Lighting Tips

PLUG IT IN
[12/14/04] From: Mike Venable, Chief Photographer, WLFL

How many times have you gone into an old house or office and could not find a plug in? Especially a plug in with 3 holes (1-for the ground). My solution, I went to Home Depot and bought a "light bulb fixture" screw in adapter, plug in. Just remove the bulb from the lamp, screw your AC adapter in and it is magic! Camera power or a light. (Just remember, most homes cannot take more than a 20 amp load.}...A true helpful, small piece expendable, that may save your shoot. Good Shootin!

MOBILE BOUNCE CARD
[10/5/03] From: Austin "Liveshot" Reeves, Orlando, FL

Being a nightside photog, I have to use my batt-light a pretty fair amount. I've experimented with low watt bulbs, high watt bulbs, and finally think I have come up with the perfect setup.

Using a fairly high watt bulb, take a piece of HEAVY diffusion (frost gel) and cut it the same size as a swing-door (for like a diffusion filter) on your light. I taped mine to the inside of the door using two thin pieces of gaff-tape.

The diffusion filter that came on my anton-bauer ultra light never did much of anything and it gave too many harsh shadows. With the gel in place, it gives a nice, much softer look. I can crank up to 9db on and the background comes up beautifully, much more even with the subject i'm shooting.

When I need a lot of light, I swing the door out of the way, giving me the full intensity of my high-watt bulb.

Something new I've found that works very well too. To just add some very soft fill light to someone, or when you really only need a tiny bit of light, turn the light 90 degrees (so that it is facing you), lean it all the way back (so that it points straight up) and then open the door about 45 degrees. The heavy frost works as a reflector, giving you some soft light on someones face.

IT'S THREE LIGHTS IN ONE!

WHAT DOESN'T IKEA SELL?
[6/1/02 From: Phil Fraboni, E.N.G. Camera / Editor -- CHtv Hamilton, ON aka HamCam]

I came across this lamp dimmer while doing a "Get your closets organized" story at IKEA. It could be used nicely to dim a table lamp that we all love to set in the background of our shots. Nine times out of ten the lamps are not the 3 step dimming type. So just plug this dimmer inline with the lamp and presto... set the level to your liking. Mind you I have not field tested it yet to see whether there is any hum. But it is only for accent lighting not for the Key/Fill/Back lights. It was a pretty good deal too... only 20 Bucks... Canadian that is.

TRAPPER KEEPER RULES!
[5/20/02 From: Jeff Cools]

Here's a great way to safe some time with your light gels. I

cut them down to approx 9x12 and punched holes in the one side using a paper hole punch. Then I gathered them all together and put them in a school binder. I seperated the different colored gels with a white sheet of paper and now the gels are safe and easy to get to.

Build it Yourself
[1/31/02 From: Terry Toller]

I have seen several posts asking how to add more lighting to outdoor shoots. Here is my answer...

I purchased a set of three bookshelf lights at Home Depot. They are 12 volt lights and work fine with BP90s, Gelcells and even off of your car battery. You get three lights for $30. I have 20 foot cord with 4 pin XLR connectors as well as an off/on switch.

I mounted one of the lights onto a peice of angle aluminum and attached a norman umbrella adaptor. There are cheaper adaptors, check your local camera store.

This light has an amber gel placed over the front glass. I use it when interviewing firefighters or cops on scene at breaking news stories. It is only 20 watts but adds enough light to seperate the subject's head and shoulders from a dark background.

It's a Jungle Out There
[From: John DuMontelle, www.latincam.net]

How many times do we find ourselves shooting an interview in a situation where we don't have access to electricity. All of a sudden we're stuck with our camera light.

Working in Nicaragua I end up having to shoot a lot of these interviews on remote mountain tops or backwater jungle.

I carry two MAG-LITE flashlights. The big ones with six batteries in them. I cut some diffussion and stuck it behind the lens of each flashlight. Voila! I've got two light sources giving off soft even light. Better yet, you can focus them to give you more control! They work great and are light weight. It's easy to have the correspondent / sound-tech / local poor villager hold the light steady (on the opposite shoulder from your shooting position) while shooting an interview.

It's an amazing soft light that really makes your video look that much better.

Use one or both lights shooting an interview (depending on time of course). I'll sometimes use the second light behind the interview subject on the ground or prop it up to throw some different angled light on the background. For longer trips away from power just use one light at a time. Buying D-batteries is usually pretty easy no matter what country you're in.

My buddy who passed along this tip to me bought the more expensive MAG-LITE w/six rechargable batteries. I keep it simple and just use regular batteries. Just make sure you buy the light with six D-Cell batteries and not one of the shorter ones. You'll be surprised how long these lights will last!

I've tried blue gel to shoot twilight interviews. These flashlights can't compete with a good HMI or strong/gelled tungston light but when you're in the middle of nowhere and at the right time late in the afternoon, you can get some pretty twilight interviews or standups.

