CFL's...

I have been avoiding CFL's like the plague because I can't stand the color rendering of a fluorescent source preferring something a little closer to a full spectrum light source, my bulb of choice is a GE Reveal http://www.gelighting.com/na/home_lighting/products/reveal_main.htm.  However those are a tad on the expensive side and I was getting sick of continuously replacing the bulb in my bed side lamp, so I took the plunge.  Yes, I, Susan Kelleher went and bought a CFL (gasp).  I have to admit that I actually don't mind it, this doesn't mean I am going to run out and replace all of my lovely incandescent lights with CFL's, because I'm not, but it does mean that for the job I want this light to do the CFL works fine.  This light exists so I can read at night, for that I need something bright.  I bought a cool white (daylight) bulb and the light it puts out is amazing, it is so white it's almost blue and it makes seeing the words on my Nook so easy that it's almost like reading outdoors in the afternoon.  

I have to admit one of the reasons I don't like fluorescent lights is because of the way they tend to have a big spike in the green range, this lamp doesn't.  I still don't like the color shift of the warm white CFL's and will hold on to my Reveals until they pry them from my cold, dead fingers (or LED's become affordable) but I will say I am a convert to CFL's in LIMITED APPLICATIONS!

Yeah, so it's been a while.

Started a new class and as I was showing them the blog set up I realized it has been 2 months since I said something here and since I know you have all been sitting there waiting with baited breath I decided it was time to get on it and start taking this thing a little more seriously (kind of like I expect the students to do).  I hate the old "Do as I say, not as I do, " so I need to do better and lead by example.

Enough of that, since this is about light, what say we talk about light.  It's 7:35pm, I am sitting in my office (yes, on a Friday night I am still at work) trying to get stuff done while it is quiet so I don't have to come to work on Tuesday, and it's dark outside.  Well, not totally can't see what's going on dark, but late dusk almost night type of dark.  Where did summer go?  It seems like only yesterday the days were getting longer and here we are back to fewer hours of daylight.  Anyway, what's the point of this observation?  I actually had to turn the floor lamp in my office on because the desk light is just not cutting it.  Really hard to grade things when you can't see what it is you're reading.

My floor lamp is one of those inverted halogen lamps, all of the light that it emits is projected upwards so the light that is distributed around the room is indirect bounce light, my favorite kind of light.  My office right now has a warm friendly glow to it, much nicer than if I had to turn on the nasty fluorescent overhead lights.  This lighting scheme is very calming and makes grading that much easier.  So that's my lighting tip for the day, bounce light!

Glare

I have a Nook, I love my Nook more than I love my Keurig and my Nook has no lights.

Not true, my Nook does have a touchscreen for navigation that is your typical backlit computer screen, but the reading surface has no lights.  It is a matte surface that utilizes "e-ink" to mimic, as closely as possible for an electronic device, a real book.  So if my Nook has no light why am I writing about it?  Because of the way light reminds me that I am not reading a real book.  Glare!  Glare from the external light source that I need to see the "e-ink" words, reflecting off the screen.  It's not quite as bad as the glare from a glossy computer monitor but it still means I need to move the Nook around while reading to remove the annoying glare.  Still I would rather the glare which can be removed than the backlit screen of an i-Pad which makes my eyes bleed.  And the best part of my Nook, 1,500 books in one handy little package!

Tweet

Hey class, I'm tweeting.  @showproLCD.  Mostly re-tweets from industry sources but some original (and hopefully interesting) material.

Why all the new technology?  I am being edumicated while you are gone.  Learning a lot of cool things this week and I hope to integrate them into the classroom.  Trying my hardest to stay one step ahead of you with all of this technology.

web2.0 here I come!

Word Cloud

Don't feel like reading the whole blog, here's the overview!

Slacker

I've been terribly neglectful of my blog lately and I realized that I'm not setting a good example to the class by slacking off on my blog entries so I vow this month I will do better.

Welcome new class.  This is my lighting blog.

What should I write about in my lighting blog?
      Well, light would be a good thing.  
What kind of light?
      How about all kinds of light that aren't run from a lighting console during a show?  
OK, that sounds easy enough.  I mean after all there is light all around us.  Sitting at my desk right now I can count at least 12 light sources in my field of vision.  There is the sun (what sun there is today), my desk light, my macbook screen, my dual desk-top monitors, my iPod, my cell phone, Herberto's desk lamp, his computer screen, Josh's desk lamp and two fluorescent fixtures.
      Wow, that is a lot of light.
I'm going to concentrate on my dual desk-top monitors today since that's what is taking up all of my attention at the moment.  I love having two monitors, it makes drafting so much easier when I can have my drawing space on one and all of my tools on the other, what I don't love about my two monitors is they have a different color temperature.
      Wait, what is this color temperature of which you speak?
Ok, color temperature (which we will cover when we get to video lighting) is the measurement of the whiteness of a light source based on the temperature of a  theoretical black body radiator emitting light measured in degrees Kelvin.  The higher the temperature of the black body radiator the more blue is emitted so the whiter it appears. Which is kind of confusing since we consider blue a cool color and red/orange a warm color but according to color temperature blue is hot and red is cold.  Enough, suffice it to say that daylight white is considered to be 5600 degrees Kelvin and incandescent light is 3200K.

Where was I, oh yeah, the dual monitors.... one is warm and one is cool.  In other words when I have an image that is on both monitors there is a very subtle shift in color from the left one to the right one.  It's not something that is glaringly obvious and most people probably wouldn't even notice it, but since I've spent many years training my eyes to see the nuances of light and color I find it annoying if I start to think about it.  I've gotten to the point where I can mostly ignore it but every once in a while when I am looking at an image that spans both screens it is as apparent as if there were flashing neon signs pointing at it...  OH NEON SIGNS, nah we'll save those for another day.

Enough of my inane ramblings.

Enjoy the class and have fun with light.

Susan

Cool blue lights

I love my Kuerig coffee maker and not just because it feeds my addiction; it also has really cool blue lights on it.  Calming blue lights that tell me it is ok to brew a cup and that there is plenty of water in the reservoir.  These lights also make it easy on the eyes when stumbling in the dark before that first cup or two of the elixir of life.

As a contrast to the comfort of Kuerig blue, my alarm clock has radioactive green lights.  This color is not at all comforting or calming, rather it elicits the feeling of toxin poison within.  Add to the color the fact that when the alarm goes off it flashes like a strobe (since I can't hear the alarm) and you can see why this is one of the least favorite lights I have in my home.

What lights do you find soothing and which ones deserve a bag placed over them?