Any good lighting books for Photog's

[jajack71]

The other day I was in court and I did not color correct with the right filter. There was a load of outside light coming into the court halls. I saw my camer say 5.6 but, I freaked and re -white balanced. Then the light was too high so I went to preset it gave me 3.2 it was a mess. I knew to balnce for the outside light because it was more dominant. Of course it was corrected in AVID but, almost understanbly my reporter freaked and told everyone she could. (telling everyone was sort of silly.)

The thing was the bad stuff never made air. So to avoid this I want to brush up on flitering in different ligh situations. I have since that time taken my camera and shot a few light situations on my own. If it helps I'm shooting with a DVC Pro 50. Any help with books or magazine ads would be good.

Signed

A Little Blue

[sagarian]

While it is not a book strictly on lighting, Jon Fauer's book "Shooting Digital Video" offers a concise, easy to understand explanation of neutral density filters (It is geared towards DVCam, Mini DV and DVCPro users). Dave Viera's book "Lighting for Film and Electronic Cineamatography" will give you a more in-depth explanation of color temperature. And of course, you can't go wrong by reading Lowell's "Matters of Light and Depth" for a general understanding of light and how to better control it. I hope this helps.

[dinosaur]

http://www.poweroflighting.com/

[2000lux]

The power of lighting videos mentioned are very good. We've all made some errors in lighting judgement. The best teacher is experience. Your're doing the right thing experimenting under different conditions. Really look at the light around you. Figure out what the dominant source on the subject is. You may need more than one saved white balance in a given room because of mixed light, or to white balance often. If you know what to look for you will actually see the blue, orange, and green light around you. Also, beware other photogs near you who may decide to turn on their lights and what kind of light they're throwing. There's nothing more anoying than some twit who decides to throw on blue light in the middle of a presser when every one else is shooting tungsten (or vice versa). If it's going to be a scrum, see if you can reach an agreement with your fellow photogs before it starts. When in doubt, white balance.

Some tips from my own experience:

When shooting under those awful green mercury vapor lights, like in a gym, use your day light filter. It can handle the green better. Your video can look pretty washed out if you use the tungsten filter.

When shooting in mixed light, use the 5600k filter. That way your highlights from the tungsten lights will be warm rather than the highlights from the windows being blue and cold.

Under those orange sodium vapor street lights you can go with tungsten pre set, but your video will look less orange if you get a white about 2.5 - 2.8. You can cheat and use your on camera light to get the white balance you want. If you're going to use your on camera light a lot, go for about 2.8 or just use 3.2 preset.

When in doubt, trust the white your camera gives you. Don't try to second guess it.

[hbko181]

Just got myself a light kit. Lowel Pro Light and a Lowel Rifa Light. I should get some great results with this kit doing interviews...

[2000lux]

Congratulations. Those are good lights. What kind of Riffa (what's the wattage)? Do you already have a reflector? You can use that for fill (you'll probably want an extra stand for it). Reflectors are very handy outside too. You might also want to head to Home Despot for a 300 or 500 W dimmer for that Pro Light (they're only about $10).