Teaching myself lighting

[J.R. Hudson]

These are all artificial light using the apurture 300X with the 36 mm spotlight

I'm also using a 60 w Xyhun with a grid

Sirui 35 mm anamorphic 1.33

F stop 1.8

Looking for some general feedback. Do your worst.

P.s. My decades long film dream has come back alive

 

[Paul F]

First, what are your thoughts? What are you trying to accomplish with this shot? What's the mood; time of day; film genre;

 

[J.R. Hudson]

First, what are your thoughts? What are you trying to accomplish with this shot? What's the mood; time of day; film genre;

Admittedly I'm pretty satisfied.

I wasn't going for any real mood other than just lighting the kitchen and myself and a simple daylight setting

Although your questions already have me wanting to explore different avenues of attack regarding the mood. If this was a horror film? Or a thriller?

 

[kplo]

Admittedly I'm pretty satisfied.

I wasn't going for any real mood other than just lighting the kitchen and myself and a simple daylight setting

Although your questions already have me wanting to explore different avenues of attack regarding the mood. If this was a horror film? Or a thriller?

The number 1 book on lighting theory/practice I always recommend is Ross Lowel's (Yes, that Lowel) "Matters of Light and Depth".
As he illustrates, there is a big difference between lighting and illumination.
Hope this helps.
Ken

 

[J.R. Hudson]

The number 1 book on lighting theory/practice I always recommend is Ross Lowel's (Yes, that Lowel) "Matters of Light and Depth".
As he illustrates, there is a big difference between lighting and illumination.
Hope this helps.
Ken

Running to Amazon.

 

[Doug Jensen]

Looking for some general feedback. Do your worst.

It doesn't look natural. It looks overly "lit" and phony. Nobody has a kitchen with lighting that looks like that.
The background is way too bright and takes the eye away from the face.
There are hot spots on the microwave and other items in the kitchen.
It looks like the room is just being blasted by a sun gun. No art to it.
Good lighting is about controlling precisely where the light is allowed to go -- and not to go. You're just blasting the entire room.
The crooked camera and visual clutter in the background does not help.
Try again.

 

[Paul F]

The angle of the light source is unnatural. Look at the shadow off the refrigerator onto the cabinet. That can't be sourced from a ceiling light (too low) and it is too low and hard to be sourced from a window. No matter where the light is coming from, in a room like that, there would be a lot of bounce to soften any shadows, regardless of source, except of course, if it was sunlight coming directly into the room, in which case, it would look much different and come in from a higher angle.

As to the glare on the microwave, I agree it is distracting, but light from a window could conceptually do that. But no one wants to see it.

Agreed, it looks very unnatural.

Agreed, background too bright. But it could work for me if it looked like sunlight coming into the room and the subject was hidden from the direct light. Done properly, (bright background, dark subject) it could be a nice effect and look nice.

 

[J.R. Hudson]

It doesn't look natural. It looks overly "lit" and phony. Nobody has a kitchen with lighting that looks like that.
The background is way too bright and takes the eye away from the face.
There are hot spots on the microwave and other items in the kitchen.
It looks like the room is just being blasted by a sun gun. No art to it.
Good lighting is about controlling precisely where the light is allowed to go -- and not to go. You're just blasting the entire room.
The crooked camera and visual clutter in the background does not help.
Try again.

Thank you sir I will reevaluate and try again!

 

[J.R. Hudson]

It doesn't look natural. It looks overly "lit" and phony. Nobody has a kitchen with lighting that looks like that.
The background is way too bright and takes the eye away from the face.
There are hot spots on the microwave and other items in the kitchen.
It looks like the room is just being blasted by a sun gun. No art to it.
Good lighting is about controlling precisely where the light is allowed to go -- and not to go. You're just blasting the entire room.
The crooked camera and visual clutter in the background does not help.
Try again.

The original idea was mimicking natural lighting not kitchen lighting

But I'm going to keep trying and we'll report back!

 

[J.R. Hudson]

Thank you both of you I just ordered a c-stand I need to control the light.

