What lighting for workspace??

[Rhobes]

I recently moved and need to create a workspace for my photographic processing.

I now have a split level home & plan to make the workspace on a long wall(~13' length) with 2 small windows(2'x3'ht) at 4' off the floor(actual ground level). An adjacent wall(no windows) forming a corner runs 9' in length. This room needs a light on in the middle of a sunny day to see in.

I'm thinking of using the long wall, most of it as a work bench at 29" height which would wrap around the corner 9' & back parallel to the long wall (~5'), so the corner cockpit would have a wrap around counter where the computer sits. Probably a long shelf following the counter with recessed lighting pointing down & toward the wall??

At this point I'm most interested in how & what type/brands of lighting to use for this workspace. I want good lighting without glare to the monitor and no shadows to the work bench.

My hardware: 27" iMac glossy screen(I know), Epson 3880 Printer ,(still in box, never opened yet), Epson scanner(19x11"), Epson Photo Printer(20x13x10) may just sell this, Wacom 6x11" Tablet, 2 external HD's, D300 & several Nikor lenses (probably like to keep this in the area.

 

[snberk103]

Go to a couple of lighting shops, and talk to them. They are the pros when it comes to lighting. However, do't follow their advice blindly... just get some hints.

Also, call up a couple of photographers. Ask them if you could get a tour to see what they have done. Some will say 'no', but in my experience we're a pretty friendly and generous bunch, generally.

Other things to consider. And some (or all) of this you may know already, so just ignore the bits that you do know.

The colour of the walls in the room overall, and then the colour of the walls in your field of view while working. The colour of the walls in the room may end up being reflected onto whatever prints you are assessing. So try to keep your walls neutral, or assess our prints with enough direct light that the wall colour doesn't get picked up.

As well, if you have a strong colour in your field of view, then your colour perception gets thrown off. You can see this effect by staring intently at a something with a strong colour for a minute. Then look at something white, and you should see the opposite colour. So really really need to make sure the wall in front of where you are working is neutral.

Different types of lights have different colours, and they will add some of that colour to prints you are looking at. So tungsten lights add reddish/orange, flourescents tubes add green/blue/purple, etc etc. Forget about the description on the flourescent tubes that say "daylight". What you want are tubes that say 5700ºk (for Kelvin) or as close as you can get. This number is a measure of how "white" (i.e. photographic daylight) a light is. In photography, the generally accepted 'temperature' for daylight is 5700º. And because it's photography, warmer light (like tungsten) will be less than 5700º (3600º to 4800º - more or less, iirc) - and the blue/green/purple light of flourescent lights is cooler, or have temperatures above 5700º (6200º to 7000º, off the top of my head).

In anycase, having a "white" light to assess prints by can be a useful thing, so try to find the 5700º flourescent tubes. However, few people look at their art or photos by daylight, so you may want to consider having tungsten and ordinary flourescent lights as well. But that can get a bit involved.

One other hint. Set up a system to hang your prints on wall to assess them. They look different this way. You can either find a special primer paint that is magnets will stick to (bloody expensive, and you need 3 times as much as the can recommends, and it's a pain to mix up).... but you paint your final wall colour over it, and then you use magnets to stick paper prints up. Or you could just put a metal strip up that you can stick magnets to.

Good Luck. Hope this helps.

 

[Rhobes]

Good Luck. Hope this helps.

A great help, Thanks!