Lighting Opinion Needed!

R

rvelasqu

New member
Hi all,

I am setting up a couple of different looks for talking head videos in my studio and would love to have some opinion/critique on the way the lighting/camera is set up.

1) The first setup is a black backdrop:

http://www.rybo.tv/forum/blackcyc_half.jpg

The set-up consists of a black curtain in the background, with those 3 lights (turned off and used as props), about 2-3 ft from the curtain. The subject is 8-9 ft from the curtain, and the camera is about 17-18 ft.

For lighting the subject I have two 1500 watt flourescent lights with daylight bulbs, both with 1/2 minus green gels on them. The key light has 3028 (tough quarter white) diffusion on it, while the fill has a thicker diffusion (the material that is used to separate gels). I have a 50 watt LED hair light attached to the ceiling (which is low, only about 3 ft. higher than the subject).

I am using a little bit of fluorescent light to highlight the light props in the bkgd as well.

The camera is shooting 1920x1080 24p, with ND1 filter on, the iris at f1.9, shutter speed at 1/60, and white balanced at 5200k.

2) The second setup is a white cyc look (i shot it on white - then used a luma key to replace the bg with a gradient):

http://www.rybo.tv/forum/whitecyc_half.jpg

The setup is the same for the most part in terms of lighting the subject. The bgkd has two 2000 watt fluorescent lights blasting on it.

I am not sure about what the camera settings were for this one, but they were adjusted to blow out the bg.

Thought I'd ask to see if anyone had any suggestions for how to improve these looks and also, if they had any ideas on any other looks I can go for in a cramped studio space.

Thanks!

Ryan
 
I'd try switching the prop lights on and dimming them all the way down. I'd also look at less fill but that's a personal thing.
 
Is the talent looking at the camera or will they be looking off camera?

If they are looking at the camera I still think the lighting needs a bit more modelling. I'd also raise the height of your key. What height is it sitting at with the test shots?

Try adding a kicker (Rim) at the back (behind and to the right of the talent) just to lift the neck and shoulders of your talent.

Look forward to seeing the results.
 
As already mentioned, the key needs to be higher if possible. It also needs to come around to the front of the subject a bit more. At the moment it almost looks like the key is in the fill position and vice-versa.

You mentioned you had a backlight set up, but honestly I can't see any effect from it in any of the setups.

You've got the basic setup, it just needs some tweaking :-)
 
So for the videos I'm making, the talent will be looking directly at the camera. What did you mean by making the lighting "a bit more modelling" in this case?

The height of the key in the test shots is pretty much the same as the subject's height. Would you recommend raising it higher and have it pointing slightly downwards?

Also, there is a kicker, but very faint. The lights I had available at the time did not allow me to have one stronger than that. For future shots, I will definitely bump that up though.

Thanks!
 
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rvelasqu said:
So for the videos I'm making, the talent will be looking directly at the camera. What did you mean by making the lighting "a bit more modelling" in this case?

The height of the key in the test shots is pretty much the same as the subject's height. Would you recommend raising it higher and have it pointing slightly downwards?

Also, there is a kicker, but very faint. The lights I had available at the time did not allow me to have one stronger than that. For future shots, I will definitely bump that up though.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

I think if you raise the key maybe 3ft higher this will help with the modelling of the face and yes have it pointing down to the talent.

As for the kicker, I can't see anything on the edges of the talent to suggest there is one there. It needs to be much stronger.

As Ozhair stated, you're getting there and remember it's all subjective. If you like it, run with it.
 
heyo,

so i pulled the key around more frontal and raised it as well. i also strengthed the backlight/kicker (and messed with the prop light in the bg- but thats not too important):

http://rybo.tv/forum/blackcyc_1.jpg

i agree that it looks better... a lot more pleasant in the traditional way. however, there's still something about having it set up with that previous sidelighting thats visually interesting to me.

but please, tell me what you think of how the setup looks now.

(one with less fill http://rybo.tv/forum/blackcyc_2.jpg)
 
The look is great, but are you sure you want that much minus green on your key?
It looks a bit too much magenta to me - or do you want that color cast?
 
Last edited:
rvelasqu said:
heyo,

so i pulled the key around more frontal and raised it as well. i also strengthed the backlight/kicker (and messed with the prop light in the bg- but thats not too important):

http://rybo.tv/forum/blackcyc_1.jpg

i agree that it looks better... a lot more pleasant in the traditional way. however, there's still something about having it set up with that previous sidelighting thats visually interesting to me.

but please, tell me what you think of how the setup looks now.

(one with less fill http://rybo.tv/forum/blackcyc_2.jpg)
Click to expand...

I prefer the latter image (the one with less fill) and what happened to the light cluster in the background? there's now only one fixture. It looked better with more.
 
FBAS said:
The look is great, but are you sure you want that much minus green on your key?
It looks a bit too much magenta to me - or do you want that color cast?
Click to expand...

I agree with this statement. There seems to be a bit of an unatural skin tone going on here. I also like the cluster of lights better than the single, it brings better balance to the composition (although that's not a lighting opinion, but hey). Now that I think of it I wouldn't dim the bulbs down quite so much either, bring em up until you get good clean highlights but not so much to where they become a distraction. As stated before it is almost always subjective (given you know the basics)
 
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