alisia has this lamp that she got at costco that's made for people with seasonal affective disorder. people with SAD are very sensitive to not getting enough sunlight in the winter. it makes them depressed, lethargic, they oversleep..... so this lamp is supposed to trick their bodies into thinking they are getting a lot of sunlight. it's supposed to be a full-spectrum light source, you're feeling down, stuck in your cubicle or where-ever, plug this in, it makes you feel like you're outside at the park.
anyways. i thought it might make a good shake and bake type light source. something to leave on in the background, drag the shutter, and burn it in. so i set it up, and the first thing i noticed is that at neutral white balance, it photographs slightly bluish. i decided i like that. so i put a cto (correct to orange) gel on my flash (did i mention i had a flash set up?) so that when i correct for the orange tint in lightroom (by shifting towards the blue side of the spectrum) the happy light will go really blue. which is exactly what happened. i love it when a plan comes together.
my light setup here is really simple. i have a sb-28 (w' cto gel) bouncing off the ceiling then back down to a reflector board set up about chest high right in front of me. this catches light coming off the ceiling and throws it up in my face. set my aperture to 3.5, my shutter speed to 1/4 second (to burn in the happy light) and it's done.
you do have to remember to stay still during that 1/4 second, though. you'll be sharp because the flash only lights you up for a tiny fraction of a second, but the happy light will burn a weird halo around you if you move too much.
setup shot:
I think it is awesome what you are doing here. I really dig the little maps of where you set everything up with the arrows and all. Very smart and I really can see what your up to. SUPER COOL.
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