Reveal lights, what wattage?

[TKNY]

I\'m going to put together a simple, budget set-up for taking photos. This article describes what I think is best for me - http://www.coolminiornot.com/article/aid/130 . Cheap and simple What wattage bulbs should I be using? 60, 100, doesn\'t matter?

I PMed the author, but the article is old and he may not be around here anymore.

Thanks

 

[4trickpony]

Hi. New to the forum, but not new to photography. The wattage doesn\'t matter, as less light only means a longer shutter speed.

That said, faster shutter speeds are going to be better in general, so brighter lights will always be good. Especially if you don\'t have a nice solid tripod.

Also be sure that your light source is bright enough to overpower any colored light (incandescent) from elsewhere in the room (or turn all the other lights off for a more clear idea of what the image will look like).

Finally, don\'t put a high-watt bulb in a low-watt socket. at best you\'ll bake the lamp, and at worst you\'ll start a fire.

 

[bobsacks]

I agree. I was trying higher and higher wattages to get brighter pictures without much success. I finally cut down to a trio of 40 Watt daylight bulbs and have been getting good results with a slightly longer shutter speed.

I also did a manual setting of the white balance for my camera. I did this by focusing on a white sheet of paper in my light box and having the camera auto set off of it for white balance.

I then spend about 2 minutes in the gimp color correcting my pictures. Since I now do the above steps they look great and don\'t need much work at all.

Here is a link to the posts on my blog that talk about my light tent. And here is a post that has a great tutorial for lighting and post processing. Hope they help!