lighting Lighting by Example!

[knightly]

I'd like to be able to learn from each other here. This thread will be for learning to get more complex lighting for the folk here. The format is:

1) Post a screenshot or viddy clip
2) Describe the lighting setup in detail
3) If you like, detail why you choose this particular setup

I'll start:
1)


2)
I have a clamp light directly to the left of the two actors. You can see the rim of light on the face and some flare from it on the left side of the frame (the XL1s doesn't show you the whole frame in the viewfinder )

Three more to the right and higher to provide fill. All lights are clamped scoop lights from the hardware store with Phillips Marathon Soft White flourescent bulbs that fit in normal sockets.

3)
I thought this lighting setup would look neat

 

[oakstreetphotovideo]

Jansik,

I didn't include F-stop and shutter speed because the lens I used would only open to F3.5 (still haven't gotten around to purchasing a $fast$ lens for the Nikon ... I still use my Canon 35mm when I need an F1.2 lens, for now).

So, the F-stop of 3.5 pushed me down to a shutter speed of 1/3 second, and I did note, in my original post, that this would be impractical (I don't like to say impossible, but it's not likely to look very good, anyway) with video or film at 24fps.

To reiterate my point, I was looking at the highlight in the eye, created by the reflected light source.

 

[jansik]

Jansik,

I didn't include F-stop and shutter speed because the lens I used would only open to F3.5 (still haven't gotten around to purchasing a $fast$ lens for the Nikon ... I still use my Canon 35mm when I need an F1.2 lens, for now).

So, the F-stop of 3.5 pushed me down to a shutter speed of 1/3 second, and I did note, in my original post, that this would be impractical (I don't like to say impossible, but it's not likely to look very good, anyway) with video or film at 24fps.

To reiterate my point, I was looking at the highlight in the eye, created by the reflected light source.

I am surprised you were able to milk this light with your setting 800-3.5-1/3... I though you would need to be slower than 1/3..

Agree with your take on the word "impossible" which I realize in our nomenclature is a "politically incorrect" verbalization... and correctly so. I have this (sometimes) bad habit of calling things by their names... hmm..
hope it does not come across as presumptuousness

 

[oakstreetphotovideo]

There is nothing wrong with using the word "impossible", if you're prepared for an argument with someone who will tell you that it can be done, on the 2nd full moon in July of a leap year with a Sony ZX-25000 Super Betacam, equipped with an F0.8 lens, and using a 12db gain.

I prefer to avoid the arguments, and show some respect for those who like to do things under unnecessarily difficult circumstances just to prove it can be done and it will work "almost" as good as doing it the conventional way (notice I didn't say "the right way"). After all, someone has to reinvent the wheel.

I'd rather not argue the fringe possibilities, unless there has been a nuclear war, the electricity is off, and nuclear winter has blocked out the sun ... then we'd just have to make due with candles. Now I'm wondering if the high radiation levels (gamma rays and X-rays) would deteriorate the image on my magnetic tapes? The digital tapes could become unusable. Analog tapes might be a better bet, but the batteries aren't charged on my S-VHS camcorder! Oh, flock! I'd better get those charged, while the grid is still functioning.

 

[oakstreetphotovideo]

p.s. Knightly, if you're still following this thread, I am getting ready for my trip to Minnesota. I just popped in to see if there was anything urgent in my e-mail.

 

[jansik]

There is nothing wrong with using the word "impossible", if you're prepared for an argument with someone who will tell you that it can be done, on the 2nd full moon in July of a leap year with a Sony ZX-25000 Super Betacam, equipped with an F0.8 lens, and using a 12db gain.

I prefer to avoid the arguments, and show some respect for those who like to do things under unnecessarily difficult circumstances just to prove it can be done and it will work "almost" as good as doing it the conventional way (notice I didn't say "the right way"). After all, someone has to reinvent the wheel.

I'd rather not argue the fringe possibilities, unless there has been a nuclear war, the electricity is off, and nuclear winter has blocked out the sun ... then we'd just have to make due with candles. Now I'm wondering if the high radiation levels (gamma rays and X-rays) would deteriorate the image on my magnetic tapes? The digital tapes could become unusable. Analog tapes might be a better bet, but the batteries aren't charged on my S-VHS camcorder! Oh, flock! I'd better get those charged, while the grid is still functioning.

