How to get a soft spotlight lighting effect?

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dtjohns1

Well-known member
I'm trying to acheive the look at 2:46-2:53. How do you get a softlight thats spotted like that? When I try to use soft light it goes all over the place.
 
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Looks like a standard fresnel to me, maybe with a frost gel. Fresnels give you that nice soft edge. I is probably a fairly big one, 10" or 12" , like a 2k, not a soft light.
 
Keep in mind that you can control soft light, but to do so you need to be far from the light source to block it.

But Razz is probably right. Looking at the shadows it's not very soft, just the edges of the spot.
 
Sure looks to be a large source fresnel with diffusion close to the glass. As to what diffusion, it is anyones guess.
 
Keep in mind that spotlights and soft lights are physically diametric opposites, so while you can have a "softish" spotlight, getting a truly soft spotlight probably won't happen.
 
I see. I've tried putting a frost gel on a 300 and 650 and it's getting rid of the circular spot and making it more of a gradient rectangle. I'm starting to think that it is a bare fresnel. My only problem now is the further I go back with the light to create room to get a medium shot the bigger the beam becomes even when it is fully spotted. In the example video the spot is very tight on the subject.
 
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http://www.goreela.com/work-1-new.html
look at the latoya luckett video. The performances on black are with two parcans with a homemade 3-4ft long snoot of foamcore. black outside, white inside and two trays of diffusion that slide in and out of it. Softish and controlled.
Seen this done on MANY large sets mostly with 5k's and 10k's. Grips build them so they slide onto the barn doors.
 
phudsontx said:
Try a leko with diffusion.
Click to expand...

Yeah, this will get you there big time. Either that or I think a dedolight might also get you in that direction. I saw some in the background of that video and have a feeling they might have been using those as well.

Just FYI, that's not the director at the camera, it's the first AC, and he's changing the focus every time he's moving that dial around. The light just happens to go in and out along with the focus.
 
^^^ Thats definitely Ray Kay the director. He may be playing first AC but he was definitely the director on the video. I notice that hair style a mile away lol
 
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