LCD - Day 28

Well here it is, the final blog post for the Lighting Concepts and Design journal. Thanks S. K. for a great month.

As I said before, I've talked about sunsets a few times.  But only one time this month have I been awake early enough to witness a sunrise. I'm proud to say that for this last blog post, here is a pic of the sunrise I saw on my way to church this morning.

It's quite different than a sunset.  Notice that at this point in the morning, it is the only time of the day that the sun seems so small, compact, and dim enough to look into.  Yet as it continues up overhead, it gets brighter, fuller, and the color temperature increases.

LCD - Day 27

I'm really happy that I received a package from my older brother today.  Sounds weird, I know, but I've been in a desperate need of a scanner.

This is my all-in-one.

So while I can't get a picture of it, I got to thinking about all scanners in general.  In order for the photoreceptor cells on a scanner head to work effectively, there must be a boat-load of light on the subject. (Which if you are scanning your doctorate's thesis, you might call it a 'Bright Idea'.) But the light that is actually created by a scanner is by means of LEDs.  The light is such a pure white as to not add extra color to the image it is scanning.  When looking at the light, though, you can see individual rays of red, green, and blue in certain points. So may one assume that scanners build an image based on RGB recreation?

LCD - Day 26

Today, I had the most awesome experience working on a reality television shoot.  After arriving at the shooting location, the film crew got to work setting up.  The first thing they got started on was brightening up the house so the video would turn out better.  They sent a production assistant out to the store to buy eight 5000 Kelvin CFL's to match the outside daylight since they would be filming both inside and out.

Later that day, we were shooting individual interviews.  To add an accent on the talent, they used a one foot by one foot LED panel that really put out some light!  The entire thing was battery operated and was extremely portable.  No more lugging around twelve inch fresnels!

LCD - Day 25

So I was thinking a bit of human's natural reaction to colors and light.  We usually use red light to portray a sense that it should not be touched or that there is reason for alarm.  (Usually warning lights are red.)  Green is not a naturally occurring color of light....

Yet, when we see a green light, we know that our laptops are ready to go for another day's worth of work. This is just one example of green signaling success or a good or safe option.  Others include the answer versus ignore button on your cell phone, a standard traffic light, etc.  How many examples can you think of?

LCD - Day 24

I realize I have posted a picture of a sunset before, but this one was unlike any that I have witnessed in a long time here in Florida.  This was pure beauty.  Unfortunately, my cell phone just could not capture it.

No amount of light nor gel could ever recreate something like this.

LCD - Day 23

I happened to be in a theater the other day when I looked up and noticed their front of house electric.  It was decently stocked with some ellipsoidals and some movers.  I couldn't tell what kind of ERSs they were, however, because they didn't follow the normal form factor.  Then I realized...

THOSE are top-hats!

LCD - Day 22

I just moved into a new apartment.  It is definitely an upgrade from the last place.  And unlike most places, it actually has color on the walls.  Now I'm not complaining, because it does look really nice, but with the walls AND the floors being tan colored, it's a little bland.  So I was picking through my Roscolux swatch book looking at different gels when I got to thinking.  Why not gel my lights?


I don't really have any overhead lights, especially in my bedroom.  Those are only those frosty cube lights from IKEA.  They use CFL's which have an extremely low color temperature (oddly enough).

So I was putting the tabs from my swatch book on the inside of the glass and seeing how it looked through the white diffusion.  I'm interested how this experiment would look large scale. Going with primary blue cyc diffusion might be a bit much.  Especially when I need to use the lights for actual visibility and not just to set the mood.

So I'm thinking about ordering a few sheets of some higher transmission valued colors and see what works best for my bland bedroom.

LCD - Day 21

Hey, look over there!  It's the most annoying combination of outdoor fluorescent lighting ever!

I find it really interesting, actually, how the orange light spreads further than the 'white' one.

LCD - Day 20

I don't know if you are aware of this, but tape does not make a good gel.

Where's the Roscolux when you need it?

LCD - Day 19

As I was sitting on my computer, I was hacking away at some work when I heard the typical sound of Florida.  It's like massive pink noise.  Out of curiosity, I turned to my right and looked out the window to see, well, typical Florida.

After a few moments, though, there was a small break in the clouds as the downpour continued.  There was actual full fledged sunshine along with the driving rain.  The fat rain drops were shimming in the light.

