Lighting for beginners! Tutorials/links collection.

ahhh thanks so much for all of this , ill be busy when i get home later watchng em all!

on another note , does anyone know of any books or preferebly videos that teach the basics of light metering for vids. ive yet to find much info for beginners on this subject.

zim
 
Hi Zim, at the risk of self-promotion :) , our Basic Production Series teaches all about metering for video. It teaches how to read the SBR (Scene Brightness Ratio) and determine scene contrast. The same information is reiterated in the manual as well, so you can take it with you on the field and refresh what you learned. Visually learning this does require an investment in the course, but at least I can explain it to you here in text:

You can use a handheld spot meter to take a reading from the brightest part of the frame that you need to preserve highlight detail in. Say F/11.0. Then take a reading from the darkest part of the frame that you need to preserve shadow detail in. Say F/2.0. Then you draw a middle line between those two figures (F/4.0) and set your exposure according to how many stops of latitude are available on your camera. A 7-stop camera can easily encompass this 5-stop range (F/2.0 - 2.8 - 4.0 - 5.6 - 8.0 - 11). If you have a higher contrast range, just lean your exposure towards what is more important, highlights or shadows, or add more fill light. Simple.

PS: this does require a calibrated spot meter with the correct ASA of your camera set into it.

Best of Luck! :thumbup:
 
Scott_Spears said:
I'll plug my own site and tutorials. I've done tutorials on:
China Lanterns
Lighting Units
Grip Kit Goodies
C-Stands
to name a few.

You can check them out along with articles I've written at:
http://www.scottspears.net/filmmakpg3.html


Scott

scott what is the color temp of the lttle 75 w halogen spoylight your talking about in grip kit goodies pt 1, are they 3200k?

thanks
 
I cant get to the john jackman videos anymore, with those new links it re directs me to another page asking me to log in and then once I do i cant get to his videos still. : (
 
Lighting DVDs

Here are some DVDs that I have come across that are useful on lighting. They vary in price and availability but I found all of them useful learning tool in their own way.

1. Digital Lighting Magic by Elite Video - 3 DVDs great introduction on low budget/ cost lighting (US) Great value for money set.

2. Master Series of Making "Lighting for emerging Filmmakers" Volume 1 and 2 (US) Great DVDs (can work out expensive to order if your not in US/ Canada).

3. Lighting for digital Video - by DVUser - 1 DVD but gets all the basics in there explains different light units and examples of a few lighting set ups (UK)

Others that I found useful that are mainly for photography

i/ Professional Studio Lighting Master class - Jon Gray - 1 DVD (Uk)
ii/ Studio Lighitng Demonstration - Ken Henderson - 1 DVD (UK)
 
Rush, I purchased the whole set of the DCT tutorials and it's great, I must say. What I was wondering is, is there a place on your site that allows users who purchased your product to ask questions?

With that said, are lighting kits (e.g. Arri's) like computers where its all good and wonderful the year you purchased it but three years later it's piece a junck? The DCT suite showed three sets of the Arri's package and I'm interested in the 75pound package. However, I don't what the price is. Is the 75pound kit from Arri good enough for indie film maker plus a couple of HMI lights?
 
K

K

super, thanks everybody

i`m beginner and learn a lot from all these sites.
i have just 1 (extreemly stupid) question.
what means the "K" when you talk about the tipe of light.
i`m used to talk in watt or kilowatt

thanks
 
that was my first id. but what about things like 500k, 3200k.
i`ve been loking and now i think it are the degrees of the light in kelvin
 
a find a lot of sites about 3 point lighting to light for ex during intervieuw. somebody has links or suggestion how to light when the model is walking(running) or different persons are moving? thank you
 
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