Lighting For HD

2

24fps4ever

Well-known member
hey I have been searching like crazy for a book or dvd that teaches about lighting when working with HD, does anyone have any idea where I can find a book like that, most of the books on lighting are outdated and only talk about lighting film but I know that HD is a little different to light, please let me know

thanks guys
 
Lighting is lighting. You are only limited by the dynamic range of the media that you are shooting with. Which means that you usually have to use more fill light with video than with film. If you know how to light for film you will have no problems solving the minor issues that are part of lighting for video.

With film you learn to use your eyes and a meter to light by because most of the time you can't even get a lens to look through. With video you learn to use a monitor and how to set it up where you trust what you are looking at. The biggest challenge with lighting for HD is having a monitor that can be set up from bars and/or a chart. Once you have that it really is much easier than lighting for film because you have instant feedback on what the picture will look like.

Nothing like waiting for the dailies to make sure everything turned out the way you hope it did lighting wise. So, I guess my point is that any good book on lighting for film can give you a good starting point. Then you need to spend a lot of time actually out there solving all sorts of lighting problems and creating different looks. Nothing will teach you how to light like actually doing it.

You can get a lot of useful information online about setting up a professional HD monitor. Without that you might as well be using a light meter because it will all look different once you get back to the edit suite. Are you lighting small setups for a small hdv type camera or bigger setups for a full size HD camera? That would help me know which books to stear you toward. How much experience do you have lighting and what if any specific problems are you tyring to solve?
 
Its easier to light with HD/DV since you can pretty much see what you are going to get in the monitors. Having a waveform is good in case you are worried about the shadows not having enough light.
Pausing a movie you like the images from and decifering the lighting is a good way to get a feel for how the mood was set.
Walter Graff has some great tutes on his site also.
http://www.bluesky-web.com/new-page6.html
 
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