i stink at lighting...help
- Thread starter avery
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twocik23
Veteran
Try this dvd its very helpful, ask for Guy
http://www.dvcreators.net/products/dv_enlightenment.html
Also in the xl2 manual it tells you how to set the white balance.
hope that helps
http://www.dvcreators.net/products/dv_enlightenment.html
Also in the xl2 manual it tells you how to set the white balance.
hope that helps
Ralph Oshiro
Veteran
You should probably look into purchasing some good filmmaking books first. There are quite a few very good books on lighting out now. I also wouldn't reccomend buying any lighting right now. You need to understand the various tools first. One person may say Brand X is the best, but for what YOU'RE shooting, Brand X may totally suck.
In the meantime, you can totally get by with certain types of flourecent bulbs (a few commercial brands are actually fairly color correct) and Home Depot lights. Regular household light fixtures can work fine too.
For myself, I own one small soft source (a two-foot, two-bank KinoFlo). I wouldn't reccomend Kinos, since they're really expensive. For a soft source, I would reccomend a Lowel RifaLite instead. IMO, regular, Lowel open-face units are total garbage. If I were to buy lights now, I would buy some small Fresnel units (150W, 300W Arris or LTMs), but those too, are VERY expensive.
Like, I said, don't buy anything now until you better understand what type of lighting instruments do what. Just so you know, my zombie short, "Infection," was shot without using any professional "movie lights" at all. It was lit totally with ambient flourescents, flourescent desk lamps, and a battery powered Home Depot flourescent (that went VERY blue-green). Good luck!
In the meantime, you can totally get by with certain types of flourecent bulbs (a few commercial brands are actually fairly color correct) and Home Depot lights. Regular household light fixtures can work fine too.
For myself, I own one small soft source (a two-foot, two-bank KinoFlo). I wouldn't reccomend Kinos, since they're really expensive. For a soft source, I would reccomend a Lowel RifaLite instead. IMO, regular, Lowel open-face units are total garbage. If I were to buy lights now, I would buy some small Fresnel units (150W, 300W Arris or LTMs), but those too, are VERY expensive.
Like, I said, don't buy anything now until you better understand what type of lighting instruments do what. Just so you know, my zombie short, "Infection," was shot without using any professional "movie lights" at all. It was lit totally with ambient flourescents, flourescent desk lamps, and a battery powered Home Depot flourescent (that went VERY blue-green). Good luck!
twocik23 said:
I also recommend the Lowel 55 light kit ... it seems to cover all the situations we need here (interviews for documentaries mostly) and is reasonably inexpensive (about $1400 from http://evsonline.com, for example, where I bought mine).
--Ralph
mrblue1022
Well-known member
The best thing you can do is to practice. Shoot test footage with your camera. Break out the manual and learn how to use the manual settings. Knowing how to white balance, iris, gama, and other tricks with your camera will help you go along way toward becoming a better shooting.
Once you are comfortable with how the camera operates then you are ready to read:
Reflections by Benjamin Bergery
Lighting for Digital Video and Television by John Jackman
Masters of Light by Dennis Schaefer and Larry Salvato
Painting with Light by John Alton
Placing Shadows by Chuck Gloman and Tom Letourneau
The Five C's of Cinematography by Joseph Mascelli.
These books should give you an understanding of theory of lighting for film and video. Then you are ready to rent or borrow some lights and shoot some practice footage. Don't be afraid to experiment with different lighting setups and angles. Lance Miller taught me everything I know about lighting, and his motto was, "To shoot a quality image you need the right tools, the knowledge to use those tools, and faith in your craft."
Rob
Once you are comfortable with how the camera operates then you are ready to read:
Reflections by Benjamin Bergery
Lighting for Digital Video and Television by John Jackman
Masters of Light by Dennis Schaefer and Larry Salvato
Painting with Light by John Alton
Placing Shadows by Chuck Gloman and Tom Letourneau
The Five C's of Cinematography by Joseph Mascelli.
These books should give you an understanding of theory of lighting for film and video. Then you are ready to rent or borrow some lights and shoot some practice footage. Don't be afraid to experiment with different lighting setups and angles. Lance Miller taught me everything I know about lighting, and his motto was, "To shoot a quality image you need the right tools, the knowledge to use those tools, and faith in your craft."
Rob
MattC
Veteran
Hi Avery,
I should mention to others chiming in, in case they don't know that Avery is 14, so a $1,400 purchase might be a bit tough for him.
The best recommendation is to read and learn to understand what's going on in a scene. Watch films and when you see a scene that you find visually compelling pause the DVD and examine it as a photograph and try to determine what's going on with lighting.
