Let there be light
The first thing all videographers should learn is, we are just filming light. Yes, there is the subject, but without proper light we will fail in our job.
With lots of studio shoots coming up, I have been expanding my lighting kit. I will review the new lights after I have used them a bit more. For now, let’s think about capturing the light.
Here are a few basics that are important to study, learn, and practice.
Understand the different types of light. We can simplify to hard light and soft light. We need both in some shoots and only one in others.
Why do people like to take pictures at sunset? Because they get that golden color and the light is soft. The light is diffused and the color temperature is toward the warm side. Think about the sun above you at noon on a clear summer day. The light comes straight through the atmosphere with minimal disturbance or should we say diffusion.
At sunset, the sun has a flat angle; you will hear the expression, “nice flat light”, while during the day you will hear, “too contrasty”. That’s because at sunset the sun has to travel through more atmosphere to get to you, thus, diffusing the light more than at midday and making it softer and warmer. Pollution also helps to add colors, but that is a can of worms I will stay away from right now.
Add clouds, color catchers (my expression) and still more diffusion. Ever see gray sky to the east as the sun peeks through the western clouds just before sunset? Here we have nature’s diffusers working for us. What a special moment to take a picture, or shoot a time-lapse.
OK, how does this effect lighting in the studio? Well first we must understand the color of the light, which is expressed in Kelvin. In the industry it is discussed as “Tungsten light 3200 Kelvin”, and daylight is around 5600. So we need to know the color of the studios lights, the color our camera sees, and how to match the two. Lower priced lights and cameras will have color shifts, and that will make it hard or impossible to have nice skin tones and accurate colors. This is the reason a professional will invest thousands of dollars in lights, and of course in a great camera that shoots accurate colors.
Subjects need soft light with no harsh shadows to keep the light flattering. I once filmed in a NYC studio and was told by the on camera talent she wanted 4500 Kelvin because it made her skin look better. It is not the Kelvin number that matters; it is how well all the tools work together. We shot that at 5600 and she loved it. When it comes to different skin tones on camera together, we have the added challenge to make sure we are very accurate.
Let’s add one more major effect that separates out the pros and that is shadows. With studio shoots, shadows are not something we want. Do you want a shadow from the nose across the face, or a hand moving making a distracting shadow, or your shadow on the background? I don’t think so.
When I see hard shadows, I know it is a beginner lighting the scene. To solve this we use a huge range of diffusing options. Soft boxes, filters, angle of light, intensity of light, cross-shadow cuts (another one of my expressions). And that list goes on and on.
How to get started? Buy an instructional video and a $700-900 beginner light kit and start studying the art of proper lighting. I recommend a great instructional DVD for LED lighting by Vortex Media, How To Setup and Shoot Awesome Interviews with LED Lights. Worth every penny.
So when you are lighting your next scene, first try to create great skin tone, while working to create accurate color temperature. And use proper diffusion to cut the shadows out and keeping the light soft. While for some part of the set you need the hard light. This all sounds easy and basic, but it takes years of practice with studio interviews to look natural. And you can’t do the job properly with a hardware store light kit and cheap cameras.
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Have fun capturing your passion, and learning every day!
Link to one of the interviews from this setup. We did 30 interviews and they all came out great.