DIY Lighting tutorial

[DanDOF]

I was recently amazed with the beauty of the lighting in tkmslee's footage.


I would be willing to sell mine as well. I enjoyed making it and would not mind making another. Shot this one using my adapter:

http://hv20.info/yopu/lighting02.mov

I am really curious if tkmslee or anyone else could give some tips for setting up lighting like that.

So far I have learned that there are basically two types of studio lighting: continuous and flash.

For video we only want the continuous type of lighting, since flash lights the subject only for an instant.

So what else do I need to know?

[shawnyboy60]

Indeed, the lighting in the footage is real nice.

Lighting is a feat of its own. Different movie scenes will need different lighting setups depending on actor movement, ambient in-scene lights, etc. However, the most common setup (and maybe what tkmslee's did in his footage) is the "Three Light" setup, or the "Key, Back and Fill lights" setup. This page (http://www.exposure.co.uk/eejit/light/index.html) will quickly cover the technique.

[tkmslee]

Here is my take on lighting, and maybe I will do an actual video tutorial one day soon.

The amount of light and type of light really matters when you are filming people. The ultimate goal for lighting a person is to get soft light. Not only does it bring out great colors, but it softens shadows...it's what the pros use unless they want a hard light effect intentionally. Whenever you have hard light you can make it soft by using some kind of diffuser in front of the light source. If you are inside or outside you can do this. If you have a way to rig something up with either DIY materials or professional ones, you can even put a diffuser in front of the sun.

You can also use a white board to reflect the light into the shadowed part of someone's face. This will give that side of the face some light but not as much as the side that has the main source. So then your shadows are not so harsh. This is two point lighting.

The best position to have the main (or key) light source is about a 45 degree angle shining down on the face. The shadows it casts are more natural this way.

So you got your Key and fill lighting with the techniques I mentioned above. The third point of lighting that can be used is the back lighting. This is a source shining from behind the subject to give it a slight glow on the hair or outline of the body.

You can use any or all of these techniques when lighting a scene. It is a difficult part of filming to grasp and I am definitely still working on it and trying to get better lighting.

Bottom line is, if you can light a scene, you will most likely get better results than just run and gun shooting.

But there is a lot you can do to use exsisting lighthing as well.

[DanDOF]

Thank you for both of your inputs.

[24Peter]

Dan - do an on-line search for "three (3) point lighting". Let us know what you find...

[Halsu]

Dan - do an on-line search for "three (3) point lighting". Let us know what you find...

I'd strongly suggest going to this site instead:

http://www.efplighting.com/

Best lighting site on the web, IMO.

[dewde]

3 point lighting explained with before/after shots in 4 minutes.

http://www.izzyvideo.com/2007/06/24/izzy-video-56-behind-the-scenes-of-three-point-lighting/

peace|dewde
http://dewde.com/videos

[Pom16/10e]

just chirping in...
I own this DV lightning tutorial dvd and it's awesome. Really top notch
(am not affiliated whatsoever)
http://dvcreators.net/dv-enlightenment/

[Erik Bien]

More good online lighting how-tos here (http://www.lowel.com/edu/) ...

[vozo]

Just guessing... But I believe that tkmslee (in the video) used the light coming in thru a window as his key light and then possibly a reflector to bounce some if it as fill. In still photography I have found that this produces some amazing shots.

[darosk]

Thanks for the comments guys - I'm brand new to lighting and this is all interesting and informative stuff.

[duzzit_madder]

If you don't mind reading...

Cinematography: Image Making for Cinematographers, Directors, and Videographers by Blain Brown

[MicheleW]

Don't know if this has been said - but that video mentioned was taken with light coming through a window covered with a frosted, plastic shower curtain (if I remember reading his post correctly).

[lordtangent]

the DVD "Light Like a Pro" by Jerry Day

I'm a professional lighter (if you want to consider CG lighting the same are regualr lighting) and I found this video to be a FANTASTIC resource. Jerry covers all the important stuff in like half an hour. The pace of the video is very snappy. It wont teach you how to be a master DP but it will at least set you on the path with a solid intro to all the basic tools and concepts. I leaned a lot about "real lights" from this video.

I just noticed there is a new edition as well with a few more minutes of instruction. I feel like I just got my copy of the first edition so I'm resisting the urge to run out and buy this new eddition.. uh, anyone want to buy a gently used copy of "Light Like a Pro" first edition?