Candlelight

[mus]

(Didn't think I would need to figure out any particularly challenging lighting techniques for this web-series, but I just wrote this scene, so...)


Scene: A couple is sharing a bath together for a romantic date (a plate of chocolate covered strawberries, romantic music on a radio, ya know... corny stuff.)

I want candlelights on the edge of the bath-tub to be the source of lighting.


Obviously, this isn't enough to actually light the scene itself, especially on a DSLR, which can become quite noisy/grainy without enough light (and i definitely don't wanna bump up the ISO too much... I mean, I can denoise the footage, but the more noise, the worse)

Is there anyway I can light this to make the audience think the scene is lit only by the candles?

 

[Zensteve]

Is there anyway I can light this to make the audience think the scene is lit only by the candles?

Bounce some light off the ceiling, or use dim diffused tungsten lighting of some type. You don't need a lot of it. Just enough so that anything outside of the candles just doen't fade straight to black. Maybe small highlights for faces. I dunno. Find what works.

Just 'cos a scene is dark or au natuarle, doesn't mean those lights are doing their job off-camera... just like normal.

.

 

[jax_rox]

It can really depend on the make-up of the room in relation to the shots yo uwant (ie: where exactly are you able to put lights?) and what lights you have available to you. Also, the kind of look you want, and the placement of the candles. How many candles are there? 200? or 2?

I shot a similar scene last year, and I used Lee 442 1/2CTS on tungsten lights to give a slightly different colour. A flicker box or dimmer could be your friend here to enable your lights to flicker as candles/flames would. Deakins' has used bulbs inside candles before (ie: cut the back out of a candle and insert a light bulb - the front of the candle with the flame faces the camera, the back with the bulb faces the subject).

I'd probably backlight the couple if I could, and then either put bulbs in the back of the candles, or fill with a softer light at a much lower output level on a flicker box.

 

[mus]

I shot a similar scene last year

do you have a link to it?

 

[chilipie]

Here's something I posted ages ago in the Lighting by Example thread…

INT. BATHROOM - NIGHT

Ambience with candles and tealights arranged around the bath. Key is from around head height on camera left (you can see the shadow the sink is casting) - we used a 500W open face lamp bounced off a large gold reflector to give it some warmth. The barn doors were extended with blackwrap to stop spill light hitting the sink and making it brighter than the subject.

Only one lamp and one reflector; all the fill was provided by the bath tub.

 

[jax_rox]

do you have a link to it?

Unfortunately I can't link to the film itself at this point, but here's a couple of screens from that scene. Unfortunately, the bath tub was in a really awkward position for lights, so we were very limited in what we were able to do. I really wanted to throw a light up behind them, but it was pretty much impossible in the location with the time we had available. Still, I think we did a pretty decent job considering the apparent limitations. I also wanted a bit more contrast in the lighting, and a lot more candles (and brighter candles) as IMO, it looks like a warm bathroom rather than that the candles are lighting the scene, but ultimately it came down to the Director:

 

[David.rhsc]

Also this:

http://www.wicksandwax.com/movie_candles.htm

 

[MinutemenPro]

I recently shot a film in a log cabin. The fire and candles were to be the main source of the light. I set up two 60W can lights off camera, spilling soft light over the entire interior. To camera right, there was a window, which I opened the curtains up to allow some nat light in, acting a bit like a back-light/fill light, depending on the shots. I then lit the candles (multiple of them) which acted as practicals.

http://tremanchester.weebly.com/stills.html