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What's your preferred type of Light Bulb as a MUA?
I'm purchasing a vanity mirror for my photography studio, and trying to choose the best light bulb for the mirror. The choices are: Clear incandescent (warm white) Frosted incandescent (cool white) Clear LED (bright white) Frosted LED (bright white) Which would you like to see when your client sits down in front of a vanity? Jan 03 17 09:45 am Link You should get lights that match the color temp of the lighting you use in the studio so that WYSIWYG. Jan 03 17 11:14 am Link Mason Foster wrote: As SayCheeZ mentioned... color matching is wise... Jan 05 17 02:00 pm Link personally i bring my own lighting whenever possible , i use the makeup light Jan 18 17 07:34 pm Link I have frosted LED lights in my makeup mirror. My main mua said she didn't care much either way. Her request though was that my makeup table was appropriate height for a directors chair so she doesn't have to bend too much. Jan 20 17 11:36 am Link Sometimes makeup gets mis-represented when photographed in several ways. If the photographer is using strobe flash...then your lighting would have to be 5000 degree kelvin...a bluish kind of light so his images look like the colors you applied. If the photographer is using continuous tungsten lighting (regular household kind of tungsten light bulbs... always ON)... then the light is 3200 degrees kelvin...a warm light compared to the blueish daylight strobes as above. SO... If you make up your model using regular light bulbs...and if he is shooting tungsten...THEN... your makeup colors will show up correctly in his images. However, If the photographer is using a flash/strobe then his light will be much bluer than your orange light...and then your makeup colors will have a blue cast to them. Your makeup will not look the same as you applied it. It will look blueish and cold and desaturated some. Just the opposite.... If you make up your model in the daylight ( which is 5000+ degree blue light) and if he is shooting tungsten (standard bulbs)...then your makeup will look a little bit redder/warmer/more saturated than when you applied it!! SO... the idea is to makeup the model in the same color temperature of light that the photographer is using. So you would be choosing between blue daylight balanced makeup lights... or the warmer/redder tungsten lights. If I remember correctly... your listing is almost all tungsten type of lighting but has different diffusion/softening covering on them. Most of the lights you mention are filament, always on, standard household type of warm orange light color. You most likely would want to buy two sets of light bulbs. A set of standard tungsten lights (warm yellow orange...with the different kind of diffusion coverings you list to soften the harshness of the bulb)...AND... a set of cool white or especially DAYLIGHT color lights. These lights would be blue looking compared to the standard kinds of light. Just screw in the right kinds of lights when you get to the photographers and see what kind of lighting he is shooting with. I love the idea to make your light bar be vertical so that the whole face is evenly covered in light. Some of my makeup artists have a bar/strip of lighting made up of just 6-8 vertical sockets. they just screw in the right kind of light as needed. Their images always look great...not too blue/desaturated and not too warm/saturated. Jan 20 17 09:05 pm Link Thomas Van Dyke wrote: Wow, your lighting arrangement sounds like a dream to me! Feb 12 17 07:04 am Link My makeup area had typical vanity lighting above the mirror. On several occasions when shooting I noticed imperfections in the models makeup that they weren’t aware of until we were looking at photos on a l large computer screen. I suspected the makeup area lighting was at fault. My solution was to make a ring light for my makeup mirror using self-adhesive LED strips. At first, the mirror ring light was on a separate from the light switch for the room so it sometimes didn’t get switched on. When I saw makeup flaws, I would look at the makeup area and every time the mirror ring light was off and the vanity fixtures were on. So, I hard-wired the lights so they ALWAYS come on when the lights are on and ripped out the old fixture completely. I have had people show up for a shoot and say, “WOW, my makeup looks horrible”. Which tells me something about the lighting in their bathroom because their makeup never looks horrible once they spend a few minutes fixing what they couldn’t see before. Ring lights are used around mirrors in high end cosmetics stores all over, so nothing revolutionary here. A light which surrounds the top, bottom and sides like a ring light is my recommendation based on personal experience. Given the options provided by the OP, I would go with warm white fluorescent (bleh) and change the bulbs out for ones matching the color temperature of the lighting in use for the photograph. Kino Flo makes a variety of tubes all with great color rendering, you might check to see if Kinos are available in a size that will fit. There are cto and ctb sleeves for florescent lights and you can gel them any color you want assuming you posses the supplies and tools known as scissors and tape. I you must have LED (because cool, dork dork dork etc.) or you already bought it.... You can always color correct the light with gels if necessary.  Cheers, Noah Feb 13 17 02:44 am Link The makeup light is fantastic. Feb 13 17 12:29 pm Link We have vertical light bars at the sides of the mirror in our dressing room and my preference is the Reveal bulbs I think made by GE. First time I used them I was sold. Skin tones are accurate and they really seem to put a snap into things that other bulbs don't. I have one light bar over my bathroom mirror and now I have to put them there as well. Love those things. Feb 13 17 04:27 pm Link |
I usually work with a photographer at his studio but we just moved..... we used to have vanity row lighting in a different (yet somewhat similar) variation, but now that we are looking for a new space I should probably actually just shell out for my own lighting.... thanks for the advice from a lurker in the search function! 
