Filmmaking for Writers #3: Lighting a Scene for Optimal Effect

   

Key concept: Non-professionals need a system for analyzing lighting problems.

Using available light
Secret 23 -- Use the 'big light in the sky' wisely
Secret 24 -- Bounce the light
Secret 25 -- Know what to do when available light is too low
Secret 26 -- Know what to do when available light is too high

Using artificial light
Secret 27 -- Use 3 point lighting
Secret 28 -- Learn how to use a basic lighting kit
Secret 29 -- Buy a quality lighting kit
Secret 30 -- Learn to use inexpensive artificial lights

Mix Available and Artificial light
Secret 31 -- Mixing natural and artificial light

Non-professional shooters can shoot badly lit shots for years because they don’t have a system to analyze and correct lighting problems.

Broadly speaking, there are only four things that can be wrong with video lighting. (I know I’m simplifying this considerably, but bear with me.)

· Too little light
· Too much light
· White balance problems
· Lighting has the wrong ratio, direction or color

Too little light

This is a very common problem. Modern cameras are so sensitive to light, that we sometimes think that they don’t require any light, but they do. Inexpensive cameras, in particular, need a well lighted scene to produce the best image.

Part of the “too little light” problem is our natural tendency to assume that the camera will record exactly what our eyes see. The eye sees much more than any video camera. When we try to record a dimly lit scene that our eye can see easily, the result is often a muddy, flat video image.

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