lighting an interview
- Thread starter NB1
- Start date
Lloyds
Active member
I think those are all fill type lights (as opposed to hard lights), right? If so, from the little that I know, I think you'll have a very flat interview. Again, I'm new to this and learning too, but a good rule of thumb is to have one hard (key) light, one fill light 90-degrees off roughly and a hard kicker/hair light from the back.
So 2 hards, 1 soft light as a general rule. But from what I'm learning in lighting, most rules can be broken and are broken all the time, so....
So 2 hards, 1 soft light as a general rule. But from what I'm learning in lighting, most rules can be broken and are broken all the time, so....
Jeff Anderson
Custom Title!
Key lights dont need to be hard by any means. I prefer to use a soft key light for pretty much any interview. And I use a vidled (similiar to litepanels) for a hairlight when I'm needing to keep my kit packed small. Check out the lighting tutorials on the lowel website. http://www.lowel.com/edu/
Wilson
Active member
Do you have a camera, and the lights now? If so, set them up and give it a try right now!
You would be surprised what you can do with small heads, if you do it right. Heck, you don't even need lights if you have other factors that work, such as bead board, reflectors, flags, diffusion and the some workable level of daylight.
Sometimes, if the shot is quick (so I don't have to worry about that damn sun moving) I will try to use just daylight, as a challenge.
It really depends on other factors, such as location , skin color, background, ect. Sure it can be done, will it look amazing, well that is another question.
Good Luck,
Wilson
You would be surprised what you can do with small heads, if you do it right. Heck, you don't even need lights if you have other factors that work, such as bead board, reflectors, flags, diffusion and the some workable level of daylight.
Sometimes, if the shot is quick (so I don't have to worry about that damn sun moving) I will try to use just daylight, as a challenge.
It really depends on other factors, such as location , skin color, background, ect. Sure it can be done, will it look amazing, well that is another question.
Good Luck,
Wilson
sunporchmedia
Well-known member
Key can be hard or soft. With LED lights you'll probably have to be hard.
Fill is usually soft but you can use hard if the fill is right above the camera lens, to avoid double shadows.
Backlight is usually hard but can be soft, and looks more natural soft. LED light will, again, have to be hard. To make it soft you have to make it BIG and the LED can't throw enough light to make it big.
The wild card is "what ambient light is available?" I just shot a very "important" interview subject at his home and used only a backlight. How? Positioned subject close to a large picture window and let the indirect light from that window act like a softbox. Flex-fill provided a little fill light. I used a 1k with a chimera and half-blue gel for a backlight. The natural light streaming into the room provided good looking background light.
I had more lights and could have used them, but sometimes you're better off when you STOP lighting!
Fill is usually soft but you can use hard if the fill is right above the camera lens, to avoid double shadows.
Backlight is usually hard but can be soft, and looks more natural soft. LED light will, again, have to be hard. To make it soft you have to make it BIG and the LED can't throw enough light to make it big.
The wild card is "what ambient light is available?" I just shot a very "important" interview subject at his home and used only a backlight. How? Positioned subject close to a large picture window and let the indirect light from that window act like a softbox. Flex-fill provided a little fill light. I used a 1k with a chimera and half-blue gel for a backlight. The natural light streaming into the room provided good looking background light.
I had more lights and could have used them, but sometimes you're better off when you STOP lighting!
ProfessorU
Veteran
The reason you'll hear that key is usually a hard light is because it used to be the only cheap way to get enough light on the key side of a subject. Since fluos opened up a lot of soft light options, we can light in more flattering ways.
If you look at old hollywood films, they often lit with a hard fill. It wasn't until the technology progressed (both with lights and film) that soft fill became the standard.
If you look at old hollywood films, they often lit with a hard fill. It wasn't until the technology progressed (both with lights and film) that soft fill became the standard.