 

[Doug Jensen]

How will you use the c-stand to improve this setup?

 

[NorBro]

I've always been much more forgiving than my peers towards lighting because I truly think most people don't notice anything special about almost anything, and only when they are asked to analyze something is when the brain starts nitpicking and creating problems.

You can spend hours, days lighting something as perfectly as your heart envisions, but see the same scene 9 other creative ways and over time you'll start second-guessing yourself which one you actually like the most.

If you have curiously dramatic lighting along with the other bells and whistles which create a feeling (acting, music, sound effects, environment, wardrobe, etc) then it's different, but if just analyzing this one still frame for really no purpose at all then I think it's fine.*

*Besides the blob on the microwave which would bother me a lot (and I think there is too much noise/grain in the image).

 

[jvc]

Good lighting is about controlling precisely where the light is allowed to go -- and not to go.

The point Doug makes here, particularly the last bit, is key.

Are you familiar with the concept of chiaroscuro? You should think carefully about the gradation between light and dark in your frame. Look at the great works of art especially from the Baroque period to see how the artist uses the proportions of light and dark both to evoke a particular mood and to suggest a third dimension on a two dimensional canvas. What you don't light is as important as what you do.

The human face is usually the most interesting thing in any frame. Good chiaroscuro lighting will use the darker gradations of tone to draw the eye to where you want the viewer to look instead of accentuating distracting background objects.

 

[J.R. Hudson]

How will you use the c-stand to improve this setup?

I'd like to get a flag up to control the spill particularly in the background.

 

[David Jimerson]

First, thanks for getting a real lighting thread going here and offering yourself up as a sacrifice.

Other than the technical problems others have pointed out, it's pretty hard to say too much without context for mood. This could be a fine shot for any number of moods; it might be terrible for others. We have no idea what's going on in any hypothetical scene here, so is it good lighting, bad lighting? Don't know.

Lighting has to service your script, and we have no idea what the script here is.

On your next try, come up with a story point or plot element and light for that. Doesn't have to be from any real script; just imagine a scenario. Then tell us what it is.

 

[Peter C.]

My biggest criticism is most every thread created OP never explains what they're trying to accomplish. This would be like I bought a hammer what do you guys think? Instead of saying I'm re shingling my roof is this the proper hammer for that type of job?

 

[J.R. Hudson]

First, thanks for getting a real lighting thread going here and offering yourself up as a sacrifice.

Other than the technical problems others have pointed out, it's pretty hard to say too much without context for mood. This could be a fine shot for any number of moods; it might be terrible for others. We have no idea what's going on in any hypothetical scene here, so is it good lighting, bad lighting? Don't know.

Lighting has to service your script, and we have no idea what the script here is.

On your next try, come up with a story point or plot element and light for that. Doesn't have to be from any real script; just imagine a scenario. Then tell us what it is.

Thank you Dave for chiming in I will do that today. Stay tuned!

 

[J.R. Hudson]

My biggest criticism is most every thread created OP never explains what they're trying to accomplish. This would be like I bought a hammer what do you guys think? Instead of saying I'm re shingling my roof is this the proper hammer for that type of job?

Admittedly I had no mood or specific goal other than just lighting myself and making the image look as pleasing as possible

But I think today I'm going to rethink my approach and come up with a very specific goal and mood

 

[David Jimerson]

Thank you Dave for chiming in I will do that today. Stay tuned!

In other words, tell us what you're trying to communicate with the lighting.

(If you don't know yourself, then it's kinda setting up for failure.)

 

[Peter C.]

Admittedly I had no mood or specific goal other than just lighting myself and making the image look as pleasing as possible

But I think today I'm going to rethink my approach and come up with a very specific goal and mood

Since the advent of Youtube and content creators promoting gear, people often buy gear because it's highly regarded, with the hope it will improve them, but find it sits on the shelf because they don't have the need or desire to use it. Buy the tool and then try to find a use for it. I can't say I'm immune to it either. Even when I get it for a job, the opportunity comes up sporadically. For example, I got lights too, really needed them for interviews but haven't done them since the primary client for the type of work went out of business.