Lighting advice required

S

stevegaleacooking

New member
Hello all! :)

I've started creating cooking videos in my own kitchen and the natural lighting is just not good enough.

I have done a lot of searching on the net, including ebay etc. I honestly don't know what to buy that would be right for my projects.
I don't want to spend more than $150 for the moment. From what I have seen, a 3 point lighting system is what's required.

Here is a video of my kitchen as well as an introduction to my great cooking show :p

www.youtube.com/user/stevegaleacooking

I would love a few options of sets I can buy. If it's in Australia, that would be great, but I'm happy to purchase online if it's good quality.

Thank you for any and all help provided :)
 
$150 won't get you much in terms of versatility or durability.
Here in the U.S., I usually suggest basic worklights for people who are getting started lighting without a budget. If they have a standard edison base, you can use 3200k tungsten or 5600k daylight-balanced CFLs.
Once you use a budget light kit for awhile, you'll wish you just bought a nice kit to start with. But you can learn a lot with even a simple kit. The photons are the same, whether or not you paid a lot for them.
 
You can also promote your channel with "What knifes are better" or in carpenters forum "Is those tables is allright for cooking".
 
Are you going to have a fixed camera like in your sample video or a more elaborate production? If it's the former then you really just want to raise the ambient light a little, maybe a hairlight to separate you from the background (desklamp with a higher wattage bulb could do it). With a fixed camera elaborate lighting won't rise it above a standard youtube or blog video. Even if you had a budget entertaining banter and good recipes should be the priority.

If you want to get more involved and take a bit more time you're going to want a wide shot, a medium shot for when you are talking to camera and a high angle or overhead close up of your preparation surface that you could use for your ingredient preparation/dish presentation. If you want to go further you could present the dish at another location eg the dining table/couch in front of the tv. You could also have a close up of the oven for popping the food in/taking it out (perfect opportunity for pithy comment to camera).

An edited video will result in a much slicker production than better lighting for your target audience. And won't cost you a thing except time and effort. Editing will also give you more control in developing your on-camera persona. If you want this to lead to something, even just increasing your hits, then you are the product that you need to sell. Given your target audience the finer production details won't be so important and you can always raise your production standards later once you have your format worked out.
 
Steve,

I'd fix your audio first. Get a wired lav mic for $100. That will improve your production value better than the lighting.

For lighting, you won't get much of a light kit for $150 and you may be better off buying simple light fixtures that will provide a very nice effect on a small budget.

First you need to decide what look you are going for. It looks like the room is lit by a big window, meaning the current color temperature is daylight. You may or may not want to keep the color temperature at daylight. If you are using budget fixtures, that probably means you will be using tungsten. So do you want a mix of daylight and tungsten or do you want to block out that daylight and re-light with tungsten?

There is nothing wrong with nice flat lighting for a cooking show. But if you do want to add some interest, you might consider blocking the daylight and light with a bunch of cheap par lights from the hardware store. Then you need some light stands to get the light where you need it. You could also consider mix of tungsten and daylight. Go buy a cheap par light at the hardware store and play with it to get some ideas of what it looks like. Then decide what you want to do and buy more fixtures. Par lights and cinefoil can go a long way on a small budget.

A bigger issue than lighting is the stove. It is in the wrong place. It will be a challenge to get cooking shots with you in front of it. I'd get some electric cooktops and cook next to the sink.
 
stevegaleacooking said:
Hello all! :)

I've started creating cooking videos in my own kitchen and the natural lighting is just not good enough.
Click to expand...

A long time ago the Wife shot a fellow who was starting up his cooking channel, named Sam The Cooking Guy... anyway, I don't have too much of a problem with your lighting as it is... but if it is based on 'sun light' that may limit days and hours of when you can shoot.

We setup a large 4x4 Softbox pretty much right over the camera. I don't think cooking benefits with some sort of 'dramatic' lighting...

However, with the lighting as it is, the biggest thing that struck me was the sound...

I'd suggest looking into a wired lavalier, for your 150 (US or AUS?) budget, with the cable snaked out the back of your clothes, if you want to avoid that 'look' with the mic just clipped to your lapel or shirt.
 
I would agree with what some have already stated; $150 won't get you much in terms of lighting and you'd be much better off to invest that in a microphone. If you want to improve the look, play around with some color correction. I would start by adding some contrast and maybe a touch of saturation. That alone will make a big difference.

I will say though, that for $150 you might be able to find a small light (perhaps LED) that you could use on close-ups of food and prepared dishes. But I always caution people about cheap LED fixtures, color can be all over the map and you don't want your juicy red steak looking green! So read customer reviews before you buy.
 
Agree, you need audio help before lighting.

I would also wonder how you have the actual cooking shots planned as your stove faces the opposite direction against a wall?
 
You need less light, not more.

steve-galea-cooking.jpg

Your set is swimming in light. Try blocking, instead of adding. Wherever you would have added an expensive light, hang a dark blanket or something on the other side (off screen of course). Here's a thread where we were just talking about that idea. No, I'm not saying you should make it look like The Godfather. But a little shaping through subtraction might help.

And here's vote number five for spending the bulk of your funds on a lav. After you make it sound better, it will also mysteriously, magically, look better.

"Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away." --- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
 
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I don't dislike the existing lighting, other than the fridge really pops. It looks soft & natural. if it's daylight, yeah, weather and time issues abound.

You could easily light that space with a couple chinese biax flo's, maybe a quad and a dual (I still don't know why the push for LEDs as of yet, when Biax is really dialed in and cheap - this isn't a batteries & location gig). Add a 650 or so fresnel with full CTB for hero shots and you should be good. In the states you could find all that for $500 or so, not sure in your location.

And I agree it will be a nightmare to try to shoot the actual cooking with the stovetop back there!
 
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