Lighting Basics

Lighting Characteristics

• Coherence (quality)

• Colour Temperature

• Intensity

Lighting Quality

Soft Light Hard Light VS

Hard Light• Relatively Small Source• Parallel Rays• Gives hard, sharply defined shadows

Examples of hard light• Light from a clear, unfrostedlight bulb• A focused spotlight• The noon sun in a clear sky

Uses for Hard Light• Showing details• Making people stand out from their background• Lighting parts of set• Adding drama

Making Hard Light

Soft Light• Comes from a relatively large source of light• Rays are dispersed • Hides irregularities in a surface

Soft Light Sources

• The light from the sky ona cloudy day• Light shinning through shearcurtains• Light bounced off white walls• Light from a bank of florescent bulbs

Uses for Softlight

• Since soft light tends to hide lines, wrinkles and blemishes, it's desirable in doing glamour work

Difficulties with Softlight

• Although it has certain applications, especially in extreme close-ups of objects where shadows would obscure important details, flat lighting leaves subject matter somewhat "dimensionless."

• When used over a large area, it can impart an arid and sterile-looking appearance.

Making Soft Light• bounce hard light offa white surface• put diffusion over a hardlight• bounce hard off the ceiling or walls• bounce light off a white umbrella• use a specially designed soft light

Colour Temperature

• The colour of light changes canchange depending upon the time of day or the source of the light• In the early morning and evening, light from the sun has to travel though more atmosphere and a result end up more orange in colour

Colour Temperature 2• Light from outside on a cloudy day appears more blue in tint• Light from tungsten lights (and regular bulbs) appears more orange

Why Light Balance Is Important

Incorrect Light Balance

Correct Light Balance

Setting Your White Balance

• Most digital cameras andcamcorders have some wayto let you set the white balance

Setting White Balance Manually

• An even better way to set the white balance is to do it manually

Light Intensity• The brightness of light is measured in either Lux (metric) or Footcandles (imperial)• Without enough light your images will appear “snowy” and colour won’t look right• Generally the camera needs more light than our eyes do to see clearly so our eyes are a poor judge

Over and Under Exposure

If part of a scene is too dark it will appear “underexposed” and details will be lost

If part of a scene is too bright, it will appear “overexposed” and details will be lost

Measuring Light IntensityPhotographers and Cinematographers use light meters to measure light

Incident light meters measure the light landing on a subject

Spot meters measure the light bouncing off a small area

What you can do about light intensity issues

• Avoid shooting into the lightunless you are going for a backlit effect• Be aware of shadow and hotspots in your shots• When you can, even out lighting with bound cards or fill light

Three Point Lighting1. Key Light2. Fill Light3. Back Light

Looking at the Parts

Key light only Fill light only Back light only

All together now

To sum it up...(lighting tips)• Be aware of where your light is coming from and notice it’s quality, colour temperature, and brightness. Make adjustments as needed• Add light or bounce light as needed• Lighting is key to the quality of your videography