I'm opening a (physical) photo gallery

[Darin Boville]

Interesting, thanks. A friend of mine who opened a gallery (associated with his printing business) was so overwhelmed by the cost of lighting that he ended up getting highway-orange shop lights from Lowe's and bolting them to the rafters. It ended up working well, if you're ok the DIY industrial look ...

I'm just interested in how people choose lighting for gallery spaces. Many years ago I went around town with a notebook and light meter to see what people did, just so I could decide on a viewing light setup for my own printing.

If you buy the Lowes house brand "Portfolio"--apparently rebranded Juno--the cost is not bad. I paid about $1000 overall, half on the tracks and heads and half on the LED lights. If you buy W.A.C. or other name brand--or want anything nicer than the cheap heads--then the cost quickly escalates to 5x what I paid. Crazy. Also, in most jurisdictions, you can do most of the installation yourself without hiring an electrician. You just need a pro (and maybe a permit) for hooking up the power. But the rules vary all over so you'd have to check. That can add quite a bit of cost, even for such a small job.

--Darin

[Darin Boville]

Many years ago I went around town with a notebook and light meter to see what people did, just so I could decide on a viewing light setup for my own printing.

Same thing here--but the trick si to forget about galleries and go to well-funded museums where they are so cost-constrained. Of course, in recent years, they've brought the light levels way way down. Too low for proper viewing in my opinion, you we're sort of on our own in terms of a proper standard.

--Darin

[matthew blais]

I bought the same LED bulbs at costco Darin when they were first offered at $9 each...Had to buy another 8-10 at the $18 cost but overall a good deal.
I ended up selling them for $8 ea at a yard sale and on craigslist.

I still have 13 tracks with 38 heads if you need them. Made for Par 30

[paulr]

Same thing here--but the trick si to forget about galleries and go to well-funded museums where they are so cost-constrained. Of course, in recent years, they've brought the light levels way way down. Too low for proper viewing in my opinion, you we're sort of on our own in terms of a proper standard.

I was looking at the kinds of spaces where I was hoping to show the work ... the idea was to have reasonably similar lighting at my viewing table. Did you talk to any gallery or museum people? I wonder if there are any vague standards, as far as illumination levels and color temperature (for regular work ... I know they have recommendations for fugitive processes like albumin prints.)

How do you like the quality of light from those LEDs? I'm hoping to slowly transition to something like them at home. Are they dimmable?

[Darin Boville]

I still have 13 tracks with 38 heads if you need them. Made for Par 30

Oh, now you tell me!

--Darin

[Darin Boville]

How do you like the quality of light from those LEDs? I'm hoping to slowly transition to something like them at home. Are they dimmable?

They are dimmable although I haven't installed a dimmable switch yet. Hard to tell about color quality. I just painted the floor--the old floor was a red color that was throwing back up a lot of reflected light. Heading down now to bring furniture in. I do have a black and white image in a frame down there and that seems fine. I also plan to have a tungsten bulb lamp of some sort for people to see the print under that light--daylight is just outside, if they want more variety.

One things I've learned--or rather seen a dramatic demonstration of--is how different colors looks, at least in paint, due to differences not only in color temperature but to light levels. I have a sort of taupe color in the middle of the gallery where the TV monitor will go. Dim area. Taupe on wall and ceiling. Then I put the same color on the floor in a 2x2 foot patch a little ways away in the lighted area. Couldn't believe they were the same color. Far more dramatic than I would have ever guessed. Far beyond differences when looking at prints in different light--maybe because of the single-color nature of the patch made the difference obvious, I don't know. Sort of underlined the hopelessness of the idea of seeing a print in a gallery that will exactly match the colors of that same print at home.

--Darin

[matthew blais]

Oh, now you tell me!

--Darin

oops

[Drew Wiley]

Set aside some shekels for some better bulbs. I'd be very skeptical how long the discount ones actually last.

[Darin Boville]

Set aside some shekels for some better bulbs. I'd be very skeptical how long the discount ones actually last.

Just as long as they are in the Costco return period!

--Darin

[Darin Boville]

The local paper has a monthly magazine. They just published a multi-page, full-color profile of the building my gallery is in, along with several quotes from yours truly. Here' s a shrunk pdf of the article--they haven't posted the official pdf version online yet so these are just jpegs of the pages.

http://www.darinboville.com/March_20...pdf.com%5D.pdf

And I haven't even opened yet!

But I did get my final inspection approval this morning. Glass and the rest of my frames due to arrive Friday. If the stars align I'll do a soft opening on Saturday...

--Darin