lighting Lighting, with no equipment

[spendalifetime]

Was just curious if there are anyway to make a shot look better without using proper lighting equipment?

Im going to be filming inside your average house at night and have done a few tests with the natural lighting of the room with the lights on and it just looks abit...boring? So was wondering if there's any tips on using lamps out of shot ect to make the shot more interesting?

 

[wheatgrinder]

Make the room less boring. Seriously, few of us live in well decorated homes, or at least homes that are visually interesting.. accent lighting can help a lot. Throw a nice scarf over a lamp shade, move one next to the wall so lighting coming out the top of the shade can be seen on the wall.. some white Christmas lights hidden behind stuff can put a glow around objects..

Also, you dont have to HIDE the lights. Practicals (tech term for lights you see in the frame) can look very nice. A lamp shade can glow very nicely on the screen. You might have to watch out for white balance issues (outside light vs. inside lights being different colors) but even that can work in your favor. If your main lighting is coming from outside, setting WB to daylight will make all the indoor tungsten bulbs a nice warm yellowish color.

 

[Ernest Worthing]

Match bulbs and temps of existing lights if you can. Use cheap diffusion methods on those lights (bed sheets, paper screens). Make tin foil bounce boards for fill...

I typed If all this assuming you know what those items and techniques are. But if it doesnt make sense, then ask away.

 

[chilipie]

What about the image looks boring? If you post a couple of screenshots it might be easier to make some recommendations. Turning all the lights on in a room will sometimes give you flat, uninteresting lighting, but at other times using only practical lights can look fantastic.

Two simple things that can help make a shot look more interesting are contrast and layers. By making some areas darker and lighter than others, you create a shot that is more appealing to the eye, and you can lead the audience to one area in the image. Having the background darker than the subject, and adding something in the foreground of the shot adds depth to your image.

There is no magic Hollywood button, but by putting more thought into each shot and constant experimentation, you'll be on the way to making interesting images.

 

[spendalifetime]

Ive not got any pictures to show im afraid, but definitely going to experiment with the bedsheets on lights ect as i tried that using a tea towel just out of interest and got quite a good effect.

Its not that the room itself looks boring as such, but more, the footage looks flat and uninteresting, from whats been said, i think creating depth is probably the problem

 

[wheatgrinder]

ah.. well there is a school that says light and capture dull even lighting, then do magic in post with color correction tools. You can always pull OUT light in post.. but you cant add it back in!