Lighting 4 people at a dining table

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I will be shooting four people in an apartment or home sitting and eating dinner at a small dining table.

I want the feeling to be intimate, low key.

Need to shoot a wide shot, then of course go in tighter.

Can't suspend anything from the ceiling. Just have a few soft boxes.

Any ideas on how to light this?
 
"intimate, low key" = diffuse you light. lowly lit BG. Candles?

Is there a practical light above the dining table? If so, remove any cover it may have and screw in the highest wattage light your can find. Have a C-Stand? Run a light to the end of the arm and blast the center of the table. A soft bounce will cast onto you talents.

If you can't do any of that, bounce a spotted light off of the ceiling as close to the table as possible. Don't diffuse it– bouncing it will cause natural diffusion.

On the CU's, add a rim light on the shoulders and maybe head for BG separation.


Lastly, pickup some hollywood movies that have kitchen table scenes and try to figure out where they are lighting from.

Good luck
 
I crewed on this one set where they used strings of xmas lights on dimmers to light a "candlelit" bar. We just wrapped 2 or 3 strings of xmas lights around a 2x3 frame and suspended them from the ceiling. I know you said you can't suspend anything from there, but you might be able to fly it up there using a c-stand when you're in close. That's what we did for our CU's. It gave a REALLY nice diffused light.

Just a thought...let us know if you decide to use it and how it came out.
 
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