You can see the glitter effect better in this under exposed photo.

LCD - Day 18

After meeting some friends at Steak n' Shake, we came out of the restaurant and loitered by the front door for approximately 2 hours thereafter.  During our time of shenanigans, I looked up at the sky and caught this beautiful sight.

While it may look like a lens flare, the moon really did appear as it does in this picture.  The cloud cover was in such a way as to create a diffuse filter and made a very interesting effect.  What my camera did not capture was the way the clouds around the moon glowed very quietly.  It was a really neat scene.

Which reminds me to look into buying a Nikon D90 with a massive zoom lens to get better photos.

LCD - Day 17

After lab tonight, I was leaving Live 1 and heading to the corner of University and Forsyth when I saw flashing red and blue lights to my right.  Fortunately, I wasn't being pulled over, but there was a cop car sitting on the corner.  I look ahead up Forsyth and notice another cop car just sitting in the road.

Something is going on...


I was becoming a bit concerned at this point, but just decided to act natural and continue my normal way home.

Then the helicopter flew over.            And that helicopter had it's search light on.


Now I'm concerned.

Something bad happened and I was driving through the center of it.  And although I was scared half to death that I was going to get jumped if I dared stop at the upcoming read light, I still couldn't help but think that that helicopter's search light has a really high peak candella and tiny mf on the beam diameter.

LCD - Day 16

I decided to go bowling tonight since I had a BOGO coupon.  Why not, I thought.

So considering I had homework and other happenings going on that day, I couldn't go until after 9.  Evidently that's when they start "Moonlight" bowling, which is great for kids, annoying for LDs and serious bowling professionals.

Bowling to me is a science.  You don't just go up to the line and chuck the ball willy-nilly down the alley.  You have to find your start point, hit your point, and adjust the hook accordingly.

So anyway, moonlight bowling is where they kill the lights in one half of the bowling alley and turn on black lights only.  No fancy moving light, just static UV.  It looked nice and gave a calm evening feel, but it was as annoying as all get out since I couldn't see my mark!

LCD - Day 15

I know I've already talked about annoying lights as you try to fall asleep, but I really want to share this one with you.  Under my desk near the foot of my bed is a power squid with a green and red LED, side by side.  It might just be me and my bad eyes that naturally see glare, but as I was trying to fall asleep, I became concerned.  Because in the dark, without my glasses on, I didn't see green and red side by side.  I saw orange.  And when you see glowing orange near a bunch of electronics, you get worried.  You get to thinking that something might be on fire.  After fumbling around in the dark trying to make sure my desk wasn't combusting, I realized that color mixing sometimes just isn't very nice.

LCD - Day 14

As I worked BTS today, we had a lot of problems getting along with lighting.  The two main problems were random changing back wash, and key fill.

The first problem was it seemed the stage wash kept changing color every time a camera panned the stage.  We couldn't quite figure out what was happening, so we changed the stage wash to blue at full intensity.  Remember blue lights?  So after everyone started glowing like the Na'vi, we determined the color was nice, but just lower the intensity on the MAC 404's and we'd be good.

The other problem (which was later determined to be a white balancing issue) was with Camera 4 and orange.  Everyone's skin tones came out to be extremely dark.  While it didn't look natural or good compared to the other cameras, it gave Gary Jones are really nice tan.

LCD - Day 13

From LCD Test 1 Study Guide:
"What do reflectors do?"

They redirect light!

Reflectors are curved and usually made of glass.  Eye glasses are also curved and made of "glass".  Guess what?  They reflect light to!

Today's observation took place as I was sitting with my back to the window when I noticed at the side of my lenses, I could see behind me.  It's almost just like that spy movie that Lindsay Lohan debuted in.  Not that I've seen that anyway...

But any way, it's pretty neat that the reflectivity and curvature of my eye glasses are just right to give me rear-view vision.  Pretty nifty for inconspicuously looking when one of those "don't look now" situations arises.

LCD - Day 12

I have another theory based on observation.  Do you remember when Lord Smithers demonstrated masking?  He ironically explained it while yelling over the pencil sharpener.  Notice how our ears can't detect things when it is being bombarded with louder sounds.

But our eyes don't necessarily follow the same concept.

