Eyelight in no-fill situations

Gohanto

Gohanto

Veteran
I've had weird experiences with eyelights. Mostly when I want the noir "no-fill" look in a close-up, but still want to see that eye glint. I put a tungsten (too cheap for me to even mention) light on a dimmer in front of an actor and by the time I've lowered the level enough so that half the face is still black, I've lost the eyelight at the same time. Moving the eyelight closer to the key works, but then I can only see it in one eye.

Any suggestions?
 
Eye light is all about the angle, it usually works best at a 90 degree from the camera. With the case your speaking of I'd use an LED with a dimmer and dim the light until you have no light value reflecting from the skin, but still a reflection from the eye. It takes some practice so don't give up the results are worth it.
 
I read somewhere about someone using a Micro-Maglight as an eyelight in a low-key situation. I guess, just like the LED Gopher Greene supposed, it's perfect because it has a narrow beam, so it won't light up much of anything else.

Eye light is all about the angle, it usually works best at a 90 degree from the camera.
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??? As far as I knew most people use the eye light right above the lens, 0° angle to the camera (where it works pretty well)
 
This depends on the angle of your camera to the subject. If your aspect to the subject is straight on then yes, other wise you need an angle that will reflect directly back to the camera. This is kind of confusing without a diagram, but think of the eye as a slightly rounded mirror, what angle do you need to place the reflection in the spot on the eyeball that you want. I said 90 degrees because that's the most commomn, but not always.
 
If you have a diffuse light source then it can be far from the subject... offering near zero illumination to the camera, and yet the eye will reflect it almost fully. Dim a softbox down and put it on the other side of the room... or better still, if you have an LED light dim it down and put a frost in front of it... again, on the other side of the room or significantly far away. Watch the monitor and move the light to whatever position you need to in order to get the catch light. Do it on the fly... this will be easy with a stand-in.

Diffuse light... some distance away... the light will fall off way early for the camera, but not for the eyes. Piece of cake.
 
Mattin, that's actually really interesting. Makes sense though, just taking advantage of how highly reflective the eyes really are. I think I'll go get myself a 30" china ball (assuming since it's far away spill wouldn't be an issue here), put it across the room, and see what happens.

Thanks.
 
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