Lighting like the apple videos...

MadHMC150

MadHMC150

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Hi all,

We are trying to accomplish similar lighting to the latest apple videos. I searched but couldn't find anything related.

Anyone recommend what type of lighting and positioning will get this look on the subject? We have been looking at LED's like the coollights 1200s or even arri's with chimeras. Open to 3200k or daylight, also don't really want anything that takes a while to warm up... Budget is <$3000.

Thanks!

Snapshot:

applelighting.jpg
 
It is obvious the white is exposed way over the skin tones. This is evidenced in the way the light gently wraps his face and dark shirt. You are going to need a couple of pretty bright sources to accomplish this. The subject is nothing special, pretty flat. Probably a Kino or Chimera.
 
If you look at it there are three main directions the light is coming from.
There is a soft frontal source and two slightly hotter edges on both sides.
These sources all look VERY large.

Your budget is to BUY lights? Not rent them? Is there a reason for this?

For low budget stuff like this I'd stick with tungsten.
Either a studio 2k with a medium chimera or similar light through a 4x4 frame of heavy diffusion. Do this above the camera and mirror it beneath the camera also (either the same unit scrimmed down or something smaller like a 4x4 kino)

Then do either 8x8 of you favorite type of heavy diffusion behind your subject enough to get it on the side of his face but not on his nose. you'll need a lighting unit bigger than your key so scale up accordingly. Might need to double break your source to fill the 8x8 frame. Copy this on the other side of your subject.

If you don't have the space, or money for that you can get a piece of beadboard 4x8 and set it up vertically and bounce your light into it.

NOW you get to light your cyc :)
 
Thanks so far!

This is for a smaller studio that records short talking head segments daily, so have to purchase.

Few other notes... I think we wont be this wide - so can I get away with smaller diffusers? Although that shot is nice, so it would be cool to have that option. So would something the size of the coollight 1200 do?
product_thumb.php



Most of the shots are like:

applelighting2.jpg
 
Can't find the specs on that particular unit on coollights site but looks like a 2x4 flou?
You could use two of those for the by camera units but i'd still put the key through a 4x4 frame and put diff on the doors of the low fill and take it down to 1-2 bulbs (if you can control the unit that way)
The edges are the reflections of the large source off of his face, so they need to be LARGE. Something like a 2k bounced off a 8x4 beadboard is pretty cheap. you could go down to a 4x4 if you need to for space reasons.
Then you can do something like 2 x 1k's through 4x4 frames for the background at 45 degree angles to the wall. Ideally these would be larger too (units and frames)

You can always go smaller but you will notice the quality difference. Softness is all about SIZE.
You might want to add a hairlight rim too for when subjects arn't bald :)

Also, used tungsten lighting is generally a good buy. They last forever, are pretty easy to fix, and are pretty cheap.
 
To me this lighting is coming from a 'light tent'. Don't know how big this would have been, but I'd guess something at least 12x12 with walls and top made of some sort of scrim or diffusion material.

I have collapsible panels that have a plastic white diffusion sheeting, mainly bought for still photos with strobes, but I have used them for continuous lights... so long as the lights stand away from the plastic...

And basically build a box for the person to sit in, as mine are only about 6x6. I have 4, so I can cover both sides, back and top...

That way even if one has a bit 'harder' light coming from the side, the far side bounces back, and so placing lights on every side will fill the shot with light.
 
Its hard to get this WITHOUT the wrap - needs a big studio, getting the wrap is easy, subect close to the wall

By wrap I mean the rear lighting (its defo a reflection off the wall not direct backlighting

It is (I guess) a couple of lights hitting the back wall two stops over key (I Idont think they need modiying, you are after power) then a big-ish source slightly above right of the subect and a reflector (or second light) below - note the double highlights in the eyes

of course for the main source the closer to the subject the smaller it can be

You need to flag the wall lights so they dont directly hit the subject

My guess is that flos wont have the power tungsten is better assuning there is no daylight ingress into the space

This is my studio, note the two lights hanging from the ceiling - they would light the wall, Id then fill the front with the Octabox you see (or a tungsten off a board or through a moifier)

lots of white paint will help

studioteam-4.jpg




S
 
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MadHMC150 said:
Thanks so far!

This is for a smaller studio that records short talking head segments daily, so have to purchase.

Few other notes... I think we wont be this wide - so can I get away with smaller diffusers? Although that shot is nice, so it would be cool to have that option. So would something the size of the coollight 1200 do?
product_thumb.php

Most of the shots are like:

applelighting2.jpg
Click to expand...
In the Apple spots, the actors are lit with a soft source from high & a little right-just enough to give a little shadow to the opposite side of the face & under the chin. They probably use some fill, based on the density of the shadows on the neck(maybe just the white floor), but they do not use a reflector down low. In the close ups, it looks as though they are using light modifiers to reduce/diffuse the amount of reflections on the left & right edges of the face(the reflections are very minimal). It also looks as though they controlled the fill light & reflections to have a nice medium shadow side to the face.
 
