How do you rig a light above a person?

L

leaftors

Well-known member
What are some safe ways of rigging a light right above a person so it shines down upon them?
 
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Too many options to list to be honest.

Is there a specific location? What kind of light fixture? What kid of light, soft/hard? That might narrow down some choices.
 
Bedroom. Wide shot. Lighting see below:




 At the moment, I've got 2 c stands one on each end of the room. And several arms stretched from one stand to the other. A mathellini to hold a 1k and a c stand arm on the ''stretched arms'' to attach a softbox (the softbox isn't meant for the 1k.)
 
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it seems like a really soft light. Look like a kino to me.
Are you going to pan around in the scene or it is a static shot?
If it is static, you don't pan to the left side of the frame, you can do c-boom or menace arm (if space allows) for a 4' 4 bank.
Or you can do a double arm thing on a c-stand, for a 2' 2 bank kino but it won't give you as much out put.

If you need to pan around in that shoot.
Use a pole cat or wall-spreader. Wall-Spreader with 2''x4'' is great, can hold a 4' 4 bank kino with no problem.
 
Go here http://www.modernstudio.com/114112hardware.html. Now buy part number 010-2023 / $39.00 / PIPE FRAME EAR FOR 1 1/4” and part: 010-2065 / $22.00 / SLIDER FOR 1 1/4” W/BABY. Now go to your local metal shop and buy a piece of 1 1/4 speed rail. Rig it to a combo stand. Make sure you ratchet the back to the stand for support.

You now have a menace arm. This is the way pro grips make a rig. Far safer than hanging on a c-stand arm.
 
Paul Hudson said:
Go here http://www.modernstudio.com/114112hardware.html. Now buy part number 010-2023 / $39.00 / PIPE FRAME EAR FOR 1 1/4” and part: 010-2065 / $22.00 / SLIDER FOR 1 1/4” W/BABY. Now go to your local metal shop and buy a piece of 1 1/4 speed rail. Rig it to a combo stand. Make sure you ratchet the back to the stand for support.

You now have a menace arm. This is the way pro grips make a rig. Far safer than hanging on a c-stand arm.
Click to expand...
Yah, good. If you have a superclamp or Cardelinni you can use that instead of the slider.
 
Screw a baby plate into the ceiling. Very easy, very cheap, and only the tiniest bit destructive.
 
It depends on the size of the room. If it is a big room the set up two stand and some telescoping rod inbetween. If it is a smaller room then just rig an Autopole between the walls. I have seen someone else using two autopoles and clamped them together to hold more weight. I have never actually hung a kino on it so I cant tell if it is too heavy or not.
 
I would say your cheapest and easiest way to do this would be via having two stands holding a telescoping pole and then rig some chinese lanterns.
 
If I rig a 200w inky right above the subject do you think it'll produce the same effect in here:



What might I need to add?


And a lowel 500w Softbox for the picture on the first page?
 
leaftors said:
If I rig a 200w inky right above the subject do you think it'll produce the same effect in here:



What might I need to add?


And a lowel 500w Softbox for the picture on the first page?
Click to expand...

A couple of interesting things are happening in this shot. And the detail is in the shadows. First off, all of this light is VERY soft. Look at the size of the reflection in the globe on the shelf, it's quite large. This leads me to believe that they are probably using some type of softbox being held above the actor and slightly in front of him as there is a shadow of his head just on the back of his neck. You can also see this by the folds in the jacket.

So would a 200 watt light do the trick? I would be hesitant to say yes because as soon as you diffuse that bad boy, you cut quite a bit of light. The camera is also getting a bit of a flare which is milking those shadows a touch. The blakc levels are also really really off. If you set black at the proper value you would get something along these lines ( to give you a real idea of how bright he image actually is )

overheadlighting1.jpg
 
oh, also, this might be of some help. I recently shot a scene with my af100 that was majorily overhead lighting and used this setup. I think if you could do something similar to what I have done with the chinese lantern you will have great success.

I hung some black cloth around the lantern to control the spill and focus it as a back light. Worked like a charm!

garagesetup.jpg


overheadlighting2.jpg
 
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