I just purchased a picture light. It is one of those fancy lights that is installed over a piece of artwork, and it then shows off the art at night.
There are two 25 watt bulbs.
Can this fade my picture after a period of time?
Thanks.
Kate
Usually yes. Of course it depends on whether the picture is an oil (acrylic, etc.), water color, charcoal, a black-and-white photo, a color photo, mosaics, and so on. Also the type of bulb matters.
Check with the restoration section of your local art museum.
Thank you very much.
Kate
HeyBub wrote:
lights
If it is very expensive are, I'd worry about everything. But for prints or less expensive stuff, I double 50 watts of incandencent will do much. Florecent would be a concern, though. But 50 watts of florecent is quite a bit of light.
If it's a photo or something will glass in front of it, don't worry because you should be using glass that will protect for UV.
Yes, any light will. However tungsten lamps do so far less than sun light. Also it is the total amount of light.
Not sure, but aren't picture lights UV filtered? A coating on teh bulbs? If so, I guess the fading problem might have been addresssed.
later,
tom @
Thank you. I am going to return the light.
Joseph Meehan wrote:
The only thing it says on the package is: Tubular bulb incandescent picture light. I think I will return it, as I am afraid of fading.
Thank you.
Tom The Great wrote:
I wouldn't worry too much about 50 watts of incandescent.
That's about as mild as you will get and still have it out in the open. Being near a window would do worse things.
If it's valuable, 1 or a kind, there are other precautions you should take that would have more an impact than this. For example, what about your windows? You'll get more UV from them than anything.
lights that
You're using something similar to these. If they were terrible, there'd be warnings here. Don't sweat it.
I always keep my blinds closed until the sun goes around the corner.
It is one of a kind, and I think I will call some art galleries tomorrow.
Thanks for being so helpful.
This is super helpful. Mine is very similar to the Hobby Hill Studio Series, except I have two 25 watt incandesecent lights.
Thanks for taking the time to help.
Kate
Pat wrote:
I hate to say this to someone who seems as terribly nice are you seem, but I don't think your issue is "lighting". I think you need professional help. But don't go visit a shrink, go visit someone and talk about preservation and preservation techniques.
Think off all of the art you have seen in museums. Think about it. You saw it. YOU saw it.
Life is risky and so is owning art. Either you can enjoy it or you can protect it, but it's hard to do both.
Most oils on canvas are pretty durable things. Think what the old masters have been through and still survived. This of the frescos of the world with no protection. The old pigments were pretty durable.
On the other extreme are photos and your kids 3rd grade drawing on newsprint. Those things will fade and deteriorate. There's not stopping it -- but there are some tricks that might seem like you can.
There are also those things you can put behind glass (photos, prints) and those you can't (oils, canvas). If you can put it behind glass, get GOOD glass and do so. If you can't, get good glass (or sheets of UV film) in your windows. In either case, you can stop living in a cave and gets some good light into the place.
Go talk to someone and you'll get some guidance. Can't help much here because there's no idea what kind of art it is.
If it's professionally mounted and framed, that's probably good. If not, take it to someone who knows what they are doing and get it prepped right. Otherwise you might find the gasses, etc., from the mount might do more harm that anything else.
Life's short. Enjoy your art. Don't do anything stupid, but don't get paranoid, either.
incandescent
fancy lights that
fancy lights that
A lot of glass passes more UV than a lot of people think. I would get UV film, and one I like is a stage lighting "filter gel" - GAM 1510 "UV Shield" - which blocks even a little borderline-visible-UV band that gets through polycarbonate. The Rosco 03114 is similar.
Meanwhile, visible light (especially violet-blue) is not completely harmless. I would ask art preservation experts how much is reasonably safe.
- Don Klipstein ( snipped-for-privacy@misty.com)
Time is also a major factor here.
1 hour a day at 500 lux is the same damage as 5 hours a day at 100 lux.(Kate- lux is a measure of brightness on the painting.)
A timer or just care in using your light can make a big difference for you.
RickR
I wouldn't go to the borg, I'd call this company or a similar one...
The Billiard Warehouse 888-809-7665
Most of the pendant lights say that they can handle three150W incandescent bulbs. Some of the longer ones can hold 400W worth of CFLs.
There no mention of color, but their customer service reps might know.
DAGS "pool table lighting" for other sources
No reason to worry about "spectrum" or "Kelvin". Kelvin is just a way of descriping the color of the light - lower numbers are redder, higher ones bluer - and spectrum refers to the colors within the light.
Your incandescent lights are around 2800-3000 Kelvin (sunlight is around
5000-5500) and emit all colors. Personally, I like incandescent light for most artificial lighting; fluorescent gives you more bang for the watt but it is deficient in red and seems to suck the life out of things.What you should be interested in is foot candles - how much light is falling on a square foot - and evenness of coverage. As you have it now, your fixture is covering the width of the table well but not the length. One way to solve that is to raise it to about 60"; trouble is, doing that will decrease the light intensity *on* the table to about 35% of what you have now. The best fix is probably two fixtures, hung at 35", one each at 24" from each end of the table. As an alternative to that, get a light made for a pool table; they have three or four fixtures on a bar - four is better - to spread the light along the length of the table. They can be pricey but Wal-Mart has a 3 light one for less than $100.
So your solutions are:
I have to disagree. Color can be very important, especially with a green pool table and colored balls. I'd lean towards a warmer color though and avoid anything too blue.
Yes, the foot candles is important too, but Steve is more interested in ambiance and visibility.
Why aren't you contacting a billiards lighting supply house like I suggested in my earlier response?
Seems to me like you are intent on reinventing the wheel. You don't have to buy from them but you could gather the specs and then take it from there.
Did you try calling any of them? I've often found that the CSR's at many companies can connect you with people that actually know the technical details about the products they sell...stuff that isn't available on their website.
Another option would be to call a upscale billiards hall. Not one like this...
...but maybe one like this...
I'd bet that someone at Hawley's would be willing to discuss lighting with you. It's the old sales tactic related to "asking for advice". People like to talk about their passion so if you let them know that you want to tap into their expertise, the floodgates will usually open up. The owner's email address is on the website.
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