Best Studio Light for Artist -What Makes a Great Studio Light for Painting
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- Опубліковано 12 лип 2024
- In this video I explain what makes a great studio light for artist.
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Link to video on how to set up an artist's studio: • how to set up an artis...
Just found this, 5 years later, and so worth it. Thank you so much, I have looked everywhere for a simple concise clear explanation that I can work with, and your video was it. So much appreciate the time you gave to share this. Thank you!
Thanks so much for this, Mark. I just setup my lighting and what a difference! It's totally eliminated a lot of my frustration with shadows and glare on my canvas. Really appreciate it!
Always love your insight and advice... I have 8' ceiling so it is what I have to work with your info helps me set everything up.
No white clothes to deal with (South TX, pretty much shorts and Flip Flops) as it happens my Next Door Neighbor sells all different kinds of lighting (mostly Industrial but all the data is available)
Thanks again for the numbers...
This has come at a great time for me as I am creating a new studio space and the lighting is the most important thing. I’ll be posting the build on UA-cam as well. Thanks again Mark.👍
I was looking for studio lights and you posted a video. 🙌 thank you.
I just want to thank you for sharing so much information via your videos. Quite a while ago I tried using burnt umber vice black and it has been a true game changer for me.
You light up my life, you give me hope... to carry on
♫ ♪
Thanks! One of the most helpful things I have seen on lighting for painting.
I have been searching, and searching for some authoritative answers to the question of how to light my studio. Your advice is very helpful and makes sense for the environment I’ll be painting in. Thank you!
You and your video's are amazing Mark. Amazingly generous sharing of the best knowledge available.
I never realized how important lighting was until I saw my teacher’s painting at a show in VT several years ago. It was gorgeous in the studio, but in the show you wouldn’t believe it was the same painting (not complimentary). I’ve never forgotten the importance of lighting. Thanks for this video!
Hey Mark, thanks for these videos. They have helped me immensely in setting up my studio. Hope you start posting again soon.
Always great advise and high quality vids!
Great video Mark! I'm always revamping the lighting in my painting studio, and this video has given me some great ideas for a new iteration. Loved everything you had to say about evenness, control, and brightness, but one thing I'll add, with regard to LEDs, is the importance of CRI (color rendering index). Most common LED shop lights are rated around 85 on a scale from 0-100 (100 being truly daylight equivalent, not just in terms of temperature, but color accuracy). Lower CRI (90 and below) lights struggle with accurately representing violets, cyans and deep reds. That being said, high CRI LEDS are going be significantly more expensive, but if we're talking about ideal lighting, thought it was worth mentioning.
@@terrythompson1548 Mark has explained it in earlier video about how old masters painted, they had northern lights/ high ceiling daylight. Sharing video link , explanation starts at 3:50 mark ua-cam.com/video/KMOSvmdFKY4/v-deo.html
@@terrythompson1548 It is any contemporary artists' prerogative to model their studio practice after techniques and technology available to an artist they admire from 100-500 years ago. And yet, I take your point to be, "great paintings can be made without high quality LEDs." And that is true. But my comment wasn't about how to make great paintings. I'm simply sharing how artificial light's ability to replicate natural light is measured (obviously for use in studios without ideal natural light). The underlying point of Mark's video (and my minor comment) is how having the ability to accurately perceive color wherever there's electricity available is a powerful tool, yielding the widest possible range of free visual expression. Knowledge is power. To know what is possible and choose not to make use of it is fine, but not knowing removes even the possibility of choice.
Correct. Most 5000k bulbs have a low CRI. The GE Sunfilled bulbs have a CRI of 97 and an R9 of 80. Waveform Lighting makes high CRI and R9 bulbs as well.
I recently, (four months ago) bought these shop lights: Barrina LED Shop Light, 4FT 40W 5000LM 5000K, Daylight White, V Shape, Clear Cover, Hight Output, Linkable Shop Lights, T8 LED Tube Lights, LED Shop Lights for Garage 4 Foot with Plug (Pack of 10) They were really nice, and I feel I got my money's worth to be sure, but I did not place them correctly behind my work area, where you had recommended, until a few days ago, and it makes a HUGE difference. just two of these light equal 10,000 lumens, so of course I put three strips on the light box I attached to the ceiling, and wow, what a difference good placement makes when you are working! Thank you for sharing this info!
