best lighting tutorial on the internet ever

Ryan Patrick O'Hara said:
if you stack diffusion in front of diffusion, but leave space between the two, the first diffusion will get a more even spread upon the second piece, making it softer
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...And adding more diffusion only softens the light source if the source is not evenly lit or if it makes the illuminating area larger.
 
I didn't watch the tutorial as the production value looked cheesy. Maybe when I'm better rested I'll try again.

Heavy diffusion on a fresnel generally doesn't make much sense, although I do sometimes employ it when the lamp is very close to the subject. However I often use a bit of Hampshire to take the edge off a fresnel lens when using it direct, especially when emulating Sunlight.

And while pulling a light back does make it more specular, & less contrasty, after a dozen feet the light begins to become less harsh due to atmospheric diffusion.
 
Moving outside of the spirited diffusion discussion, I'd probably want to indicate that this video is pretty good in illustrating the "classic" three-point lighting setup that is something akin to learning the scale of C on the piano. It's still a good starting point for shooting talking heads, like in an interview environment. For narrative style work, nearly everything about three point lighting should be discarded--unless you want it to look like an interview.
 
TheDingo said:
Yes, some people don't understand how diffusion works: It increases the size of the light source, and makes the light less collimated so the angle of illumination is wider. ( surrounding surfaces will reflect this light as additional fill )
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Also....

When it comes to diffusion, if you have a sharp source, like a Par, or small fresnl move the diffusion far enough away from the source as to fill its beam. Placing a unit too close to diffusion is defeating the purpose, because you just get a hot spot, that reads as a small sharper source.

one last thing, try an onside fill, meaning 1/2 power behind the camera fill thats coming from the same side as the key. It assists the key light , but blends its edge. looks far more natural. If the shadow side goes too dark, add another 1/4 power fill (soft) similar to the onside fill, but on the other side of the camera. Think if it as blending makeup or paint.
 
Hi, this is actually my first post and is a stupid one: how do i actually start a new thread, I want to discuss something on this topic, hence why I'm posting in this thread but I can't do my own or even edit my profile picture for that matter but I received the email saying my account is activated??? Once I'm on i will be needing some wisdom with regards to lighting set ups/equipment that would be much appreciated....
Thanks
 
Anyone remember the title to the video? I'm curious how complete it is. The youtube video is set to private, so I want to find a different upload of it.
 
Going by the critiques of the video in this thread, maybe it wasn't "the best lighting tutorial on the internet ever" after all.:Drogar-BigGrin(DBG)
 
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