Lighting Workshop One- Three Point Lighting
What We Did:
On 8th January we had our first lighting workshop with Ferg. The first ideas we discussed is why we need light and this is for three main reasons:
-Exposure
-Focus
-Mood
Ferg told us that before setting up any lighting we MUST consider what the end goal it. This is key as there is no important moving lights to different places and setting them all up and then deciding what the goal is and having to move them around when there are actors and lots of people on a set.
The first light that we looked at was the Tungsten:
-It renders the colour of images well which is useful for always knowing what the end result will always look like.
-It is a yellow light (around 3200 Kelvins) and has a spot and a flood option.
-It gets very very hot!
-The further away it is from an object the more precise the shadows are but the closer the object is to the light, the shadows 'bloom' and feather at the edges.
-You can shape the light with barn doors.
-Focus
-Mood
Ferg told us that before setting up any lighting we MUST consider what the end goal it. This is key as there is no important moving lights to different places and setting them all up and then deciding what the goal is and having to move them around when there are actors and lots of people on a set.
The first light that we looked at was the Tungsten:
-It renders the colour of images well which is useful for always knowing what the end result will always look like.
-It is a yellow light (around 3200 Kelvins) and has a spot and a flood option.
-It gets very very hot!
-The further away it is from an object the more precise the shadows are but the closer the object is to the light, the shadows 'bloom' and feather at the edges.
-You can shape the light with barn doors.
We then learned about the different qualities of light, and these are very important to remember when setting up lighting:
-Brightness/identity
-colour (temperature)
-Quality (hard or soft)
-Angle (relative to subject)
-Shape (barn doors, snoot, spot and size)
Acronym to help remember: BEFORE CAMERA QUICKLY ASSSES SHOOT
At the end of the workshop we had a go at setting up our own lighting sets using the Tungstens as well as a couple of LED lights. We compared hard lighting and soft lighting by having the Tungsten directly facing Jacob to start with. Then we used a diffuser to soften the light, the diffuser made a huge impact on the different tone that the light created. We also used a scrim on the Tungsten to dim the light slightly as it was very bright and this would be useful if we were filming in a small location.
What Went Wrong?
We struggled with lighting the face in a close up as it was hard to avoid getting a high contrast ratio of light on his face; there were quite strong shadows and highlight but once we had soften the light with the diffuser it fixed this and created 3 dimensional lighting. We also struggled to keep the set tidy as it was the first time we had used extension leads and many plugs therefore we had wires everywhere and it was a trip hazard. However Ferg taught us to keep them flat to the floor so that no one can trip and try and keep them all together. The final challenge was how bright the lighting was; we used scrims to turn them down but they were still quite bright, however then we tried bouncing the lighting around the space and this really helped to tone the lighting down a little.
What Was Successful?
It was successful that we managed to creating a professional lighting set up the first time using it and also exciting once it was all set up. Also while using the lighting it was a great chance to play around with the exposure and aperture, we found that the best options for our different set ups were (1.9) and (4.8).
Conclusion:
This is the first time that I have ever looked at lighting so I did find it very overwhelming. I did not realise even half of the detail that went into it. I look forward to trying more set ups with lighting and trying to create many different effects with gels, temperature and intensity.
Some of the examples of the lighting effects we created are shown in the video below:
At the end of the workshop we had a go at setting up our own lighting sets using the Tungstens as well as a couple of LED lights. We compared hard lighting and soft lighting by having the Tungsten directly facing Jacob to start with. Then we used a diffuser to soften the light, the diffuser made a huge impact on the different tone that the light created. We also used a scrim on the Tungsten to dim the light slightly as it was very bright and this would be useful if we were filming in a small location.
What Went Wrong?
We struggled with lighting the face in a close up as it was hard to avoid getting a high contrast ratio of light on his face; there were quite strong shadows and highlight but once we had soften the light with the diffuser it fixed this and created 3 dimensional lighting. We also struggled to keep the set tidy as it was the first time we had used extension leads and many plugs therefore we had wires everywhere and it was a trip hazard. However Ferg taught us to keep them flat to the floor so that no one can trip and try and keep them all together. The final challenge was how bright the lighting was; we used scrims to turn them down but they were still quite bright, however then we tried bouncing the lighting around the space and this really helped to tone the lighting down a little.
What Was Successful?
It was successful that we managed to creating a professional lighting set up the first time using it and also exciting once it was all set up. Also while using the lighting it was a great chance to play around with the exposure and aperture, we found that the best options for our different set ups were (1.9) and (4.8).
Conclusion:
This is the first time that I have ever looked at lighting so I did find it very overwhelming. I did not realise even half of the detail that went into it. I look forward to trying more set ups with lighting and trying to create many different effects with gels, temperature and intensity.
Some of the examples of the lighting effects we created are shown in the video below:
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