is a circular tube, or a variety of individualsources arranged in circle. The cameraperson will generally put the camera lensthrough the centre of a R ingflash; the effect being that the light source loses any clearlydefined direction, as all the shadows are thrown behind the subject. Mostly used forbeauty shots, sometimes through a large silk to spread the light to appear as a largersource. Will often cast a "halo" shadow around the subject.

The same principles as other flash lights but is a long thin light, similar in shapeto a fluorescent and used primarily for head to toe shots. Often diffused through "strip"textiles.

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Spot

Fresnel

J Convex

ModernPA RModernPA R +interchangeableloncoc

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Silhouette

Softlight

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