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These are some common types of light you'll often hear about in film, video and photography. Note that these definitions are not always rigid and some people may interpret them a little differently.
Redhead - 650-1000w, used as a key flood light for large areas.
Blonde - 1000-2000w, used as a key flood light for large areas.
Pepper Light - 100-1000w, small light used as a more focused key or fill light.
HMI - A high-quality type of light which uses an arc lamp instead of filament bulb.
Halogen Work Lamp - 150-500w, used as a key flood light for lighting large areas. This is a low-budget lighting solution.
Fresnel - A light which has a lens with raised circular ridges on its outer surface which are used to focus the light beam.
Chinese Lanterns - A low-cost light, useful in some situations.
Other Lights - Domestic light bulbs can be used at a pinch, ideally as a secondary light such as fill or backlight. Many video cameras have built-in lights or the ability to mount a light — these are useful in emergencies but provide poor quality lighting.
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Red Head Lights
Red Head is a term used to describe general-purpose lights common in visual media work. Power rating is around 650-1000w, typically 800w.
Red heads can be used as a key flood light for large areas, but are also useful as fill and backlights.
The example pictured here is an Arrilite 800w open-face focusing tungsten floodlight. The beam is focused using the yellow control at the back — this adjusts the reflector rather than the lamp, which should give the lamp a longer life because it is not being moved.
Note: The term "redhead" is often used loosely — there is no rigid definition.
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Blonde Lights
A blonde light is basically a bigger version of a redhead. Power rating can be 1000 to 2000 watts, although the term generally refers to a 2000w open-face unit.
These are powerful lights, useful as key floodlights for lighting large areas.
The example pictured here is an Ianiro 2Kw blonde.
Note: The term "blonde" is often used loosely — there is no rigid definition.
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Pepper Lights
Pepper lights are small lights, around 100 - 1000w (200w is common). They can be used as key or fill lights in small areas, or to light a certain feature, create lighting contrast and effects, etc.
Pepper lights can be also be used to accent a person's eyes.
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HMI Lights
HMI (Hydrargyrum Medium-Arc Iodide) is a type of light which uses an arc lamp instead of an incandescent bulb to produce light.
HMI lights are high-quality and correspondingly expensive. They are popular with film and television production companies but their price puts them out of reach of those with modest budgets.
HMI lights require a ballast, an electronic (or magnetic) device which provides the ignition pulse and regulates the arc.
Advantages of HMI lights include:
Efficiency: 2 to 5 times as efficient as incandescents. This means they use less power and run cooler.
Colour temperature: HMIs run at around 5600K, daylight temperature. This makes daylight shooting easier, as well as eliminating loss of light from gels (which are necessary with incandescents).
Light Quality: Directors of photography speak highly of the light produced by HMIs.
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Halogen Work Lamp
Halogen work lamps are designed for workplaces and similar situations where a flexible means of providing strong lighting is required, e.g. builders, mechanics, etc. Work lamps come in various sizes and configurations, from portable units with handles to stand-mounted multi-head versions. Power rating is generally 150w to 500w.
Halogen work lamps are sold by trade suppliers and DIY stores.
Halogen lamps on stand
Work lamps can be a cheap option for video lighting. They are useful as a key flood light for lighting fairly large areas.
You must remember though, that these lamps are not specifically designed for video or photography. They are not ideal and usually require a diffusion gel for the best effect. The protective grills may also interfere with the light (you may be able to remove them).
You might also want to consider waterproof work lamps for extra safety, especially if you are working outdoors.
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Chinese Lanterns
A chinese lantern is a paper ball (or cylinder, cube, etc) with a light bulb in the middle. They are very cheap to buy and use a standard household light bulb.
For video and photographic work, chinese lanterns are obviously limited by the small amount of wattage. However they do create a nice light that can be useful for close-up shots. In a wider setting, multiple lanterns can be used for effect.
Being made of paper, chinese lanterns are potentially dangerous. They can catch fire so be careful. For storage they can be collapsed to a disk the same diameter as the expanded sphere.
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Fresnel Lenses
A fresnel lens (pronounced fre-NELL) is a special type of lens with raised circular ridges on its outer surface. The illustration on the left shows a cross-section of a fresnel lens.
Fresnel lenses are much thinner than conventional lenses, so they are lighter and lose less light through absorption.
Lights with fresnel lenses are often referred to simply as fresnels.
The light from a fresnel can be made to spread out (flood) or concentrate into a tight beam (spot) by adjusting the distance between the lamp and the lens.
The fresnel lens was invented by Augustin-Jean Fresnel in 1821 for use in lighthouses. Modern uses include overhead projectors, projection televisions and solar energy systems.