Cheap, stylish and effective bias lighting solution

[flightsectorZRO]

Hey all,

I'm a newbie in this forum (just joined today) and I figured why not start things off by contributing something useful (and I hope I am posting this in the right forum). I just recently found these "mug lamps" while strolling around Lowes and added them to my setup that was sorely in need of better lighting. The difference it makes is amazing.

Here it is without lighting...


no_bias_lighting by flightsectorZRO, on Flickr



And now with lighting!


bias_lighting_1 by flightsectorZRO, on Flickr


bias_lighting_2 by flightsectorZRO, on Flickr


Assuming you have a 2 monitor setup or 1 very large monitor You will need two of these:

http://www.lowes.com/pd_222273-3264..._s?Ntt=style+selection+nickel+lamp&facetInfo=

(btw, surprisingly good build quality)


...and 2 daylight (6500k "cool" color temperature) CFL bulbs like this:

http://www.amazon.com/89091-15-Watt-Daylight-Compact-Fluorescent/dp/B0014X5MK0

Edit: (don't know why its so expensive at amazon...I picked up a 2-pack at walmart for $5.

The lamps each come with their own built-in switch on the power cord, but I plug them both into a single power strip that I keep under my desk so I can turn them on and off with my feet, but I'm sure you can come up with something more elegant.

Overall, I think its a pretty powerful bias lighting solution for around $20 total.

Of course, if you only have one medium sized monitor, one lamp should be sufficient and if you have 3 or more monitors, adjust accordingly.

 

[johan851]

Very nice! I've always done this with my monitors because I feel like it lowers eyestrain a lot. I just have a desk lamp tucked behind my monitors pointed at the wall, but this is really convenient.

 

[Janus67]

That looks great! I'm going to need to look into some lighting setups for review pictures and it looks like I can do that and get a good monitor lighting setup as well

 

[ssjwizard]

Nice setup, I could probably use some indirect lighting behind my desk, to bad its on the edge of my loft looking down on my living room.

 

[markp1989]

looks nice, I just ordered some white CCFL the same kind people install in their pc as case lighting, I can pick up a 12v power block from the shop to test this on my desktop set up.



this video is similar to what I am trying to do.

the only problem I have is that the wall with my screens on it is black so I don't know how effective bias lighting will be.

 

[flightsectorZRO]

looks nice, I just ordered some white CCFL the same kind people install in their pc as case lighting, I can pick up a 12v power block from the shop to test this on my desktop set up.



this video is similar to what I am trying to do.

the only problem I have is that the wall with my screens on it is black so I don't know how effective bias lighting will be.

Ahh, that is a great idea. I actually kind of like that even more than my suggestion because the light is slightly more even and none of it is wasted since the whole bulb is exposed.

As for the black wall, maybe you could just paint a big white square where the light will be reflecting off of? You can even paint a nice border around it so it looks cool. Or if you don't want something so permanent, you could just buy some white posterboard and pin it to the wall.

 

[markp1989]

Ahh, that is a great idea. I actually kind of like that even more than my suggestion because the light is slightly more even and none of it is wasted since the whole bulb is exposed.

As for the black wall, maybe you could just paint a big white square where the light will be reflecting off of? You can even paint a nice border around it so it looks cool. Or if you don't want something so permanent, you could just buy some white posterboard and pin it to the wall.

I am going to have to wait for the lights to show up, I will test it on the black wall to see how it goes if it doesn't work very well I will try out the white card/posterboard idea to see how it goes.

Its gonna take a while for them to get here, I hate bank holidays.

 

[markp1989]

I got the lights through the post and tested it out today, it seems to work ok even with a black wall.

I tried taking some photos, but my phones auto white balance/exposure setting is making it really hard for me to take pictures of it.

in this pic you can see the lighting a bit these sorts of pictures really show how bad the camera on my mobile is.

although it definetly would be better with a white wall / area behind the screens.