More stressed than I thought: Studio Lighting Edition

[shadesofmauve]

My hand is telling me I'm more stressed than I thought. It tells me this by itching like crazy, then breaking out in little whitish wheals. (Physical Uticaria and dermatographism with no apparent physical triggers = probably stress reaction, especially given the history of when it happens).

I spent the weekend drilling holes, placing electrical outlet boxes, and running outlet wire. Once the lights are wired I should be able to get the two studio circuits inspected and start thinking about drywall (okay, panel first, but I could at least start insulating, which would make it nicer to work in there).

But.

Lights are a huge issue. They're incredibly important to defining space even in your living room; in the studio they have to both do the design-y space-defining thing (since it needs to be comfortable) and be functional -- and in my case, functional for a pretty wide variety of tasks. I've mostly been thinking in terms of large oil and acrylic paintings, since that's the hardest to light for, but it also needs to be comfy for dorking around on the internet and playing video games, since my desktop will live there, and for all manner of drawing.

I've been trying to remind myself that it's just another  decision and anything I make will be better than working at the dining room table with one 100 watt (equiv) bulb blazing over my shoulder, but for all this money, time, and stress, I want to end up with more than just 'better than I had.'

(The room does have lovely natural light! My windows are working out GREAT. But I can't rely on natural light alone -- in the winter here it gets full dark at 4, and really, most things'll require some supplemental light even at noon in summer).

The plan, such as it is, is:

• bright overhead recessed LEDs on a dimmer for painting
• a switched outlet for a floor lamp by the desk
• two outlets in the ceiling with pipes near them to hold up clamp lamps for supplemental lighting.

I don't know how to place the overheads, and I don't know if it's a good plan. Would it be better to just do aimable track lighting for the overheads? Or have the overheads near the desk on a separate switched circuit, instead of using a floor or desk lamp for the desk area? Should more than one outlet be switched? Will the ceiling pipes be ridiculous overkill or a kind of awesome thing to have? Where the hell do the recessed lights go such that they both illuminate the painting spot as evenly as possible and are useful for drawing/computer stuff/anything against a wall? Are the recessed floods going to be useful enough to make up for their high cost, or will I end up having to do it all with supplemental light anyway?

ARGH.

Comments

[westrider.livejournal.com]

Ugh. I get a similar response once my stress levels pass a certain point. It was kind of a problem this past spring and summer.

I would note that my mom's place has kind of a ridiculous number of different lighting solutions, so even tho the environment's totally different, it might be worth taking a little time while you're up here to look at how some of them work out.

[shadesofmauve]

Many sympathies. You've seen this one -- it first cropped up during the AUAP madness.

If we have time to stop by your mom's, I'd love to -- I know I've been there at night before, 'cause I stayed once, but I can only picture it lit naturally. I've been desperately searching for comparisons, because there are so many options and they're hard to visualize.

[westrider.livejournal.com]

That's where we're having dinner, so I'm pretty sure you'll be able to swing by ;)

[shadesofmauve]

Oh! We should actually make those dinner plans, too. I'd kind of been assuming the pub (good to get a beer in the guys before a dry performance, lol), but if there's somewhere else you'd been thinking of, I'm sure that'd be fine!

[westrider.livejournal.com]

Last I heard from her, my mom wanted to make dinner for y'all, do a bit of a thing.

Both the grocery stores here have pretty good beer selections, perhaps swing by there on the way out, and they can pick something out for themselves.

[shadesofmauve]

Oh! Okay. I think I misinterpreted. Shall talk to the guys, make sure we have beer. :P

[shadesofmauve]

Dad just reminded me that my mom will be with us, so our party will total four, not three. Don't want to surprise your mom!

[westrider.livejournal.com]

Yeah, we had your roadie included in the guest list ;)

I think the main bit of information we still need up here is an ETA, even if just a very rough one.

[shadesofmauve]

Oh, excellent! It's good to keep your roadies fed. :P

We have another gig tomorrow, so I'll hash out our intended arrival time with the guys then and get back to you. I'd ballpark 5:30 or 6, If I'm correct in remembering the open mic starting at 7:30.

[westrider.livejournal.com]

Yep, starts at 7:30. People who are drawing for slots to play are supposed to show up earlier, but you guys already have yours sorted, so I don't think you need to.

[solarbird]

Hi, coming to this late! I've missed a lot of stuff during eye surgery and recovery and such.

I presume I do not need to tell you about Colour Rendering Index data for light sources.

I personally find that I do better reflecting light around as much as possible for general tasks. That's the most like outdoors, for me, anyway.

For specialised tasks, I find I do better with flexible lamp placement. To wit: have you considered a sturdy rail going 'round the room, to which you can attach movable clamp lights with flexible necks? I use them when lighting the studio for webcasts, things like that. I also used them when I had my own art studio.

Separately, I'm sending you some email at the email address listed on your art site.

[shadesofmauve]

First -- I received your email. :) I haven't had a chance to listen to the recording yet (I'm waiting for coffee -- was up 'til 2 fighting elven death lasers), so I'll listen and write back when I'm more coherent.

I hope the recovery is still going well! I've been assuming that no added news is good news, after your last post.

I have a spreadsheet I've been building of possible bulbs for every option. CRI is one of the first columns. :)

I like the idea of indirect lighting, but I'm not sure I can get it bright enough w/ only 8' ceilings. If you work on a bigger oil or acrylic painting you need more even light than is easy to get from task lighting, and it has to be indirect or coming down from above (working vertically). Easy to achieve over 1000 lux that way with suspended fluorescents... but not so nice with standard ceilings. If you have ideas on how to achieve really high lumens with indirect lighting without high or angled ceilings to work with, I'm all ears. (I'm thinking 1000 lux general in the painting area; 1500-2000 is recommended for detail work, but that's where task lighting comes in).

I am thinking of something like your rail set-up. We planned on two switched outlets in the ceiling, and adding blocking to support a rail or pipe suspended six inches below it, for clamp lights. I was going back and forth about whether ot just use two banks of track lights, but really, if I wire outlets than the wires and boxes are *there* if I ever want to change it, and that's the obnoxious part. Do you have a picture of your clamp light rail int the studio?

Oh -- oddities of this space. Best way I can think of for indirect lighting with track lights is to attach them to the *wall*, but... I designed myself out of that kind of wall space. My bank of north windows go *almost* to the ceiling, with just enough room for their header.

(That's quite the pre-coffee wall of text, but I've been engrossed in this for so long it just kind of pours out...)

[solarbird]

I never actually got to building the rail - I was making do with whereever-I-could-clamp combined with standing lamps with flexible heads to get the same effect. But if I had it to again? In a heartbeat.

I was able to set up reasonable scatter lighting in my old studio with a substantially lower ceiling (7'). It just took many fixtures, with smaller-wattage LEDs. I wired for that in advance; my studio was heavily wired - honestly, far moreso than it needed to be. But it worked out for me in the end. ^_^

One huge advantage of LEDs - which didn't exist them - is how much easier scattered source lighting is. Particularly with things like rope lights. That link is to five one-metre strands, 5 watts/metre, ultrabright LEDs, for $10. Those are 2700K, but searching for "rope lights" will get you other options, like these 6000K lights. I wouldn't want to use them as primary work, but as fill and evening lights? I should think they'd be awesome, particularly if you mix colour temperatures. (Which I do a lot, still.)

Anyway, there are a lot of options out there. I haven't actually used led light strips yet, but I want to. :D

[shadesofmauve]

Oh -- and my project is on hold while I dither about this and we gear up for Turkey Day Madness, so it's not really late! I'm still desperately seeking experiences and advice.