Excellent information. Thank you Mark!
Thank you so much for this video! I learned so much.
The best artist out there!
Thanks Mark, this is very informative. I was looking for number of lumens, it's very well captured in the video.
So helpful! Thank you!
Great video. Looking forward to how to paint water! Bless you and your family Mark.
The clue is in the name: the best way to paint water would be to use water colours.
;-)
Lol just copy the colors
I wait for that vid too :)
Dear Mark, Thank you for a very interesting video. I can't seem to paint in any light but daylight. The colors are different with artificial light; I find the natural light is always the right hue. But now seeing your video, if I do move to night painting, I'll follow your advice. Obviously in winter there's less light, so I paint less and having artificial lights would open up working longer. Thanks.
Well informative 👏🏼 👌🏾 👍
Great advice m8, All in all i have come to the conclusion that a full spectrum grow light T5 (leds) for bext power to lumen results, is the best option, then while painting, your tomatos and squash can now grow in your multipurpose paint studio/grow house and ontop you can allmost paint them while they grow haha
In an 8 foot ceiling, if you mount your lights near the ceiling, you get uneven light or to correct that, adding massive more light than needed. Once you add way too much light than needed in a small room, you get light bouncing off everything back to your eyes, unless you blacken all the walls to absorb the light such as a photography dark-room. You can set a 5000K light box on each side at approx. 6' at approx 30 degrees out from your canvas. Then you need a dark backdrop behind your easel that extends out almost the distance your lights are. Old dark blue bed sheets will do.
I set my easel into a corner and hung black drapes on both sides behind it. Mounted the sides of the 5000K light boxes 4 feet out on each wall. I got my pallet stand up towards the bottom of my canvas and at a slight tilt to grab the same light. This solves a lot of color mixing problems. There are many other ways to achieve it but basically you are making a half of a dark room where you control the light. I went with the corner set up because I would be stumbling over light stands in my little 9.5' x 11.5 studio room. For now, I'm painting a maximum of 4 foot canvas in that room.
Any larger canvas, it feels too claustrophobic. I have a large 3car freestanding garage just outside my kitchen door. I have to get rid of my collector car that I never drive. Then there is some cost of building the studio and heating. Except I can achieve 12 foot ceiling. I rarely paint in the hottest part of the summer because I'm traveling and competing in atlatl competitions.
Shirt looking nice mark.
Great stuff, thank you so much! How did you build that light with the 6 lamp bulbs? I'm also wondering if you do wiring yourself or hire and electrician? (Or is that not needed?) I'm very new to this.
Thank you nice to know
spreading the lights long from right to left, help avoiding my own shadows on the canvas,, coating on board can be the white folio for whiteboards
Thanks for this very interesting Vision about the Art light. I want add some very, very important CRI R12 (Blue) and R9 (Red) are crucial.... the only LED light that can do a good job with that colors are the Film Grade Cinema LED Light.
Thanks for this video. Would the same lighting type and angles work for painting on a flat table (or with very slight tilt)? I paint watercolours seated at my table. The room is about 8'x11' with 10' ceiling height.
So I used to be really into the aquarium hobby which got me thinking... I wonder if LED aquarium lights in the proper color temperature would be good to use as studio lighting? Most of the ones I've seen are fully customizable where you can alter the color temp and brightness. Any thoughts about this? I've thought about using an LED/ CFL combo. Plus I like how little energy LED lights use.
Thanks, Mark-do you ever bounce light off the ceiling by projecting it from below?
Thank you Mark for an informative video. Is it ok to use neon lights?
I think you mean fluorescent lights? (Neon lights have neon gas in the tubes-think of neon signs.)
Use grow light tubes in florescent fixtures.
Fluorescent light has a very different light quality from incandescent light (colder and bluer/greener-never used for portrait photography!)
Thanks
Thanks for the video, Mark. I don't mean to sound disrespectful, but is there any chance you use too much light? Your paintings, at least in your videos seem very dark to me--just being honest. Could that be the result to too much light? I know when I paint Plein Air, if I paint in open bright sunlight, often my paintings look too dark because the sunlight is bleaching out my mixing area and my canvas, and my ability to judge values. And when I paint in dark shade, I have the opposite problem. My paintings look too light because I was having trouble seeing my mixing area and accidentally mixing everything lighter just to be able to see it. Anyway, don't mean to sound negative. I honestly want to know. Again, thank you for your videos. So helpful to the art community.
