Lighting Family Dinner Table

M

Mark Kokkoros

Active member
Tomorrow I will shoot a family having dinner.

Using:

AF100
Nikon 85mm,f1.4G
Oly 14-35mm, f2
Kessler Slider

My lighting footprint has to be minimal so I'm planning to use a China ball with a 150 watt light attached to a dimmer (see photo).

My concern is that I will need to get some lift on the faces to avoid unflattering shadows. Again, the lighting must be minimal, but the effect cozy. Advice appreciated.

He is a rough diagram:
photo.jpg

Thanks,

Mark
 
I used a china ball hung just above frame in the exact same situation, with additional CDM lights about where your cameras 2 and 3 are. Result:
fannie table still.jpgfannie table still 2.jpg

If you are concerned about all the light coming from above, I would suggest a white or light tablecloth, which will bounce light up onto their faces.
 
The problem might be getting the fill you want, even with a while table cloth. The only thing I might suggest is getting a brighter bulb with more diffusion inside the ball without creating a fire hazard, but you are on the right track.
 
A 150W bulb won't do it unless you want to crank jack up the gain and introduce some serious picture noise. Diffusion wrapping will just eat the light up, defeating the purpose and as grimrebes mentions creating a heat problem. He's right though about a brighter bulb. You'll probably want to start at around 500W to get a usable exposure. Use the white table cloth and spray Streaks and Tips on the linen to dull down the hot spot beneath the hole in the lamp. Drop the lamp as low as possible and use a flag to protect the lens. If all you have is single source light then this is really all you can do. Perhaps a couple of practicals on furniture in the background could open a few dark holes for you. They're the one's you'd want on dimmers, not your key light.
 
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Thanks for the advice everybody!

The china ball has a maximum rating of 150 W. I will go as low as possible with the light and use a flag.

Hopefully I can stay at 400 ISO. At 800 ISO things get crunchy. 85mm will translate to about a 160mm on 4/3, 1.4 is bright but the depth of focus will be razor sharp -- maybe too thin for a slider.

Anyway, I will post some frame grabs (hopefully they don't look too shabby). -m
 
My china ball and the two other lights were daylight balanced CFL's, so no heat or wattage issues (actual draw of each bulb only 23w) . The lantern had 6 100w equivalent CFL's, to dim I just unscrewed a bulb or two. Since everything was daylight there was no need to gel the windows.
 
Maybe too late..but if you have any influence over the art department...avoid the white table cloth!
 
Shooter said:
Maybe too late..but if you have any influence over the art department...avoid the white table cloth!
Click to expand...

I would say the same thing too. However, in the last 6 months, I have seem probably half a dozen scenes from films and TV shows where the DP shot a hot light right into the white table cloth completely blowing it out but giving the actors a wonderful fill from underneath. Strange thing is, sometimes the characters put their arms in the middle of the table to pass something to another character and WAM, they blow out to an extreme. And this is professional stuff too.... You thought overexposure were bad with AF100, you should see this stuff...
 
This is how I do it.
 

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Nice Paul.

So you using a ratchet strap instead of a counter weight on the back of that menace arm, correct?

Also, what is outside the window?
 
The ratchet strap just transfers the load to the bottom of the bagged stand. This much sturdier and safer than bagging the arm. Outside the window was a 575 HMI. I will try to find a frame grab as this IPhone photo is awful.
 
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Paul Hudson said:
The ratchet strap just transfers the load to the bottom of the bagged stand. This much sturdier and safer than bagging the arm. Outside the window was a 575 HMI. I will try to find a frame grab as this IPhone photo is awful.
Click to expand...

That makes great sense. I am wanting to get a menace arm rig together, for lighter weight lights. I am duly aware of how dangerous those can be and any safety tips are appreciated. Thanks.
 
Man after my own heart Paul. :thumbup: NIce to see tidy rigs and set ups.

I like and insist on tidy (and safe) rigs from my crew.

I detest bunched up untidy cables all over the floor or light stands "locked" into each other and unable to be easily moved or adjusted freely and quickly.

KISS - is always best, safest and most efficient.

My most frequent instruction to my gaffer is...route all the cables around the perimeter of the set or location so that we can move freely with in it.

To the grips... be able to move freely and easily from set up to set up without impedance of rig or obstruction. ( Art Department figures in this as well)

I often have multiple setups going in the same space ( studio or location) so I can move on efficiently and practically...and get the job done.
 
Hello,

The dinner shoot had to be abandoned because of uncontrolled lighting. I rolled off some examples to show. Basically I turned up the iso to 800 and shot a f2 to get reasonable exposure on the subjects. Was hoping for an overcast day but direct sunlight hit the shades and turned them white hot. To have pulled this off acceptably, the windows would need to be controlled down by 1.5 - 2 stops and more fill to the faces (as suggested). Thankfully this shoot was just of test using my family members in preparation for an upcoming brief involving actors, etc. Ended the night with terrible imagery -- but a wonderful meal!!

Properly lighting a table has always been a challenge for me. The advice / photos given are helpful. Thanks to everybody and I hope the discussion his helpful to others and continues a little bit longer.

FYI - using just one 150 watt china ball for a table scene can yield acceptable results if you are constrained by time, location, space, etc. I posted some grabs from a shoot about 1 1/2 years ago in a restaurant shooting 800 iso at f2.

Here you go:

Dinner02.jpgDinner03.jpgDinner01.jpg

From restaurant:

Restaurant01.jpgRestaurant02.jpgRestaurant04.jpgRestaurant03.jpgRestaurant06.jpgRestaurant05.jpg

Cheers,

Mark
 
For this version I used a Gem ball (souped-up china ball concept) overhead, plus a Dedo light coming straight down onto the game board to give a little eyelight glint and uplight fill. This was shot 360 on circular track. As noted by others above, practicals are all on dimmers and there were a few specials sprinkled around the background to create contrast, plus units on the trees outside etc.

https://vimeo.com/39114507

FYI when using a menace arm etc it's pretty easy to adjust the ball to sweeten it for different angles, i.e. you can lower it or pull it a little off the center of the table to favor getting into the eyes of your subjects. Having it on a dimmer is a necessity so that you can goose the output to maintain a consistent level if you start doing this sort of thing.
 
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