For instance, I'm sitting here on my computer and the evening sun is coming in through the window next to me.  My bedroom lamps (unfortunately CFL) are on on the other side of the room with a night light on down the hall in the bathroom and small lamp on in the kitchen.  With all this light, you would think that I wouldn't be able to see the Num Lock light on my keyboard.  Yet I can.

It's interesting that our eyes can still perceive the tiniest amount of light, even when we are in the presence of very intense light.

Of course, some limitations still apply.  Like aurally, there's a certain point where the sound is so loud, you can't take any more in and quite processing the information.  That's usually the point of deafness.  Same with light.  If your face is in the can of a PAR 1k MFL, you won't be seeing anything else.... and possible for a while thereafter.

LCD - Day 11

Have you ever, by chance, been to Old Towne?  It's pretty much a tourist trap, so I don't blame you if you haven't.  Well, somewhat conjoined to it is a mobile Fun Spot.  And nothing makes a place jam-packed with come-apart-death-trap rides more enticing and 'fun' than when it is completely flashing with brightly colored lights.

Of course the most intensely terrifying attraction there would be the rip-cord or whatever you people call it down here.  You know, the giant cable swing where you nearly free fall 250 feet.  I love how that was the most brightly and colorfully lit thing there.  Because that makes it fun and let's you try and out think your own pant-peeing fear.

LCD - Day 10

As we've all learned in LCD lecture, light has the power to set and change the entire mood of the show.  It's actually been proven that people naturally talk quieter in dimly lit restaurants.  Yet there is something quite unnerving about total darkness.  Strangely, it's not a natural concept to us.  Unless if you've grown up in a completely remote farm, miles away from any civilization (in which case I don't think you would even have a connection to the internet), then you are not accustomed to witnessing complete darkness.  But even then you would still have the light from the moon and the stars.  So complete darkness just is not a natural concept to us.... except when we go to our bedroom.

If you are a college student with labs from 2100-0100 and especially 0100-0500, you hate the sun.  No, no, no, you loathe it.  So we make our bedrooms as dark as possible because I don't want to see the flipping sun any earlier than necessary, because, hey, I don't have class at all today and I do not want to be disturbed.

So we get home exhausted from lab, fall into bed, turn off the lights (this is my routine since I have a remote for my lights) and expect to be engulfed by darkness.

Except... there isn't darkness...

Remember how light can create and change moods?

Well, earlier, I was watching a movie on my laptop (not my mac), which I had the power cord plugged in - the tip of which glows blue.  (Again with blue lights....) And I had forgotten that it was on the floor at the foot of the bed.  So when turned off the light expecting to be met with complete black, I wasn't.


There was something there.  Something that shouldn't have been there.  That little blue LED was enough to change my mood from sleepy time, to shear terror.


My head started racing to try and figure out who or what was going to attack me and how they got into my apartment.  It took me quite the several seconds of pure schizophrenia before I had a mental facepalm and realized that it was just the laptop on the floor.

It really is interesting the reactions we have, even to the most insignificant amount of light, especially when it is the opposite of what we expect to see.

LCD - Day 9

Last night at lab I noticed something that caught my eye across the parking lot of FS Live 2.  If you look at the U-Lock-It sign across the way from the satellite dish, you'll see it too.

I'm sure most of us know the rule that when it comes to replacing your cars headlights, it's important to "replace in pairs".  I'm thinking that someone didn't know this when they replaced some of the fluorescent tubes in the sign.  You can tell this because across the bottom of the sign is two different color temperatures.  The left half is more of a redish tint and the right half is more blue.

I tried to get a picture of it, but my cell phone just can't capture that much light, even on the underexposed setting, so you'll have to take my word for it.  Or better yet, just go check it out after dusk in the back FS Live 2 parking lot.

LCD - Day 8

http://xkcd.com/283

So lately I've been thinking about this comic and why exactly it is true.  In theory, if you are staring at a light source, there should be light bouncing off of your face.  If you have ever taken a magnifying glass to an LCD screen, you should be able to see the clearly defined individual pixels.  The tiny spacing between each pixel should be enough to separate each beam of light and focus it into a projection.  In fact, it really does work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6n6jW0XIV0

So why how can both youtube and xkcd be correct?  It's because of the implementation of the light source.  With a direct light source with enough lumens, you can actually push a projection through the LCD which will act as a very sharply focused gel of sorts.  Other than the obvious reason of not wanting to stare into the power of a car's headlight as you work on your homework, the reason xkcd is correct, is because of the use of a reflector.

