Lighting of Lafeeca Demo?

C

combatentropy

Veteran
What kind of light do you think was used in this demo video for a Lafeeca French Press?


I think it is just one light. It looks like it is set at the classic 45-45 angle --- 45 degrees vertically and horizontally to the subject. I see this in portraits. For example, this one of Steve Jobs for Time:

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But what kind of light is it in the coffee press video? It isn't a hard spot, but it isn't the softest I've seen either. Something in between? There isn't as much spill on the set as I would have guessed from a soft light --- but maybe it was flagged. Or maybe it's just an LED panel.

Lighting has always been my weak suit, and I am bad at reverse-engineering it. I like simple set-ups, though --- perhaps because of my inexperience. Well also I'm amazed at how often simple looks better than complex. It's obviously unrealistic here, but is artsy and gets the job done.
 
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Honestly, it doesn’t look good. The way her shadows are hitting and look, it looks like the social media or marketing team shot this. Can’t tell if they tried to be dramatic(unsuccessfully) or just a case of “we only need one light...”. Also look at the way the shadow of the coffee press obscures the coffee/coffee cup by throwing a shadow directly behind it on the table and you lose all separation and it kind of disappears. It’s not deliberate or artistic or dramatic or aesthetically pleasing.
 
It looks like a small, bare LED panel. You can see a window in the opening frames of the video, which explains the multiple reflections in the bowl, vase, plunger, fingernails.

I'm with Run and/or Gun, it looks exactly like an ultra low budget shoot because it was. There's nothing wrong with this category and probably the best option for a small company generating interest for the products, but a ways off any commercial or art house vibes.
 
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Where's the window?

Looks like a LED with some sort of filtration on a light stand.

My guess is they are treating it like 3-point (with no back light) - so 2-point - and the one on our left is the soft fill and the one on the right is the harder key.

If the highlights were controlled or she wore a different color, I'd say this is perfectly fine and it works...but I also don't take video production that seriously.

Left Light.jpg
 
NorBro said:
Where's the window?

Looks like a LED with some sort of filtration on a light stand.

My guess is they are treating it like 3-point (with no back light) - so 2-point - and the one on our left is the soft fill and the one on the right is the harder key.

If the highlights were controlled or she wore a different color, I'd say this is perfectly fine and it works...but I also don't take video production that seriously.
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Yeah it could be, I thought it was flush against the wall but who knows? I was leaning towards window because of the nuclear blue but I can't tell.
 
lol, it looks like a light on a stand was caught on camera, in the left edge at the shot, at the very beginning of the video. I didn't even notice it until Norbro's screengrab.

you are welcome not to like it. I'm not saying it is the best executed. But simple lighting is relaxing to me when I watch it. It's also why I like Gordon Willis I guess (who was often "simple" but extremely precise and well executed).

Anyway, it wasn't clear in my opening post, but my main curiosity was the character of the light. I don't like super hard. I don't like super soft. I guess I like it when I see one that's in between --- which we'll see more and more of with these LED panels. This is all old hat to you, I'm sure, who have been in it every day for years now. But I am kind in my armchair, half-conscious :)
 
Hmm, I do see the reflection of a light on the refrigerator, but isn't it stretched? I am not sure how big the light is based on the refrigerator's reflection.

On the white bowl as she pours it, I see multiple reflections of a rectangle of light, like a typical LED light panel, one that is maybe 1 or 2 feet wide on each side. So that is my best guess. (Also that is basically what a couple of you have said already.)

Thanks!
 
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I don't like/dislike it, I was describing it and placing it in a category. Other than visual clues alone, knowing which "tier" of production the project fits in can often help deduce the type of lights used.

The stretched fridge reflection is the texture/shape of the stainless steel door rather than it actually being a long, thing light source (shine your phone light into a fridge door/toaster to see the same effect).
 
The stretched fridge reflection is the texture/shape of the stainless steel door rather than it actually being a long, thing light source
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Yes, that's what I was saying. I was replying to David W. Jones, who seemed to be saying that if I wanted to know what kind of light it was, to take a look at the reflection on the refigerator door.
 
combatentropy said:
Yes, that's what I was saying. I was replying to David W. Jones, who seemed to be saying that if I wanted to know what kind of light it was, to take a look at the reflection on the refigerator door.
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Oh yeah, sorry/I agree - the fridge alone definitely doesn't tell us much.
 
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