Reporter Sandwich
[From: Duke Taylor and Lisa Carlson]

All the photogs at my station have great light kits, but actually I usually only bring one light fitted with a Chimera (it's like a big cloth box with black sides and a white front...it softens the light) into an interview. Figure out where you want the camera to be, where you want the iterviewer and interviewee to be, turn off the room lights, close the blinds, then use this fool proof formula......

The reporter always goes between the photog and the light. Like a reporter sandwich. Your reporter should be able to stick out his or her elbows and hit your camera with one elbow, and your light stand with the other. Sure there are fancier set-ups, but sometimes you don't have enough space in a room, or the time, or the extra arms, to get too crazy with multiple lights.

Making a Blue Computer Fit In
[From: Stephen Press,  New Zealand]

Shooting a computer screen and surrounds is very easy. Just light with a ¼ blue, c/b and everything looks the same

Reflect On This
[From: Mark Rich]

One way to reduce the eyeglass reflection during interviews is to have the subject tilt the glasses down by raising the temples. This works if the subject has hair that goes over their ears. This is an old still photo trick, works pretty well for medium and long shots but can be a problem with extreme close-ups.

No Static Cling!
[From: Bob Murdock - WFXT - Boston]

Frezzi light too hot on your "heads"?? Scrim it down a bit. Pull the dicro ring off place some scrim over the lamp and replace the dicro to hold it there. I use old dryer fabric softener sheets! Make sure they've gone through at least 2 drying cycles so that all the chemical and perfume is gone. They work great and are just the right size! Double them up to stop the light down even more. CAUTION: for low wattage lighting only!! ie. your camera light. Dryer sheets will burn against any lamps from your light kit unless you put them in a clip frame well away from the bulb. DO NOT use on 1K"s at all!

Get the Scoop!
[From: Photoglisa@aol.com]

Someone posted a tip on how to scrim down your camera mounted light with used dryer sheets...here's a trick if you're out in the field and don't happen to handily have one static-clinged to your fleece vest. Sometimes I find myself in a poorly lit area getting quick bites with a bunch of different people. The ultralight is sometimes too much...the subject gets blinded, and the background becomes too dark. If your reporter has a press release or some other standard sized piece of white paper, borrow it. Pull two corners together like a scoop. Point your ultralight straight up in the air, and "scoop" the light back down with the paper. It puts a much softer and more flattering light on your subject. 

This, of course, works best if you have your tripod...or an arm growing out the top of your head... or an intern.

Another trick: You're in the shade, or in overcast skies, you love your soft gold reflector, but there's no sun. You wish you could give your reporter just a little warmth in the skin tone. Throw on your ultralight...but NOT with the dichro. Just the regular ol' light just like if you were indoors. White balance without it, then pop it on. Much of the light from the ultralight gets lost in the outdoors even in the shade, or under overcast skies, but a hint will hit them and be warm, because you white balanced without it on.

Not replacements for proper lighting, but tips that can improve certain situations.

Light Up My Life
[from: B Roll Online Message Board]

I'm still kind of new to the photjournalist world. Recently I've hit a great zone. Shooting good stuff, using my tripod (a lot) and making good use of my wireless mic. But I have had a few problems with interview lighting, the interviewees wearing glasses.

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I used to have the same problem until a production manager sat me down and solved the problem. The trick is to use as soft a light as possible and put it on the side of the interview subject. You want to have the light almost on a direct line with them and try to get it within 10 feet of them too. The setup is something like this

REPORTER CAMERA

If you have a softbox, use that. If not, try a 250 with some scrim. It's been my experience that smaller lights work better in these situations. Also, put your reporter on the side opposite the light so the subject is not looking into the light

Hope this helps. Kevin Cochran

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Kevin's pretty close, but if there's a reflection on the subject's glasses, a softbox won't help--it'll just be a bigger white reflection. But the setup is good: looking from left to right or from right to left, place the camera, the reporter next to it, and the light on the outside...never camera, light, reporter or reporter, camera, light. (I wish I could draw here.)

Remember, angle of incidence=angle of reflection. In other words, change the height of the light to move the reflection relative to your lens or, if you have to, change the height of the lens. Moving left or right won't help much and it will add a nasty "nose shadow" if you go too far. The size--wattage--of the light won't matter here, because either you see the reflection or you don't.

Finally, keep using your tripod. It makes much better pictures. Don't feel like you're relying on it too much; that's impossible. Scott Orr

Thunder from Down Under
[From: Peter Kavanagh Nine News Perth, Western Australia]
When Shooting lightning, use a 5600 balance. Most cammos would use filter one on preset (3200K) or a similar saved balance. I now shoot lightning on filter one with an over 5600K balance and it looks much better. Also, try kicking in some shutter speed. I usually just use a 60th so I can still pick up some ambient light but it makes for a better shot when slowed down in the edit suite. 