F0.8/12Db... this would take care of business.

... I try never to set up an argument ... just not my cup of tee... but I do respond to one.

 

[jansik]

Multiexp

I took this shot about 10 years ago in my - then - Studio/Garage. This is 35mm copy of 4x5 transparency original. I took this shot few days after Shumaker/Levy Comet fragments bombarded surface of Jupiter (1994) making eleven craters of the size of Planet Earth each....Damned!... I thought... something like that could happen to us anytime...?!
Not having Strobes, I used Tungsten... as I recall this film took over 30min of combined exposure time. I remember standing there on Long Exposures and chasing mosquitos with the brush away from the subject. All in all it took 4 exposures - each one a different lighting setup - in following order...

1. Planet Earth
2. Metheorite
3. Fire
4. Stars

 

[freezer]

jansik,
would it be possible that you exchange your example images with JPEGs in better resolution? The GIF dithering destroys a lot of the quality and makes it harder to look at.

 

[jansik]

doomsday

Hey Freezer...
This one is little bigger...
I dont like going too big because this is my home-made copy of 4x5 original and it does not look good when I enlarge it (sharpness, focus, color and all). And I dont have scan of 4x5.

 

[Dutchboy]

Excellent thread.

 

[knightly]

Feel free to contribute when you shoot stuff that is interesting or you feel looks good. See the first post for the posting format.

 

[freezer]

Examples

I have some examples here I want to share.

First I put up some final graded screen-shots of the film and you can try to guess the setup.
Afterwards I will post the lighting setup used.

The shots are from the short movie "Abheben" I lit in 2008, all shot on RED ONE.

Please click the preview images for the 2k samples.

1) Love scene in bed


2) At the cocktail bar


3) At the hooker's wall


4) Cash for love


5) She doesn't buy the excuses

 

[M1chae1]

I'm only still a beginner, so I don't know the lingo for all the light types or wattage....

1) One softbox

2. One light with white board.

3. Two lights...one on car actor, one on alley actor.

4. Same as # 3

5. Nat lighting with one light from upper right.


I'm totally just being simplistic about setup and wattage/type.

 

[M1chae1]

Here is a site (Shot on Red) that has some nice stuff. On this page, there are some great stills and the DP breaks down the light set up a few posts down from the images...

Useful.

http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=37144

 

[Uranium City]

These are from my short "Fatima's Ghosts":



A soft box high above the camera, and a two tiny clamp lights to the right and left of the actors. Shining through the window are two clamp lights through some weeds we picked out of the parking lot outside and gently shook to indicate breeze. This was shot in the sales office of a disused piano store, and the window was actually looking onto the showroom, not outside. It was a piano-shaped window. We covered it with the blinds and made the sunlight outside with the two clamp lights. The curvature of the piano window (visible at the top right of the window) looked like the curvature of an exterior awning. Here is a picture of the setup; you can sort of guess where the lamps were:



And now from the end of the film, in the piano warehouse:



A clamp light low and to the left of the camera, casting the shadow on the young woman in the foreground. A softbox illuminating the wall behind the camera, out of frame, illuminating the walls just enough. The desklamp was a prop, it had a 60 watt bulb. Above the doorway in the background was a 100 watt bulb, and beyond that was daylight.

 

[freezer]

Sorry, forgot to post the answers

I presented those five examples:

(please click the preview images for the 2k samples)

1) Love scene in bed
We used a simple setup with a soft 1,2 kW HMI, bounced into two styros and a big china ball with a 150 W daylight ESL (energy-saving-lamp). A flag was used to reduce reflections from the ceiling and flare.




2) At the cocktail bar

Several china balls with 200W tungstens have been mounted onto the ceiling. Black molton was used to prevent reflections in the glass front of the bar. The light dots in the background are from fairy lights wrapped with different gel colors. The small depth of field creates a nice bokeh out of those small colored light dots.