Much appreciated guys!

I brought in more tungsten today - so on to more testing. At the moment we wouldn't be able to convert to a cyc or white studio, but its on the plan of action.

I can't seem to find a light tent that big, I'm seeing up to 6x6x7 on B&H. Any recommendations there? Or something you can get away with using PVC and white sheets?


Thanks!
 
MadHMC150 said:
Much appreciated guys!

I brought in more tungsten today - so on to more testing. At the moment we wouldn't be able to convert to a cyc or white studio, but its on the plan of action.

I can't seem to find a light tent that big, I'm seeing up to 6x6x7 on B&H. Any recommendations there? Or something you can get away with using PVC and white sheets?


Thanks!
Click to expand...

The one I can build using 6x6 panels are made such that they collapse and pack in to a 'nice' carrying bag. For a 'studio' that is semi permanent, I would probably build a set of larger frames, 8x8 (Standard house ceiling height) or 10x10, out of PVC and 'sheets' (Think Target/Walmart... I have no shame...) depending on the size of the studio.

The problem is setting the lights outside the tent, and that would also take some space...

From the look of the example shot there's also a light coming from the camera direction, which may be a little bit harder than the enveloping light of the sides and back. There also seems to be two 'reflections' in the subjects eye, so there may be a bounce card on, or near the floor.
 
MadHMC150 said:
Much appreciated guys!

I brought in more tungsten today - so on to more testing. At the moment we wouldn't be able to convert to a cyc or white studio, but its on the plan of action.

I can't seem to find a light tent that big, I'm seeing up to 6x6x7 on B&H. Any recommendations there? Or something you can get away with using PVC and white sheets?


Thanks!
Click to expand...
If your shots are only going to be as wide as head and shoulders, you don't need a tent light or a cyc. You just need to be able to light the white background evenly.
 
Gotcha,

Just putting 2 - 1k lights through umbrellas on the back sides of the subject gave it a similar look in tests today. Right now the white backdrop is a little to small to bounce off light from the sides.. Large white walls are whats planned in the near future. This is somewhat temporary.

And after tripping a few serge protectors...This is something that can be accomplished with Daylight LEDs right? The coollight 1200 is 23"x10", equivalent to a 1k and has a diffuser filter... sounds large, soft and powerful enough.. even can be more diffused with a light tent if need be..

http://www.coollights.biz/clled1200-1200-daylight-panel-p-141.html - specs under the tab

We would love to be able to save space, run cooler, and use less power.
 
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Thanks Peter. Thats our current setup though... We are trying to go for a little different look like the examples.

No one seems to use LED's for small studios??
 
I wouldn't mix daylight and tungsten.
The umbrellas might not be large enough.
LED's are not flexible/powerful enough.
 
Thanks Matty...

Wasn't going to mix color temps though... umbrellas were for testing...

Might be on to something with the LED's not powerful enough... Wish someone could attest how a 1k LED performs.
 
It all depends upon how much area you need to cover as to whether the fixtures in question would work or not and also whether or not you are going to diffuse them. How many people, how large of white cyc behind them would be seen and need to be lit, etc. The beam from the LED 1200 would be about 45 degree spread from the fixture so you would need to estimate about how many fixtures it would take to light the cyc and then to light the subject(s) in front of cyc. If the area to cover is mostly one person like in the original picture, an LED 1200 for back and LED 600 or another LED 1200 for subject might be more than enough to do the job.
 
Twin tube biax flos on the background, one on each side, one down low and off to the side, opal frost clipped to the barn doors;

Quad tube biax flo on the right of the talent; single HID (500 watt-ish) on the left, both through 6' wide sheets of diffusion hung floor to ceiling on c-stands. (The diffusion is just something I grabbed from the fabric store- I also use scrim jim frames with 3/4 stop white for the same look, but just hanging fabric is faster and uses less grip).

One large flo tube (about 400watts equivalent) in front of a 3 x 4 white card, directly over the model's face, with about a 1/4 rose gel sheet taped over the thing. Talent about 8' in front of the BG, graphics luma keyed in. Background sides extended with Photoshop & After Effects.

Talent shot HMC150, b-roll insets were T2i.

The main thing is huge diffusion, floor to ceiling, lights far enough behind it to make it a big, glowing panel.

grab2.jpg

When I shoot this style, I like to hit some pretty hard & white light from behind on the shadow side and get some nice shaping highlights on the hair & cheekbones - client didn't like it as much, and I felt luma keying this stuff would be faster anyway.
 
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