Lighting Intro to Video

Exterior Sources  Natural (Sun, Moon, Stars)  When shooting in an exterior environment, shoot when the light source (sun) is 45 degree above the horizon. When you shoot at high noon, when the sun is directly above you it casts shadows.  Most exterior shots with the sun, subjects are facing the source.

Work around  Shadows cast by back light and sidelight can be filled in- brightened up with light – in two ways:  Reflectors – Anything that reflects light. A board covered in silver paint or foil, white poster board, or a reflector.  Fill Lights – Any light can be used as long as it puts out daylight colored light, with a color temperature of 5400k.  Disadvantage of fill lights, require electrical power, and depending on locations…that may not be an option.

Interior Sources  Three basic types of interior lights include:  Focusing quartz  Broads  Soft lights

Focusing Quartz  Used widely in film and television, comparable to the theatrical lights used for plays.  Advantages, you control the intensity and amount of light being distributed. Spot vs. Flood  Disadvantages, lights require power outlets, they get hot very fast, take time to cool off. Even distribution of light, even at flood setting…you will likely find hotspots.  To alleviate this you may try diffusion paper, which softens the light source or bouncing the light off a wall or ceiling.

Focusing Quartz

Broads  Designed to put broad even light across a large coverage area.  No fine-tuning controls.  To soften the light, you can diffuse or bounce, similar to a quartz.

Broads

Softlight  A permanent, portable bounce light. It consists of a curved scoop, the inside of which is white or silver colored. A broad-type lamp is placed inside facing the scoop, so its light bounces off the curved scoop and out towards the subject.  Advantages: no need for a wall or ceiling to bounce light, thus easier to direct light exactly where you want it.  Disadvantages: Takes up more space.

Softlights / Softbox

LED Panels  Newer lights like LED’s allow for great combinations and use in a variety of settings and applications.  There cold, or non-heat generating, allowing for quick set up and take down.  Allow for color temperature change on the spot.  Their light and portable and can typically run on battery power.

LED Panels

Basic Lighting Set-Up  Key Light: Primary Source, should be the strongest light source in the setup.  Fill Light: Set on the opposite side of the key, should be just bright enough to fill the shadows.  Backlight: Falls on the head and shoulders from behind, creating a rim of light that visually sets him apart from the background.  Background Light: Brings the backdrop into illumination, vaguely matching the rest of the lighting scheme. Good to have background a tad darker than the rest.

Basic Lighting Set-Up

Summary  Use the types of light relevant to your project.  Take into account the natural light sources while shooting exteriors.  Use the basic lighting set up in the beginning. Lighting for film and video is an art…don’t take the lighting set up as gospel, rather a place to start and begin to understand.  Apply the principles of composition and lighting into your work going forward.