keep it dark but lit at the same time. for example. i got a scence where im in a pitch black room and then i light a candle. im trying to get that feel of the candle being lit but not to bright or not to dark. get me?
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how do i light a dark confined room and
- Thread starter goldy40211
- Start date
In a close room the hard part is NOT lighting the entire space, you want a bright light to properly expose the subject, but you don't want the whole space being exposed..
Have a pin spot from high angle on the "candle" and hands holding it. high angle so that the spill ends up on the floor, out of the frame.
Out of frame have a low angle light lighting the face above the candle, again, the spill is up and out of the frame.. you'll need pretty good control over these so barn doors, scrims, or a snoots is a must.
Also, dark is NOT black. Have some nice flickery light on some of the background. I might suggest you go into a small dark room with a candle and notice just how bright it gets after your eyes adjust. The key to the feel is the color and motion of the light. You can gel the lights to that orange color, or trick your cameras white balance, or just do it in post. So long as ALL the lights are the same color temp (all tungsten, all florescent, etc), the post and white balance methods will work fine.
Use the "feature" of poor low light performance to your advantage here. You can have some ambient light and if the exposure on your cam and filters is set dark enough, the room will still look dark even when some light spills onto the background. Another enemy is GAIN. Which in this situation will turn to NOISE in your image. Turn OFF video gain if you can.
Have a pin spot from high angle on the "candle" and hands holding it. high angle so that the spill ends up on the floor, out of the frame.
Out of frame have a low angle light lighting the face above the candle, again, the spill is up and out of the frame.. you'll need pretty good control over these so barn doors, scrims, or a snoots is a must.
Also, dark is NOT black. Have some nice flickery light on some of the background. I might suggest you go into a small dark room with a candle and notice just how bright it gets after your eyes adjust. The key to the feel is the color and motion of the light. You can gel the lights to that orange color, or trick your cameras white balance, or just do it in post. So long as ALL the lights are the same color temp (all tungsten, all florescent, etc), the post and white balance methods will work fine.
Use the "feature" of poor low light performance to your advantage here. You can have some ambient light and if the exposure on your cam and filters is set dark enough, the room will still look dark even when some light spills onto the background. Another enemy is GAIN. Which in this situation will turn to NOISE in your image. Turn OFF video gain if you can.
good looking wheat. but not to be an asshole but can you explain a little bit in depth about the first couple of paragraphs?
You know, to be honest, I think I would just light a candle, and see what that looks like. If it's not enough light, I might start playing with a dimmer, maybe bounce a small amount of light off the rear wall.
I don't know if that would actually work, it's just my first instinct. And I'll freely admit that I'm very far from being an expert on lighting. I guess it also depends on how far the subject will be from the candle, and what type of camera you're using.
I don't know if that would actually work, it's just my first instinct. And I'll freely admit that I'm very far from being an expert on lighting. I guess it also depends on how far the subject will be from the candle, and what type of camera you're using.
Believe it or not this is actually a lot harder then wheat is making it out to be. First your in a small room which means controlling the light is going to be hard. Second you have a candle as your light source and motivator, which means again, control is going to be hard not only where that light goes but also setting other lights to "mimic" that light. Finally, from how I understand it, you want to light the subject with the candle but keep the room dark. Very hard to accomplish. I would start working on trying different solution to get the desired result. Work with LEDS and other small lights and try bouncing them to see if it is anything strikes you as proper. Anyone can make it seem like a candle is lighting a person, but making it look natural and not lit is hard. Unfortunately without knowing the exact look your going for this is the best advice I can give you. Good luck and post some pics when you can.
the only look im going for is, its dark in a room (small room) and you light a candle and walla, you have the candle look. as long as it looks like the candle is lighting the room is all i care for.
I admire your ambition, goldy. What you need to understand - and what others who ask questions like this need to acknowledge - is that lighting is as much art as science.
It's the same as someone asking, "How do I paint a picture?" Easy: get some paint, some paper and a brush and go for it. "But," they persist, "how do I make it look like a Rembrandt?" Um, yeah...good luck explaining that in 200 words or less.
The master cinematographers learned their craft over years of practice, observation and experimentation. There are a million variables for each lighting situation, and, because it's an art, there's no right or wrong way to do it. There's no blueprint. You've gotten some good suggestions from others here, now grab some lights and play around a little. Make it work for you!
My suggestion is influenced heavily by the "Hanna–Barbera" school. 
im on the same boat to, im shooting a short in a few weeks and the first scene is in a dark room, and the director wants the audience to think it is night time until the character opens the curtain. I dont really want to have dark spots in the room so we are going to over light it, im going to shoot a 1200HMI into the celling to give everything a flat daylight wash and use a kino with daylight bulbs or a arri 200hmi coming from the direction of the window as a rim light on the actor to separate him from the back ground. So the room is going to be brighter than it would be with the lights on but flat and even, and in camera it will be underexposed to just above the point of grainyness and later get a blue filter in post. Just like shooting day for night.
i had an hour free last night... this is just to see how it MIGHT be done....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=<object width="660" height="405"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/7IVOsb-D0i0&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0xe1600f&color2=0xfebd01&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/7IVOsb-D0i0&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0xe1600f&color2=0xfebd01&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="660" height="405"></embed></object>
Im holding a CFL scoop lamp in my lap, pointed up into my face.. Im waving the hand that is out of the frame over that light (simulated candle flickering) there is another CFL scoop to the right just out of the frame for the fill and a pin spot hitting my fake ficus in the background..
Kinda tacky, but could work..
Camera: this was made using my light hungry Letus 35mm adapter and canon hfs100. Not a very "low light" sensitive setup..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=<object width="660" height="405"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/7IVOsb-D0i0&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0xe1600f&color2=0xfebd01&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/7IVOsb-D0i0&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0xe1600f&color2=0xfebd01&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="660" height="405"></embed></object>
Im holding a CFL scoop lamp in my lap, pointed up into my face.. Im waving the hand that is out of the frame over that light (simulated candle flickering) there is another CFL scoop to the right just out of the frame for the fill and a pin spot hitting my fake ficus in the background..
Kinda tacky, but could work..
Camera: this was made using my light hungry Letus 35mm adapter and canon hfs100. Not a very "low light" sensitive setup..
Unless you're using a DSLR with a great sensor, I wouldn't use a candle to light the room. Even then, I'd punch some sort of artificial light in there.
I don't know what kit you have, so it's hard for me to recommend a defused flooded pepper, etc...nor do I know how confined the room is (and window and door locations).
I would either use a dimmer light and pop it on your target from above 3/4. Dim and spot. Flood might work also. I would also try to put some diffusion paper over it.
You might be able to use a bankers lamp, or another practical on a desk to light the scene.
You could get creepy, and light from below...does it make sense? Not really...but sometimes those setups look awesome. Lighting doesn't always need to make sense...look at Argento's Susperia.
A lantern? I'm just kidding.
Good luck.
I don't know what kit you have, so it's hard for me to recommend a defused flooded pepper, etc...nor do I know how confined the room is (and window and door locations).
I would either use a dimmer light and pop it on your target from above 3/4. Dim and spot. Flood might work also. I would also try to put some diffusion paper over it.
You might be able to use a bankers lamp, or another practical on a desk to light the scene.
You could get creepy, and light from below...does it make sense? Not really...but sometimes those setups look awesome. Lighting doesn't always need to make sense...look at Argento's Susperia.
A lantern? I'm just kidding.
Good luck.