Lighting for beginners! Tutorials/links collection.

[MatthewC]

I found a bunch of resources in my quest for lighting knowledge. Here they are.


Low Budget/DIY

Scott Spears site with videos and articles on lighting to microbudgeting, great site packed with info.
http://www.scottspears.net/filmmakpg3.html

Shows off various lights you can buy cheap and use with photos. Great site for budgeters!
http://www.jorenclark.com/whitepapers/lighting.html

Designed for photography, but its the budget kit with pictures ready to go, including the 500W halogen work floodlights and cheap diffusers. Very helpful.
http://www.shuttertalk.com/articles/...ting/index.php



AWESOME LOW BUDGET LIGHTING ARTICLE. It goes through basically anything involved with lighting and doing it on a low budget, along with how to do it. Great for beginners!
http://www.exposure.co.uk/eejit/light/ -

Excellent low budget lighting site for those of us with little money!
http://www.dvinfo.net/articles/lighting/spears1.php -




3 Point Lighting
Awesome article for beginners with images and details that explain it in simple English.
http://schooltorque.com/lighting_lesson.htm -

Excellent article from Apple with information on 3-point, shooting outdoors, extreme light, and using reflectors.
http://ali.apple.com/ali_sites/ali/e..._Lighting.html

Awesome site handy images on 3-point lighting, then moving into interview lighting and general rules that are applied to it. Great article.
http://www.utexas.edu/web/video/prod.php?e=0#lights

Mostly text, but there is a VIDEO at the bottom that shows you the differences with key, fill, and background lights.
http://coe.sdsu.edu/eet/articles/lighting/start.htm





Other Lighting Articles

Scott Spears site with videos and articles on lighting to microbudgeting, great site packed with info.
http://www.scottspears.net/filmmakpg3.html

Izzy Digital Video Podcast Tutorials kick ass! Awesome video tutorials on everything from 3 point lighting to minimizing sunlight to colour correcting to cutting away to...the list just goes on.
http://podfeed.net/episodes.asp?p=3&id=3740

A video tutorial of "Lighting for DV/HD, and HDV by John Jackman". No need to register anymore thanks to turbo2ltr
http://www.pqhp.com/cmp/dvxe05/jackm...yer.php?bw=300
http://www.pqhp.com/cmp/dvxe05/jackm...yer.php?bw=300

Maximizing Lighting Success by John Jackman.
http://www.pqhp.com/cmp/dvxe05/wilt2/player.php?bw=300

Misconceptions in lighting. Great multipage article on lighting people and misconceptions found.
http://www.mvwire.com/dynamic/articl....asp?AID=10564

Excellent site with various articles on everything from making one room light like 5 to setting up greenscreen lighting.
http://www.bluesky-web.com/new-page6.html

Good site with little bits on coloured lights and shooting in the sunlight.
http://www.angelfire.com/ar2/videomanual1/light.html

An excellent PDF on lighting by Arri, thanks to KHendrix2:
http://www.pqhp.com/cmp/dvxe05/wilt2/player.php?bw=300

[Rick Meyer]

Thanks for doing this Matthew C. I was JUST asking in another thread for a consise list of info. You've saved me a lot of legwork!

Rick

[Alex DePew]

Nice job. Thanks for this! Sticky?

[svf1972]

Very helpful Matthew, Thank you. Sticky please

[KHendrix2]

Here is a very valuable link as well:

http://www.arri.com/infodown/light/b...ok_english.pdf

It's put out by Arri, but it has a lot of information that is applicable to any brand of lights.

[turbo2ltr]

Direct links (no registration) for Lighting for DV/HD, and HDV by John Jackman

http://www.pqhp.com/cmp/dvxe05/jackm...yer.php?bw=300
http://www.pqhp.com/cmp/dvxe05/jackm...yer.php?bw=300

Maximizing Success with DV Cameras, Part 2
http://www.pqhp.com/cmp/dvxe05/wilt2/player.php?bw=300

[CineMark]

Another thing you should consider is to attach any practicals (existing room lights) to dimmers, so you can control them as necessary and use your primary lights to light the scene.

For all your interior shots this can really help, just giving you the most control as possible.

[MatthewC]

How much do dimmers cost?

[CineMark]

$16.50 at home depot. it can control up to 300 watts, which is plenty for a house light. i know i've seen them cheaper. you could find them if you walk through the store. you just want a dimmer on a cord, so you can plug the lamp into the dimmer and then the dimmer into the wall.

http://www.homedepot.com/prel80/HDUS...gmn.0&MID=9876


Or you can even get a dimmer to control primary lights from B&H for $87.50. It has 2 channels with 1200 watts per channel, so you can even control two 1k lights. kind of expensive, but really not bad when you figure your plugging in two $500 lights.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...goryNavigation

[BenFarrell]

thanks so much! have learnt heaps from these links just went and bought a pair of 2by500watt on tripod lights today as seen in one of those articles. came on here looking for some tips how to better use them and find this post! excellent! thanks again