Sunshine Rain
[From: Adam Tischler]
Not a trick but a nice lighting technique I just picked up. When indoors use daylight for your keylight. Backlight with an umbrella pointing down on the subject using 3200 light. The result is nice, even, reddish light cascading down the subjects head and shoulders. No problems with harsh backlight. It works even better with a cheapo dimmer (any hardware store) on the backlight.

"Sunshine Rain" by Adam Tischler suggested to shooters that they can get dimmers at their local hardware store....just a safety tip....those dimmers are only rated up to 600w.Let your readers know.

Randy S. Ennis
KHNL News8
News Operations Manager
rennis@khnl.com

The Shadow Knows
I've been having some problems recently - shot three interviews in the last week which have been orange. I white balanced before each interview - got the subject to hold up a white card in front of their face. All interviews were outdoors, shot with the sun behind the subject (backlight etc). My Sony 537 doesn't give a colour temperature reading. Any suggestions would be appreciated, as the organisation I work for is severely lacking in experienced operators. I've been shooting for 2 years, and find I'm now the most experienced operator.
Phillip

If the sun is behind the subject (backlit) and they hold the white card up in front of their face, then you would be balancing on the "shade" side of the card. The color temp of that white balance would be up around 6.8 to 8 depending on the other conditions. Your camera is compensating for the shade (much bluer than the sunlight) rather than for the actual light. This causes your camera to turn orange. The bluer the light, the oranger the camera compensates. Using a color corrected light on the subject's face, or a soft reflector for the sunlight would eliminate the problem. I hope that helps.
Rad

Learn from your mistakes Phillip. This "problem" that you happened on really isn't a problem. You are now aware that if you want to warm up a sunset for instance you can white balance in the shade. This will, in effect, do the same thing you've been doing and give you a nice warm color temp. Not good for interviews but it does have its place.
Lutz

sometimes you have to make them squint, it makes them and you look better... unless you can get totally in the shade, then just make sure you don't have sun spots poking all over through the trees. i am using dvc-pro and sometimes despite the white balnce and temp those things tend to go on the blue side.
eric

Try bouncing a bit of light back to your subject, using a relector board or even a bit of poly. Also take into account where it is you are doing your interview. eg. if you are doing it on a football field (backlit) the only light that is reflecting onto your subject is the green reflecting from the grass (so if you balance with the whitecard pointing slightly to the sky then you are not getting a true balance of what is lighting your subject)
Dan

It's getting HOT in here!
I'm interested in the tricks you all use to warm up the image for interviews? I've tried a bastard amber gel on the 3200k light. It made the face almost too "warm" or orange. I've also heard about using a 1/4 CTB to white balance through. Does this work? I'll take any tips and suggestions you have for creating a "warm and soft" image.

Dave R.

Try using a 1/2 or #1 "coral" filter or 1/2 pro warm pro-mist filter. There's also a lighting gels called "cosmetic rouge".
Its sort of a light reddish frost or a yellowish gel called "straw".

Another method is to use dimmers. White balance with lights up full, then dim the key. The color temp. of the light will warm up as you dim the light.

A few good resources for info: Power-of-Lighting.com , Tiffen.com and Rosco.com

Drew

A Little Off the Top
From: Jeff Bush Asst. Chief Photojournalist, KTNV

Make every interview look like you brought out one of the lights in your kit. Time can be a factor sometimes in our job and we need use a Frezzi instead. I've mounted my Frezzi on a light stand. Now, I have good lighting wherever I go. No more of that crappy, flat lighting that you can only get by mounting a light in the worst possible place, on the camera (god I hate that!). The problem is that most light stands won't take a Frezzi. I made an adaptor out of a thick broom handle and a screw to tighten the adaptor to the stand. It took a few prototypes but I finally got it to work. Next, I hung my BP-90 from some nylon cord and wrapped a bungee cord around that. I can throw this thing around all over the place. This has proved to be one of my most important pieces of equipment.

Cave Lighting
From: Bob Murdock WFXT-Boston

Here's a quick light tip for the DVC/PRO crowd, although I think almost anyone with state of the art gear could benefit from this.

MOONS OVER MY HAMMY
[From: Kevin Johnson, WVEC, Norfolk, VA]

During hurricane coverage in North Carolina, we piggy backed live shots with a station in Raleigh.  Their photog set up the shot with some creative touches.  First, we put ourselves in a gazebo.  This may sound like we were trying to wimp out in the rain, but with 40-50 mph winds, the rain goes horizontal. What this allowed was better stability for our lights. The light stands were set up and then tied to the post of the gazebo.  Sand bags would have done nothing to help keep them vertical.  Secondly, the photog pulled out his dichroic filter for the back light.  When the camera was balanced to the tungsten front light, the back light had a blue "moonlight" quality.  If gave more of a feel of being "in the elements." 

I've pull that trick out occasionally, with mixed reactions.  I like the effect, but I've had to explain to many truck engineers yelling for me to white balance, that I meant for it to look that way.