A different fire lighting challenge

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David W. Richardson

Chapelgrove Films
Okay, what I need to do is a variation on the campfire scenario that's been talked about several times here. Let me describe my scene.

It's a living room at night. A fire burns in the fireplace, but there are other lights on in the room as well -- in other words, the light from the fireplace isn't the only thing lighting the room. It's not even the main source of lighting in the room.

A girl stands in front of the fireplace, facing the mantel. I want a frontal closeup of the girl's face -- head and shoulders shot -- and over her shoulder we will see another person across the room. The other person in the room is lying on the floor, so the camera position on the girl will need to be somewhat high.

Get the picture?

Okay, I'm going to have to cheat the girl's position in order to have room to place the camera, so she won't be standing immediately in front of the fireplace. But I need her face lit VERY well -- and I'd like to have at least some of the light on her face be that soft, warm, flickering glow supposedly from the fire in the fireplace.

I have very little money to pull this off with, but I'd like it to look as good as possible. Any creative, outside-the-box, and cheap ideas?

Thanks!
 
but a fresnel with full CTO on it directly into a bounce card that bounces the orange light onto her face. then either dim the light, softly move the card at different angles, or dangle some gloves or something in front of the light to achieve a 'flickering' effect. I've done this kind of thing multiple times to simulate a television light on people's faces, and I'm pretty sure it would translate into flames just as well.
 
What you want to do is get some gold aluminum foil, thought I'm not sure if that's actually a product. Find a gold reflective source. I've seen people use professional reflectors, but it works better if you can crumple it up. Then you have someone hold it and move it around only a little bit, with a light shining into it. Make sure to have them shine it from the right angle. This is how I've always seen it done.
 
I don't have a fresnel or LED lights -- only Home Depot shop lights.

Danstin, your suggestion about the gold foil sounds the most likely to work. I'll experiment with that. Thanks!

Any other ideas???
 
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