FilmmakerIQ.com » Lighting

The Reverse Key Light

John P. Hess — Wed, 23 May 2012 16:56:32 +0000

So often when discussing the three point lighting basics we place the key light (the brightest and most important light) to our subject’s front and offset by 30-45 degrees. But a lot of interesting and naturalistic compositions can be obtained by moving the key further to the side or even behind the subject.

I used to work with a cinematographer named Rob Draper (Halloween 5, The Spitfire Grill). He was having me practice one day by shooting a product shot for a whisky bottle. I had set the bottle up in front of a seamless backdrop and put a light in front of the bottle at about a 45 degree angle. Rob came in to see how I was doing. His first comment was “What made you put the light in front of the bottle rather than behind the bottle?” I hadn’t really thought much about it. “Why wouldn’t you put the light behind the bottle and bounce in a little light for fill on the front side?” he asked. And that was when I was first introduced to “Reverse Key Lighting”.

Reverse Key Lighting is also called “short lighting” or “narrow lighting”. The idea is that the key light is placed behind the subject rather than in front (the way you would probably see it set up in most cinematography books). In the world of news and interviews its sometimes called a “reporter sandwich” because of the way the reporter is sandwiched by the light behind him and the camera in front of him. Its a very versatile technique so lets take a look at some examples.

Evan E Richards | Read the Full Article

Deconstructing the Lighting of a Scene

John P. Hess — Thu, 17 May 2012 17:36:49 +0000

StillMotion demonstrates three lighting set ups for different moods and how and why they used the lights they did.

DIY Lighting for Music Stage Sets

John P. Hess — Wed, 02 May 2012 20:55:01 +0000

OliviaTech demonstrates how a simple DJ Pinspot LED Light and some cheap outdoor flood lights plugged into a surge protector and connected to a Router Speed Controller gave us the ability to create dynamic lighting for an artist performance.

More info at Olivia Tech.com

Understanding Umbrella Lights

John P. Hess — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 10:00:22 +0000

Tom Antos breaks down how to light using relatively inexpensive Umbrella lights to create a fashion look.

Shooting The Crazy Chicken with a C300

John P. Hess — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 01:26:25 +0000

Shane Hurlbut blogs about his experience shooting a round of spots for El Pollo Loco using the Canon C300.

The C300 had just been delivered to my door step, and I got a call from John Krueger, a director whom I met at our HV Bootcamp 2 years ago. John and I first worked together about one year ago. The current spot was for El Pollo Loco, and the concept was a very action oriented camera, with snap zooms and quick handheld push ins and pull outs. I thought the Canon C300 would be the perfect camera for this job, lightweight and maneuverable. Taking advantage of Canon log to expand my latitude for the day exteriors as well as interiors for shooting with flaming chickens would be essential. We rigged the C300’s with lightweight zooms and readied for ACTION!

The Hurlblog | Read the Full Article

DIY Dishpan Light

John P. Hess — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 10:30:37 +0000

Griffin Hammond crafts a unique DIY lighting solution for $86, using hardware store parts, and eight 100-watt-equivalent compact fluorescent (CFL) bulbs.

Lighting Breakdowns of Extraordinary Photographs

John P. Hess — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 18:28:54 +0000

Melanie Mann meticulously breaks down the lighting set up of extraordinary photographs taken by such extraordinary photographers as: Annie Leibovitz, Patrick Ecclesine, Jill Greenberg, Dave Hill, and Martin Schoeller.

I went a little crazy this week and went on a personal mission to research the lighting setups and creation of popular images of today. It is something I love to do in general, so I completely lost myself in the project. Not only did I unearth some of the most breathtaking lighting setups of undeniably amazing photographs, but I was also pleased to find that some of my favorite images were very simply shot. Since this blog has been born, I couldn’t wait to share some of the results. In this blog entry I’ll take you through and compare various lighting techniques of Annie Leibovitz, Patrick Ecclesine, Jill Greenberg, Dave Hill and Martin Schoeller. Strap on your seatbelts boys and girls, it’s gonna be a long but thrilling ride. So without further ado, let’s dive right in shall we?

Confessions of a Mad Photo Assistant | Read the Full Article

Cinematic Lighting Tutorial

Dennis — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 06:37:54 +0000

Filmmaker Tom Antos demonstrates how storyboarding and strategic lighting design are key to achieving a cinematic look in this video by Indy Mogul.

How to Light Metal Objects

John P. Hess — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 17:44:33 +0000

These two tutorials by Jeff Shaffer demonstrate some techniques and terms for shooting polished metal objects in still life photography.

DIY Light Board with Christmas Lights

John P. Hess — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:53:00 +0000

The Oregon Filmmaker, Tim Cash, demonstrates how to make a light board to spice up your backgrounds using a peg board and those Christmas Lights you’ve hopefully taken down off the house by now…

Via: The Oregon Filmmaker