I order to evenly light the entire screen, and to keep the profile of the monitor as thin as possible, a reflector is used on the back of the monitor.  The light source is actually the same that you might find in a flatbed scanner. It usually lays across the bottom of the monitor and points upwards.  In the back is a diffuse reflector to help evenly smooth the light over the entire surface.

With the indirect angle and low peak candella, LCD monitors are natively poor projectors.

LCD - Day 7

As I walked across the road to Bruster's tonight, I was being followed.  It was somewhat unnerving the entire time since the black shadow out of the corner of my eye presented an impending sense of possible danger.  Keeping my eyes peeled, I felt that continuing on would be safe.  After all, it was only the beginnings of a thunderhead.

After enjoying my Oreo Blast with chocolate ice cream, the sky gave me one further treat.

I realize that the street light is dead center beyond all else, but look past it.  What beautiful colors!  And it's interesting to think about too.  The sun emits a full spectrum of color in its light, yet as it sets, the angle of incidence on object such as the clouds, changes the reflections and refractions, causing us to perceive different colors in different places.  It's really quite something else.

LCD - Day 6

I'll spare you the exaggerated anecdotes, and just cut straight to the chase on this post. Normal sarcasm scheduling will resume tomorrow (more than likely).

Tonight I went on an absolutely lovely date with my wonderful fiancé to Walt Disney World. Our main goal was to see some artwork at the Polynesian Resort and then mosey on over to the Grand Floridan to watch "Wishes" from the boardwalk. Due to inclement weather, we decided to skip out on the fireworks and save those for a later blog post, er, I mean, date (in both meanings).

While en promenade, we stopped in the main atrium to admire the big band that was playing nearby when something caught my eye. I noticed that the entire band was extremely well lit, especially for being under an overhang. Plus, the had very soft shadows on their right side.

Since you obviously can't really tell by that photo, here is an underexposed version that'll really make that beauty shine...

Come on, give me some slack. I'm shooting off of a cell phone, you know...

So the darker photo more clearly shows the beam width and edge. After going down a level to look up at the ceiling, I saw this...

Not helpful, I realize.

From another angle, I could see part of the nose of the fixture which hinted at being a Leko of sorts. There was no diffusion gel and the throw distance was definitely too far for a wash light to be effective, so the fixture was extremely out of focus to create a very smooth, soft edge. While I couldn't walk into the center of the band and look for the black dot to confirm an ERS, I am still guessing it is a 26 degree ellipsoidal with a very dropped lens.

LCD - Day 5

No matter what hotel you've ever stayed at in your entire life, there will be a smoke detector near, or aimed directly at, your face. And there aren't enough pillows or blankets in the world to hide you from it. And it blinks...

blinks...

blinks...

blinks...

And you can't help yourself from waking from the most intense and deep sleep of your life just to see it

blink...

blink...

Because you have to count the delay and ponder why on Earth a smoke detector manufacturer chose Pi to the cubic root of seventeen as the delay time. The interesting thing is that there are two extremities to this annoyance. The first is too slow of a delay. After a flash, you forget about it, get over it, and start to fall asleep. By the time you are just about to touch Level One, it flashes again and the process starts from square one.

The other extremity is when a light flashes too fast and there is barely any delay in between assaults. For example, the power light on my desktop PC. My desk is situated in the opposite corner of my room with the tower facing towards the head of my bed. To conserve energy, I put it into standby mode. If any of you have an Acer Aspire E300 series, you can attest to the agitating pattern of the power LED when it's sleeping. Which, if you ask me, the computer isn't really "sleeping". I'd classify it more as silent turret's. So instead of a nicely paced, calm blink every now and then, it's more like

onoffonoffonoffonoffonoffonoffonoffonoffonoffonoffonoffonoffonoffonoffonoffonoffonoffonoffonoffonoffonoffonoffonoff

And did I mention that the LED is BLUE?! In case you are not aware, blue LED's are the most aggravating, bothersome, irritating, troublesome, and vexatious lights in the entire existence of technology; and it's in my face. All night. Flashing rapidly. I swear, a lighting strike inside my bedroom would be more pleasant than the constant onslaught of my PC.

But seriously, who knew that a somewhere-close-to-a-quarter-watt LED could be bright enough to light an entire room?

