Paper lightshades, what light bulb to use?

[petrochemist]

Don't let manufacturers fool you. Some LED and Incadescence manufacturers give you equivalent wattage. They are ALL wrong. I own(ed) so many of them, and they are much less bright than their specs would suggest.

The equivalent wattage comparisons are misleading but not wrong. What they have done is measured the light output from the most inefficient filament light they could & used that to give comparisons. It's standard practice in marketing to pick comparisons that make your product look good.
These days light bulbs are increasingly showing the actual light output in lumens (probably also under ideal conditions) which allows for more accurate assessments.
LED lights are usually more efficient than CFL, which are better than Halogen, which are better than simple Tungsten....
However as mention previously LED & CFL lights are not continuum sources and can have a very spikey spectral power distribution. Not as bad as low pressure sodium (basically just yellow) but still enough to cause lots of trouble getting a good white balance..
The plots (and indeed text) here might make more sense.

 

[DanOstergren]

In my experience the cooler tinted bulbs are best for the key light, and warmer ones help add contrast in backlight (which is optional). You could potentially use a warmer colored light for the key light as well to achieve a different mood. I've done a few shoots using household light bulbs, and for one shoot I had no choice but to diffuse the light through a lampshade. Many would think that you would get awful results with a setup like that, but what matters is how the light is being used, not really what type of bulb. Don't let anyone convince you that you can't achieve good portraits with cheap, low watt bulbs because it's absolutely not true. However, since you have the choice, a higher watt bulb can make things a bit easier, so is recommended in instances where you have a choice. Also never let anyone or yourself convince you that your camera's ISO capabilities are holding you back, because that's also untrue. I shoot with a ten year old camera that maxes out at 1600 ISO and I have no problems. This was one of the shots lit using a low watt energy saver bulb through a lamp shade as the key light and a 60w tungsten lamp bulb for a little color contrast, also diffused through a lampshade. This shot used similar bulbs, except they were diffused through cheap white umbrella diffusers. You can get away with using fairly low watt bulbs, but you'll need to compensate with higher ISO and slower shutter speeds with a wide aperture, which isn't always ideal and why I recommend the higher watt bulbs given the choice. In both instances that I shot using low watt household bulbs, I had expected that I would be shooting with natural light but ended up having to work with these instead which were provided by the client. Had I known this was what would happen, I would have been better prepared and just brought higher watt bulbs that would allow for faster shutter speeds and lower ISO, so I would definitely look for something with a higher watt, just know that you can get away with low watt if you absolutely have to.

On the subject of what would be flattering to the subject, if you don't already know about it, look up the makeup technique called "contouring and highlighting", and use your lighting to mimic the same sculpting effect of contouring and highlighting on your subject's face. This alone does wonders for portraits, and you can usually get away with using ANY light source for portraits as long as you apply that idea to your lighting. Just personal opinion from my experience though.

Also, honestly I think you should get the whole rainbow in different colored bulbs and go crazy with them. Don't even worry about wattage and focus on experimenting and seeing what you can do with your camera and these bulbs.

 

[gayle23]

In my experience the cooler tinted bulbs are best for the key light, and warmer ones help add contrast in backlight (which is optional). You could potentially use a warmer colored light for the key light as well to achieve a different mood. I've done a few shoots using household light bulbs, and for one shoot I had no choice but to diffuse the light through a lampshade. Many would think that you would get awful results with a setup like that, but what matters is how the light is being used, not really what type of bulb. Don't let anyone convince you that you can't achieve good portraits with cheap, low watt bulbs because it's absolutely not true. However, since you have the choice, a higher watt bulb can make things a bit easier, so is recommended in instances where you have a choice. Also never let anyone or yourself convince you that your camera's ISO capabilities are holding you back, because that's also untrue. I shoot with a ten year old camera that maxes out at 1600 ISO and I have no problems. This was one of the shots lit using a low watt energy saver bulb through a lamp shade as the key light and a 60w tungsten lamp bulb for a little color contrast, also diffused through a lampshade. This shot used similar bulbs, except they were diffused through cheap white umbrella diffusers. You can get away with using fairly low watt bulbs, but you'll need to compensate with higher ISO and slower shutter speeds with a wide aperture, which isn't always ideal and why I recommend the higher watt bulbs given the choice. In both instances that I shot using low watt household bulbs, I had expected that I would be shooting with natural light but ended up having to work with these instead which were provided by the client. Had I known this was what would happen, I would have been better prepared and just brought higher watt bulbs that would allow for faster shutter speeds and lower ISO, so I would definitely look for something with a higher watt, just know that you can get away with low watt if you absolutely have to.

On the subject of what would be flattering to the subject, if you don't already know about it, look up the makeup technique called "contouring and highlighting", and use your lighting to mimic the same sculpting effect of contouring and highlighting on your subject's face. This alone does wonders for portraits, and you can usually get away with using ANY light source for portraits as long as you apply that idea to your lighting. Just personal opinion from my experience though.

Also, honestly I think you should get the whole rainbow in different colored bulbs and go crazy with them. Don't even worry about wattage and focus on experimenting and seeing what you can do with your camera and these bulbs.

Thanks for that advice Dan, I will use it. I just found you on instagram, interesting pics. Right I just need to get experimenting!