Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Back in Business

     Well, I placed 2nd Overall in this past weekends local WFB tournament. That includes a crushing defeat of Strictly Average's Brent. Actually it was a hard fought game in which he had completely overlooked the scenario when he was prepping for the tournament. In addition to that, I bought some new lights for my paint table so I am back in business and should be able to bring you some new stuff to look at. For now, here is a pic of the beginning of me an Brent's game, and after the jump there is some pics of my old then new setup and some explanation of why I chose the lights I did.

     I went out and replaced the broken light that I had so I am now able to work again. Since I am OCDP (I was informed recently that I should not say OCD as I have a OCD Personality so I was incorrect, like I did not know that) I had to buy two of the same lights. Brent had offered to give me one he had, but I was really looking for something different since replacing the light with the same light would most likely result in breaking another light.
     If you notice in the bottom left corner of this pic, is where my light broke. See in addition to using them for painting I also use these lights for my photos. So that means I have to pull them way forward on the table so they shine on the side or front of the model or item I am shooting.
     As you can see here, it was only a matter of time before they broke. No matter how well the light was built, they are just not designed to be pulled that far out and manipulated repeatedly. They are simply built to allow you some flexibility and really a limited range of motion.

     After a failed visit to Office Depot, I was not sure what I would do. Me and the misses needed a few food stores so off to Wal Mart we went. Since there I stopped by the furniture aisle and found these gems.
     A pair of brushed aluminum flexible clip on lights. I swapped the bulbs from my old lamps, clipped them on to the wooden box and they were raring to go. These will also be nice when taking photos because I can clip them to the front of the desk or simply hold one in my hand if I have a particularly stubborn shadow to remove. I also have the added benefit of being able to use a larger bulb in these if I want.

     So, there we have it. I am back and business and should be able to continue posting some of the semi-helpful content you have come to expect here.



3 comments:

Anonymous said...

+1 for Walmart lamps and bulbs.

Carlos said...

Do those lamps get hot? I have a crazy contraption that I will be using for taking pictures of minis and I had to do an emergency shut down yesterday because one of the bulbs was too hot for the gadget.

Master Manipulator (every store needs one) said...

Its not the lamps that get hot its the bulbs. I switched to compact fluorescent bulbs about a year ago and it made all the difference in heat. They even make daylight and Reveal(tm) bulbs in compact fluorescent now.

It used to be so bad before that I could not stand to paint in the summer because I had to run 3 fans to keep that corner of my room cool.

So I guess my answer is no, the lamps do not get hot (with the bulbs I am using). They warm up a bit, but they do not get hot. Cool enough that I can change them with out letting them cool down.