I don’t know the answer to your question. What I do know is that he often speaks of colors appearing more dark on video than in reality. Probably due to camera issues.
Mark Dear light is important because sometimes when you're painting the color you want becomes too light or too Dark, only due to improper lighting!
I just measured my ceiling to the center of my canvas and its about 5 feet if measuring 35 degrees. so it would be safe to say the actual light source will be around 4.75 feet away because of the fixture.. so about how many lumens would you suppose i need. been trying to get my painting area set up for days.
Just got a new light and was considering where to put it.
Now I know it needs to be basically over my head, tan(35)= X/31 or 21.7, basically exactly where I am siting from my work area.
Come to think of it, I have seen so many studio lighting tutorials online that have the light above and behind the canvas.
I was thinking that there is no way that doesn't create a strong gradient on the canvas.
Thanks Mark, that was helpful. But where can I find 8000L/5000K shop lights? I have been all over Amazon for too long now.
How can I learn about ventilation? I wan to start oil painting, but I don't know the minimal ventilation needed. Most people just say, "well ventilated." Will an internal charcoal filter system work? I have a soldering system that I could mount above where I mix my paints. Or do you need external ventilation.
Hi, I have a question. I am about to implement this exact setup. I will have two ~4000 Lumens LED panels, 4 foot by 1 foot each. I am now wondering about whether to set them up one behind the other (as per the video), or in one long 8 foot strip instead (as suggested as an alternative). My studio is 12 feet wide, so this would still leave plenty of room on either side. My thinking is that a longer strip may provide more light to fill in shadows cast by my hand and brush. Or would a four foot by 2 foot mass be better? Does anyone have any experience with the longer thinner (8ft by 1ft) setup? My ceiling is 8ft 6inches high. Thanks.
when painting from home or an apartment, how should you position your easel? My apartment has fairly big windows and my living room gets a lot of natural light…could I face my window and paint or would it be better for the canvas and oil to directly face the light?
Great advice, thank you so much! Buuuuuuutttt please look into the dangers of LED lights that are now coming to light (pardon the pun ;p )
Can you please talk about the lighting if you're not working on a easel? I mean when you're working standing, on a table top.
PLEASE 🙏🏽
This is a question that is related to lighting - but indirectly, I suppose.
When you work with a photo reference, have you ever worked from a digital source ( for example, an iPad) where the source is a transmitted light, not reflected light (like printed on paper)?
Or would you always recommend working from a printed (reflective) source?
Great question, curious about people’s answers;
personally for me, having both is great but if you had to pick one I’d say iPad because you can instantly adjust brightness and could even add greyscale filter and then adjust brightness. So to really find the highlights you could decrease brightness, and vice versa to find darkest darks.
I've done that, but Mark advises against it. You can hear his comments in this video of his, at around 5 minutes in: ua-cam.com/video/szEZ0E1At_k/v-deo.html
A good matt white paint might have better light reflection than aluminium tape. Thanks for the great tips though.
What did the masters use before they had electricity? Just by a window maybe? thats what I do....but id like to paint at night. did the old masters just not paint when it was dark?!
5000 -6000 kelvin lightbulbs can often ve bought in bigger shops, selling indoor plants and shops selling studio light for photography
How do you avoid shadows cast against your hands...?
How about painting with natural daylight? I mean, if there is really good natural light into the studio.
We replaced the fluorescents bulbs with a kit LED's and now we have blue and yellow stripes all over the studio. What have we done wrong? I am so frustrated.
OK, Mark, I've a small studio that I actually live in and I like "warm white" tinted light bulbs, simply because if I look at myself in the mirror in true white daylight I look like shit. Now I also produce paintings by the dozen every month or so. Realism and abstract work. Now my own logic came out like this. I paint in warm white, and the finished painting is looked at by the customer in warm white. Now if I discard the lamps I already have and use "cold white" instead, I think I personally will be the only one with a problem, simply cos I look like shit in cold light
Every single one of my customers has NEVER ever complained about any of the colours in any of my paintings and as I said, I do realistic work and abstract. Abstract is really a piece of cake to paint, simply because nobody knows what any colour should be, so how could they know if it's right or wrong ? They either like it or they don't like it.
