Light
LED lighting. Where have I been? The neat thing is that it is bright without the heat of incandescent lighting. And now we see how it can be shaped whimsically into many forms. Bright! There was an industrial fixture with 26,000 lumens. Bright! I settled for 3000 lumens; it was a big noticeable improvement. Modern, and a bit high tech out of sync with our house (?); we are living with it and have begun to not notice it except for the light which is brighter. It will work until some other design comes along that is better.
White balance
Here’s a lesson. Light has color. Daylight is one color while light bulbs give you a different color. Confused? Or, don’t care? But evening light in your living room tends toward yellow. We hardly notice. Don’t mention fluorescent! Ever! It’s, by far, the worst light to shoot with color film or digital sensor. Meanwhile, here are examples. And, if you are keen to correct things, the camera will adjust by custom white balance. It’s work. Mostly, we/I won’t bother. But if you do, it does/can dramatically change the tint of your image. I only ever cared when I started diving and red is lost as you go deeper under water. But, it’s good to know. That way it’s your choice. At least it’s my choice to be lazy. Of course, you could always – flash. But that’s a whole ‘nother lesson. And, I was lazy and didn’t caption to label the different light. If you care, you would know the differences. Or, if not, be sure to ask me. 🙂
Hint: (The top picture was white balance – corrected.)
Lights
We have been battling dim lights. Ha ha. It’s not age so much as improvement in LED lighting technology (and cost). I’ve had a whole new education in light bulbs. Watts is the old standard. But, now it matters about lumens. And all lumens are not the same. Really!? The light bulb companies state what they have and you discover that all lumens are not equally bright. (Duh?!) For the first time I am seeing 3000K and 5000K (on the box) and the talk about yellow, blue, and white light. The color of light? It’s photography 101. And there are bulbs you can get that will light a stadium. And the watts are low, so, you can install one in your house and not blow a fuse or raise the electric bill. TMI. I got a fixture sitting 18 ft up in the ceiling. I got an 8 foot ladder. Oh my!! (Shit!) The overexposure in the image is intentional. That’s a bright light!
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