Anyone tried using a strip light / fluorescent light to light a backdrop?

[ajax_andy]

I was wondering if anyone had tried this and had sucess?

I'm just trying to think of outside the box ideas for my home studio. I need to blast the backdrop to make it pure white in pics, but I dont have the funds or room for extra strobes to blast it with.

I was wondering if popping on of these just behind the backdrop stand might work? And if so would it have less light spillage than blasting it with strobs?

[SwissJon]

Flourescent lights would cause you issues with colour balance. have you thought about those big Halogen things? The get very hot, so you'd need to be careful how you place them, but they're cheap, I think temperature neutral, and they chuck out a heluva lot of light.

Draper 62386 500W Hal/Lamp Freestand 110V: Amazon.co.uk: DIY & Tools

[ajax_andy]

Originally Posted by SwissJon

Flourescent lights would cause you issues with colour balance. have you thought about those big Halogen things? The get very hot, so you'd need to be careful how you place them, but they're cheap, I think temperature neutral, and they chuck out a heluva lot of light.

Draper 62386 500W Hal/Lamp Freestand 110V: Amazon.co.uk: DIY & Tools

Thanks for the link, I honestly dont think i could place it far enough away from the backdrop for it to be safe tho sadly.

With flourescent lights I was thinking that you can get a more white light these days as opposed to the very yellow one's previously so it might work... maybe I'm waaay off tho

[Jim Poor]

Your strobes are going to over power the fluorescent. It will be as if there were not a light there at all unless you limit yourself to really wide aperture and slow shutter.

[ajax_andy]

Originally Posted by Jim Poor

Your strobes are going to over power the fluorescent. It will be as if there were not a light there at all unless you limit yourself to really wide aperture and slow shutter.

Hi Jim,

So are you saying the strobes will remove any colour cast, or that the fluourescent light wouldn't work to light up the backdrop?

I think it's the former but not 100% sure

[Jim Poor]

Originally Posted by ajax_andy

Hi Jim,

So are you saying the strobes will remove any colour cast, or that the fluourescent light wouldn't work to light up the backdrop?

I think it's the former but not 100% sure

Nope, it's the latter.

[ajax_andy]

Originally Posted by Jim Poor

Nope, it's the latter.

Ahh damn!

[SwissJon]

I think you might be ok to invest in a dirt cheap speedlight, like the Yongnou YN-560.. I had one of these until it fell on the floor.. I notice they're only £30 on Ebay.. It worked fine as an off camera flash with my D7000, I was even able to control the power output from the camera menu rather than having to go back to the flash each time..

Yongnuo Speedlite YN-560 Shoe Mount Flash for Canon Nikon 6934599400436 | eBay

[ajax_andy]

Originally Posted by SwissJon

I think you might be ok to invest in a dirt cheap speedlight, like the Yongnou YN-560.. I had one of these until it fell on the floor.. I notice they're only £30 on Ebay.. It worked fine as an off camera flash with my D7000, I was even able to control the power output from the camera menu rather than having to go back to the flash each time..

Yongnuo Speedlite YN-560 Shoe Mount Flash for Canon Nikon 6934599400436 | eBay

Thanks, I actually have one of these already as my 2nd flash and luckily it survived falling on the floor (from about 6 feet), so I think I got more luck than you in that department!

The problem is it's not just the flash, its another wireless trigger and light stand to buy too. Also I'm concious of the subject needing to be far enough away from the backdrop to avoid the light spillage on them (i'd have to shoot the flash from behind the backdrop due to lack of room)... with a 2 meter wide backdrop I'm going to struggle to do this

I need to invest in a studio as well as more equipment lol!

[SwissJon]

What camera do you have?