Hi all!

I'm currently building my own photo booth after being inspired by posts in this forum and had a quick question on the actual lighting.

I see that bulbs over the standard 100w variety are used, which I understand. My question is - can you use bulbs over 100w - say for example - the 200w bulb that I can buy at the local home improvement store - in those basic desk and clip lights that most folks show lighting their photo booth? I see that most of them are rated around 60w or so. Will I end up burning down the house if I try this?

Hope that makes sense...

- Frank

I do and haven't had a problem. You absolutely need to monitor them though. They get very hot. Do not leave them on for a long time.

Yes and No. Eventually what has happened to mine is the excess heat has destroyed the switches. I recently replaced them with higher temp reisistant lamps I bought for cheap at the hardware store.

Thanks guys, that's kind of what I thought would be the case. I found a couple of those basic clip-on lights that are designed for 150w or less with an aluminum reflector this evening at Home Depot. I picked up three of them plus some Reveal 150w bulbs. Hopefully, they'll do the trick.

- Frank

If yuo need more light then I guess that it is better to buy an extra light with a lamp of 60 watt than to put a 120 watt lamp (if that would exist) in a single light fitting.


The reason is that to brake the shadows and get a natural feel to the picture you need to have several lightsources.

I guess that you can get some inspiration here:

finescalemodeler

I use flourescent sunlight bulbs from WalMart. One is a sixty watt and the other one is 100+ (don't remember). I get great lighting from these.

Gator

Drabslab - thanks for the link. That's very useful!

Gator - are those bulbs those coiled energy saving ones that screw into a standard bulb socket?

- Frank