So, I'm sticking with what I've got already, and saving myself the job and cost of changing everything
Very interesting video nevertheless.
Just my two pence - Kind regards
Chris in Thailand
8000 lumens with led measured from what distance from the light, if close to ceiling? There’s an app that, if you have an iPad or iPhone will measure lumens..but, again, at what distance from the light? Near the painting or the light?
Hi .. I'm not finding 5000 kelvin light for my art studio in India , is there any alternative for that , i have 6500 k bulbs but that temperature is slightly cooler side how to fix this problem .plz help
Mix 6500 k bulbs with 4000 k bulbs.
Doesn't the size of the room matter ? Surely you won't light a 10" X 12" or 8" X 11" room the same way and intensity as a 10 yard long by 7 yards.... interested in your opinion here.
He's talking about lighting up your immediate work area, specifically your easel, so the size of the room doesn't really matter. You'll have other lights to light up your room... even if it's the size of a warehouse. (c;
In my case, I never paint by night, I always paint with natural light. I have a huge window in my Studio, it takes natural light from left side, and at winter time never hit my easel directly.
You are blessed. Almost the only time i have to paint is at night.
Well, there goes my circadian rhythm...
Thanks Mark. Question: is white light really best? People buy a painting, take it home, and it is usually viewed quite differently; it probably is seldom viewed in white light.
Im surprised youre not mentioning CRI or RA
But what if you can't put it on the ceiling ?!
I have to paint outside.. the glare sucks
Hi Mark, check out these lightbulbs that have auto-brightness and adjustable temperature: www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/this-smart-lightbulb-adjusts-to-you-180952761/
Alternative would be Philips Hue.
Film, Check For Thoroughness, Upload
Come on carder get your finger out more videos.
I don't think color temperature is that important. I can't tell the difference even if I switch from warm light to blue. The human eye is not that good at detecting colors. Lumen is extremely important but worrying about 3000 kelvin or 6500 is a waste of time.
This comment is old but as a lighting designer I just cannot let this comment go. I understand not being able to discern warm white from cool white, although I disagree with you, I think most people can feel the difference, they just can't articulate what or where is different is. 3000K vs 6500K is a huge difference in color, it's like incandescent light bulb vs cloudy daylight. If one cannot tell that difference, one would have a hard time painting with color. It is not a waste of time.
It would have been more instructive to see the actual light fixtures, etc...
God damn dude I don't have thousands of dollars. Stop making me feel poor
shop lights don't cost that much-- a piece of wood and some black cloth don't cost much either--
Dan Fontaine . Making your art more of a priority over other lifestyle choices and making a budget for it could help.
My flip phone and twenty year old truck and cheep beer has freed up hundreds of bucks per month for over a decade for art supplies and other things, compared to cool stuff with monthly payments I used to think important.
I have a yard sale corded saws all and no beat headphones because I want instead ,the best art supplies money can buy.
Its all about trade offs.
One needs huge windows in his/her studio like I have- 9 feet x 7 feet picture windows- this lets the NATURAL light in beautifully and give the artist TRUE saturation of his/her colors on the palette.
Artificial light is just DUMB. ….That is why in all your paintings, one can see an over whelming sense of BLACK in each one, because the lighting is artificial. PERIOD! Monet, Degas and Cassatt didn't go running to purchase artificial light bulbs! :P !!!! Kimberly
Ever try to paint at night after enduring a day job?
well bully for you-- I suppose you can paint like Monet, Degas and Cassatt-- you don't know what they'd be running to go do if they had LED lights and a home depot.
Light diffusion, intensity, shadow etc. and the effect of them on subject matter and pigments is well in the realm of understanding of any great painter.
Daylight , dawn or evening, candles, lamps or firelight, all well represented in master paintings, speaks to the fact that to them, artificial lighting would not in any way be shunned and avoided as an illumination source.
Except for the self appointed purists, history tells us that they would more likely embrace it as they did with other new tools and techniques.
Man you put the same color on your dress, on your seat and also on your slides. Please put some colors in your life.
There is a reason why everything is dark. So the colors of your clothing don't bounce into your canvas optically changing the colors you mix and throwing you off.
live and let live-- some people just can't abide by that-- bossy bossy bossy