If money is a concern, and I'm sure it is, I would start with a DIY kit. The first thing to remember is light is light. Different source of light will differ with regards to intensity and temperature, but other than that (for your purposes now) it's all basically the same. The reason for getting PRO fixtures is to have precise control over intensity and temperature. But lighting isn't just about the quality of the light, it's about how you shape the light, where you place the shadows. This is how you make a scene look three dimensional. So, from that standpoint you can begin experimenting with ANY lights. If I were you I would get some cheap lighting solutions, but start to pick up some basic grip gear. You can go to staples and buy some black and white foamcore board pretty cheaply. You can pick up a reflector and any camera store for not too much, get a couple of cheap light stands or mic stands even (about $20 at a music store) get some clams, some clothespins, and order some blackwrap (black tinfoil) or just get some heavy grade tinfoil and use that. Pick up some photoflood bulbs and reflectors at camera store or get a worklight or two (or both) from homedepot, get a china ball. For a couple hundred all in, you can have a pretty basic light kit that will allow you to experiment with shaping light. The rest is easy, just play around - a lot. This will teach you lighting. I see a lot of stuff lit with professional lights and it still looks flat and uninteresting. Learn how to shape and control light and you'll be good to go whether using a homedepot work light, a Lowell kit, or a set of Arris.
Matt
I should mention to others chiming in, in case they don't know that Avery is 14, so a $1,400 purchase might be a bit tough for him.
The best recommendation is to read and learn to understand what's going on in a scene. Watch films and when you see a scene that you find visually compelling pause the DVD and examine it as a photograph and try to determine what's going on with lighting.
If money is a concern, and I'm sure it is, I would start with a DIY kit. The first thing to remember is light is light. Different source of light will differ with regards to intensity and temperature, but other than that (for your purposes now) it's all basically the same. The reason for getting PRO fixtures is to have precise control over intensity and temperature. But lighting isn't just about the quality of the light, it's about how you shape the light, where you place the shadows. This is how you make a scene look three dimensional. So, from that standpoint you can begin experimenting with ANY lights. If I were you I would get some cheap lighting solutions, but start to pick up some basic grip gear. You can go to staples and buy some black and white foamcore board pretty cheaply. You can pick up a reflector and any camera store for not too much, get a couple of cheap light stands or mic stands even (about $20 at a music store) get some clams, some clothespins, and order some blackwrap (black tinfoil) or just get some heavy grade tinfoil and use that. Pick up some photoflood bulbs and reflectors at camera store or get a worklight or two (or both) from homedepot, get a china ball. For a couple hundred all in, you can have a pretty basic light kit that will allow you to experiment with shaping light. The rest is easy, just play around - a lot. This will teach you lighting. I see a lot of stuff lit with professional lights and it still looks flat and uninteresting. Learn how to shape and control light and you'll be good to go whether using a homedepot work light, a Lowell kit, or a set of Arris.
Matt
Avery the cheap way:
http://live-theater.org/slightlypoormanslightkit.htm
its a variation on this guys article:
http://dvinfo.net/articles/lighting/spears1.php
When you get the Shed DVD on my BTS you can see how someone that doesn't know a lot about lighting either puts the cheapo kit to use.
http://live-theater.org/slightlypoormanslightkit.htm
its a variation on this guys article:
http://dvinfo.net/articles/lighting/spears1.php
When you get the Shed DVD on my BTS you can see how someone that doesn't know a lot about lighting either puts the cheapo kit to use.
profnoxin
Well-known member
yeah, I would agree with some of the info above... starting with light bouncers, i.e. mirrors, bounce board (which can even be white foam core) and practical light bulbs, all of which can be purchased cheaply at www.filmtools.com you can learn all of the lighting basics. Once you get the hang of that stuff, you can experiment more. As for camera settings, that's a whole other post worth of information.
Gopher_Greene
Well-known member
Avery your 14 and looking into making a film? Awesome!!!
I'd recomend a few books to get you started the professional Lighting handbook by Carlson will give you all the technical stuff for the instruments and Painting with light by John Alton will give you an artistic insight into lighting.
The biggest thing to remeber don't make pretty light, make pretty shadows.
I'd recomend a few books to get you started the professional Lighting handbook by Carlson will give you all the technical stuff for the instruments and Painting with light by John Alton will give you an artistic insight into lighting.
The biggest thing to remeber don't make pretty light, make pretty shadows.
JPatnaude
Well-known member
Books and videos are a great resource. I would echo some earlier advice to find someone in your area who is accomplished at lighting and volunteer to help. It's a very necessary and useful thing to have a mentor- someone who can help guide you in the right directions.
good luck,
Jeff Patnaude
good luck,
Jeff Patnaude