Shane Hurlbut's Illumination Workshop - Free

One thing Shane says I thought interesting, in the first video he says he never uses a fill light on the other side of the face from the key light, because it takes away from the nice shadow created by the key. In practice I guess this means he's working with spaces that are large enough that he can put the fill light on the same side as the key light but the two don't combine to become one source. I'm not really sure how to implement what he is saying in the typical rooms I might find myself in...but I see there's another video about fill light at the end who could give more info.
 
Been watching it as well... I kinda gloss over the blocking and directing bits since I'm also mainly corporate IV/B packages as well, but you can extrapolate them into how you might direct talent and/or move your frame through b-roll.

As to the lighting... same general idea. Concentrate on the concepts, not the gear used. I don't have an M8 or Skypanel anywhere near me, and never get space or assistance to haul around huge beadboard discs... but can approximate some of the effects with some Intellytechs, LED-converted Divas, and collapsible reflectors... just compress the distances. I've been using his "book light" concept for several years now from an old tutorial he had on his Hurlblog (which sounds distinctly barferiffic, but isn't).
 
How do you usually make the booklight work?

I've tried it a couple of times -- I need 2 astra 4x on full to get enough light to bounce off of unbleached muslin through 4x6" of 3/4" grid cloth. Looked good but it was barely enough to light one person about 3' or 4' away.

I struggle to learn since I'm usually on my own without the time or space to experiment.
 
The concept is flexible... at it's simplest, you're diffusing a bounce source, and need to use a diffusion that retains some directionality (which also means it doesn't steal too many stops)... so half frost or toughspun or a silk or something similar. Using something as thick as grid cloth may be diffusing it too much and losing too much light. Obviously more powerful sources and larger bounces and diffusions can manage a larger area.

Biggest I can recall using was a 4K zip light (a self-contained bounce, really) through a 12x12 silk for a green screen shoot. Majestically soft for a full-body shot with zero shadows to trouble the key... but sure did heat the studio up quickly :D

Smallest I've used (that wasn't for tabletop) was a Lowel V-Light and two ~36-42" 5-in-1 reflectors, one on white and the other on silk. The V-Light and white bounce lived on one stand, and the silk was placed as near as framing would allow to the subject. Actually have used that setup frequently.

Also tried a lot of stuff between... in some absolute corporate pinches, I shoot an Astra or the like off the inevitable white/beige conference room wall and then diffuse the bounce with a ~6' square of Tyvek-like sheeting that was used as new mattress wrapping in a former life, simply draped from a C-stand arm with some weights clamped to the bottom to keep it reasonably taut.
 
mothmachine said:
How do you usually make the booklight work?

I've tried it a couple of times -- I need 2 astra 4x on full to get enough light to bounce off of unbleached muslin through 4x6" of 3/4" grid cloth. Looked good but it was barely enough to light one person about 3' or 4' away.

I struggle to learn since I'm usually on my own without the time or space to experiment.
Click to expand...

You should be able to decrease the distances and tighten up the whole set up - move the diffusion closer to talent, the bounce closer to diffusion then lights closer to bounce. You might not be 100% filling both modifiers but it will be softer than the lights only. Try a harder bounce like a silver reflector too.
 
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Eureka... found a photo of a simple booklight setup... Intellytech F165 into silver disc, through Tyvek sheet (not yet fully secured... I flatten it out more and move it further from the light, which puts out no heat, but still....). Collapsible neg fill on left and quasar xfade kicker.

IMG_4872.jpg

The results:

 
Another... the "studio" I rented was really just a ~14x12' room with a roll of seemless, but it served the purpose ok. Similar setup, F-165 into silver disc through ScrimJim 4x4 silk. Double Quasar XFade backlight/background light. ScrimJim should have been closer but would have blocked the only doorway.

IMG_5202.jpg
 
Thanks mcbob. I have a scrim jim setup similar to that demonstrated here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aj2Dr2L-bY

I just haven't had enough light to make it work (two astra 4x or one 650w Arri is what i've tried). The light cannon looks nice, but I don't have one. Maybe my 1000w DP open face light would work better than the 650w fresnel, though the fresnel probably has a higher effective power in the center so I'm not certain about that. That will be an easy thing to measure though.
 
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