P.S. Oh, yeah, I know I could just turn my computer OFF, but it's just easier to throw a black hoodie over the front cover.

LCD - Day 4

I realize most of these observations that I'm sharing are all of happenings that took place while I have been driving. Especially at night. But then, what do you expect to find when driving at night in the city?

Last night, for the first time in my life, I witnessed a UFO!!!

As I was heading to lab, traveling down Forsyth, I looked up in the sky and saw a white flashing disc of light. Underneath, I saw a cone of purple light, if only for a few seconds. I would have stopped to take a picture and prove to you all that they exist, but I was alone and driving. How convenient. But I swear, it was the weirdest phenomenon that I have ever witnessed. They are real! Honest!

LCD - Day 3

Last night, my wonderful fiancé landed at MCO. Being the wonderful man she fell in love with, I trudged my down state route 436 to pick her up. On our way back, I discovered the subject of this post.

Florida drivers are nuts. It's absolute insanity that they drive around AT NIGHT with NO HEADLIGHTS. I mean, since it is the city, the roads are pretty well lit, but guess what? No one else can see you! However, it's even more annoying when people drive in the opposite side (heading toward you), in the city mind you, with their high beams [aka, "brights"] on.

Normal headlights aren't necessarily awful unless you are driving a Corvette that practically scrapes the road in which case every headlight is directly at eye-level. Usually, headlights have a pretty concentrated hotspot aiming directly in front of the vehicle and angled down towards the road. I assume this is because of the curvature of the reflector. But if you bear the pain for about two seconds, you'll pass by the hotspot and be able to focus back on the black void in front of you safely.

High beams are different though. There is no escaping the pain. It always appears that no matter how far away, or how far off-axis you are, you just can't see past them. I assume this is, again, because of the curvature of the reflector (not to mention the obvious difference in intensity) to try and throw the light farther and wider down the road.

Well anyway, I was more than annoyed, not to mention distracted. Fortunately, I was the leader of the three-lane caravan traveling down Semoran and didn't have to worry about nearly rear-ending anyone.

In conclusion, high-beams are really annoying. If you find yourself faced with them...

DON'T GO TOWARDS THE LIGHT!

LCD - Day 2

I'm going to let you in on a little secret. It is really really sunny in Florida. You literally have no idea. I'm used to that Northern Sun where you can squint or close one eye and still be able to hap-hazardously navigate your vehicle down the freeway. Florida is different. You walk out of Starbucks, and INSTANT BLINDNESS! But it doesn't go away. It's almost like I'm experiencing the sun for the first time. Yeah, the intensity might be greater since I am closer to the equator, but the way the light just purely engulfs things is quite remarkable.

As an Ohioan, I'm used to cloudy and overcast days. It's not really ever a surprise to see the streetlights on in the middle of the day. It just gets dark when the sky gets depressed. But as I eluded to in yesterday's post, the sun can still get to you even with cloud cover in Florida.

So the real observation (since that's what I'm being graded on) concerning this comparison is how you deal with blinding rays of Zeus. In Ohio, it doesn't matter the day; you put your sun visor down and presto! it creates a comfortable reprieve for your eyeballs by casting a soft shadow. In Florida, the physics of diffraction scoff at you as the light seemingly does not distribute regards, bends around your visor, and continues to bombard your retinas. Soft shadow or hard shadow? None whatsoever.

LCD - Day 1

So here we go. First post as a Full Sail student in the second half of my degree program - that being Show Production. In case anyone found this via a Google search, or you are really obsessed with reading any of my stuff, or you are just a creepy stalker; here's some background information about the existence of this blog: Now that I am in Show Production classes, it is an assignment to post daily observations of what I'm studying here. So for the next 28 days, I am putting my observations of light.

And now, the real content...

As I'm sitting here on break during the first day of my Lighting Concepts and Design class, the power went out due to a thunderstorm outside. It wasn't really a big deal since we didn't have the lights on anyway, but it was an inconvenience since you can't teach with a powerpoint when there is no power to the projector. It came back on in time anyway, but I'm still looking out the window at the sky.

Firstly, lighting is freaky but still really freaking cool. A sudden blast of pure white light. I've seen a lot of metal hallide in my days, but nothing compares to its brilliance.

I would go on with my observations about other aspects of the sky, but I will save those for a... well, for another rainy day.