Lighting for beginners! Tutorials/links collection.

MatthewC

MatthewC

Well-known member
I found a bunch of resources in my quest for lighting knowledge. Here they are.


Low Budget/DIY

Scott Spears site with videos and articles on lighting to microbudgeting, great site packed with info.
http://www.scottspears.net/filmmakpg3.html

Shows off various lights you can buy cheap and use with photos. Great site for budgeters!
http://www.jorenclark.com/whitepapers/lighting.html

Designed for photography, but its the budget kit with pictures ready to go, including the 500W halogen work floodlights and cheap diffusers. Very helpful.
http://www.shuttertalk.com/articles/diylighting/index.php



AWESOME LOW BUDGET LIGHTING ARTICLE. It goes through basically anything involved with lighting and doing it on a low budget, along with how to do it. Great for beginners!
http://www.exposure.co.uk/eejit/light/ -

Excellent low budget lighting site for those of us with little money!
http://www.dvinfo.net/articles/lighting/spears1.php -




3 Point Lighting
Awesome article for beginners with images and details that explain it in simple English.
http://schooltorque.com/lighting_lesson.htm -

Excellent article from Apple with information on 3-point, shooting outdoors, extreme light, and using reflectors.
http://ali.apple.com/ali_sites/ali/exhibits/1000019/Effective_Lighting.html

Awesome site handy images on 3-point lighting, then moving into interview lighting and general rules that are applied to it. Great article.
http://www.utexas.edu/web/video/prod.php?e=0#lights

Mostly text, but there is a VIDEO at the bottom that shows you the differences with key, fill, and background lights.
http://coe.sdsu.edu/eet/articles/lighting/start.htm





Other Lighting Articles

Scott Spears site with videos and articles on lighting to microbudgeting, great site packed with info.
http://www.scottspears.net/filmmakpg3.html

Izzy Digital Video Podcast Tutorials kick ass! Awesome video tutorials on everything from 3 point lighting to minimizing sunlight to colour correcting to cutting away to...the list just goes on.
http://podfeed.net/episodes.asp?p=3&id=3740

A video tutorial of "Lighting for DV/HD, and HDV by John Jackman". No need to register anymore thanks to turbo2ltr
http://www.pqhp.com/cmp/dvxe05/jackman/player.php?bw=300
http://www.pqhp.com/cmp/dvxe05/jackman2/player.php?bw=300

Maximizing Lighting Success by John Jackman.
http://www.pqhp.com/cmp/dvxe05/wilt2/player.php?bw=300

Misconceptions in lighting. Great multipage article on lighting people and misconceptions found.
http://www.mvwire.com/dynamic/article_view.asp?AID=10564

Excellent site with various articles on everything from making one room light like 5 to setting up greenscreen lighting.
http://www.bluesky-web.com/new-page6.html

Good site with little bits on coloured lights and shooting in the sunlight.
http://www.angelfire.com/ar2/videomanual1/light.html

An excellent PDF on lighting by Arri, thanks to KHendrix2:
http://www.pqhp.com/cmp/dvxe05/wilt2/player.php?bw=300
 
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Thanks for doing this Matthew C. I was JUST asking in another thread for a consise list of info. You've saved me a lot of legwork!

Rick
 
Another thing you should consider is to attach any practicals (existing room lights) to dimmers, so you can control them as necessary and use your primary lights to light the scene.

For all your interior shots this can really help, just giving you the most control as possible.
 
$16.50 at home depot. it can control up to 300 watts, which is plenty for a house light. i know i've seen them cheaper. you could find them if you walk through the store. you just want a dimmer on a cord, so you can plug the lamp into the dimmer and then the dimmer into the wall.

http://www.homedepot.com/prel80/HDU...ID=ccefaddhflidmfdcgelceffdfgidgmn.0&MID=9876


Or you can even get a dimmer to control primary lights from B&H for $87.50. It has 2 channels with 1200 watts per channel, so you can even control two 1k lights. kind of expensive, but really not bad when you figure your plugging in two $500 lights.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/con...688&is=REG&addedTroughType=categoryNavigation
 
thanks so much! have learnt heaps from these links just went and bought a pair of 2by500watt on tripod lights today as seen in one of those articles. came on here looking for some tips how to better use them and find this post! excellent! thanks again
 
IKEA has excellent dimmers for $8 (called Dimma), and they are super smooth. I use them to dim and flicker practicals all the time. And because they are sliders not rotary, you can bind several to a board and make your own dimming board, where you can "play" the lights to mimick lighting effects. :) The coolest ones are in Lowe's, though. They are pricey but they are remote, meaning you can dim lights without using cables. You just attach the receiver at the light position. Those are the bomb.
 
the best lighting tutorial I've read (next to John Hackman's) would be www.cybercollege.com.........great info on all sorts of production stuff! You can go to the main page and scroll through the menu for different topics. If your just starting out this is a great place to start!
 
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