3) At the hooker's wall

Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of that setup. The shot in the movie consists of one take where the guy drives down the road with several hookers standing at the brick wall in the background.
I mounted in a distance of appr. 5 m four 1kW tungstens with full CTO gel on top of the wall to simulate the yellow light spots of street lights (in reality there were zero street lights at that section). A chinaball with a daylight ESL was mounted onto a pole and carried in front of the car - which has been manually pushed through the set.

4) Cash for love

We used 2 HMI lights bounced into styros - the one for the cash point has been a 2,5 kW with full CTO gel and the one for the car a 200W open face.




5) She doesn't buy the excuses

Here we used 2 lights as the available light from the (cloudy) outside was way too weak. A kinoflow type with 330 W was set to backlight the actress and simulate the light coming from the balcony. A soft 1,2 kW HMI bounced the key from the wall.

 

[knightly]

Here's a cool alleyway shot I got outside the bar a month or so ago... just walking by and said, that looks neat:


And slide the camera 3" to the right reveals the light source

 

[Skyjamvideos]

 

[chilipie]

Just got sent a few snippets from the short film "Personality Aid" that I gaffered/ACed in Leeds a couple of weeks ago, so I thought I'd share some bits here. All these stills are ungraded and shot on a Canon 550D/T2i with the kit lens, 28mm f/2.8 or 50mm f/1.4 using the Marvels Cine picture profile v3.3.

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.

INT. LIVING ROOM - DAY

We shot this fairly late in the day, so that the sun was round the other side of the house, avoiding direct sunlight, a blown-out sky and inconsistent lighting during the scene. Ambient lighting was from outside, to which we added a Blonde (2000W open face lamp) on camera right, pushed into the corner of the room so as to give it as similar an angle to the window as possible. The Blonde was punched through a 3'x3' frame (put together from PVC piping for less than £5) covered in full white diffusion and half CTB, to soften the shadows and bring us closer to daylight without losing too much light. A reflector was held in place by a reflector arm on a stand with the black side facing the Blonde, and used to flag off spill from the wall with the window. A small tungsten practical was positioned camera left and behind the subject in order to separate him from the background a little, accentuate his features and help establish the interior feeling through a difference in colour temperature. Pulling the sofa out from the wall also aided in the background separation without making it feel at all unnatural.

This is the CU from the same scene. The lighting setup was practically identical, with the practical backlight (which in the end never came into shot) adjusted slightly to suit his position as he leant forward to pick up the phone and talk on it. The flag was also removed from by the Blonde, as the spill on the wall would help give his face a bit more illumination. I had the fun of pulling focus on a 50mm at f/2.8 without a follow focus - I know there's at least one sharp frame, anyway!

Any comments/questions much appreciated - is there any chance this thread could be made a sticky so it gets used a bit more?

 

[jax_rox]

I need to start taking more pictures of my actual setups! Some of the setups, or at least the beginnings of some of the setups, for these can be seen here, actually:
http://www.indietalk.com/showpost.php?p=311899&postcount=24

This was done without using any light heads. I've got a couple silks up to really soften the light on the girls at the front. I've also got a bunch of flags around cutting light off certain areas, mostly around the dad in the back at the BBQ.

This shot was done completely at night (night for day!). Don't ask me why - something to do with scheduling... Anyway, camera left is a window, behind which is a diffused 1.2k HMI PAR. Around the rest of the room are windows here and there which have daylight balanced Kino flos in them.
This shot intercuts with others that were shot during the day, and even I struggle to pick the difference.

Here, I have a diffused 1.2k HMI PAR way off camera left, as well as a tungsten-balanced light above her shining straight down.

Here, we have the same 1.2k HMI PAR off camera right, though also a fair distance from her. There are lights in the front porches of all the cabins along the camera left side of the pathway. We also ended up with a Kino with tungsten tubes travelling just off camera left with us as we walked.
The odd spotty bokeh you see in the top left corner is due to the Classic Soft filters we were using in the camera.

This film was shot on Alexa, using Compact Primes. Most of the night stuff was shot at T2.8ish.