Candle light

N

nashmotionpictures

Active member
I have a character that lights four candles on a dinner table before a meal. Would that light be enough to light the character's faces if I was shooting with an M2 HVX setup? There would be other dim lights in the room (like a table lamp..)

If not, what should I do to make their faces look candle lit?

Thanks
 
That's not going to be enough light for ya. You're going to want to get some small fixtures with CTO gel on them to light your actors' faces. The CTO gel will give you the nice warm glow of candle light.
 
You could also use double or triple wick candles. Check with specialty candle shops.
 
to get the flicker of the candles, try wiggling your fingers in front of CTO'd lights, or bouncing the lights into large specular wrinkled surfaces.

I also heard of someone placing 20+ actual candles in a mirror-rimmed box and using that as an instant-flicker caveman style light. Careful with the smoke on that one though...

Be careful using china balls. if you hang them too high, your characters will be toplit (pretty of course) but that won't match your much lower candles.
 
Be careful with the flicker. Candles on a dinner table are pretty stable sources of light and unless you are eating in the elements, I cannot imagine them "flickering" during the meal.

Fire-light is a different matter.
 
William_Robinette said:
Be careful with the flicker. Candles on a dinner table are pretty stable sources of light and unless you are eating in the elements, I cannot imagine them "flickering" during the meal.

Fire-light is a different matter.
Click to expand...


good point, I forgot to mention that. I do find though that on closeups without the flame as a reference, a tiny bit of intensity wavering can really sell the image. Just be careful not to overdo so as to screw your continuity up.
 
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