Lighting prosthetics

[chillpot]

Hi,

 

I am doing a shoot involving a large amount of lighting for prosthetics, particularly centering around a zombie character. What are the techniques for lighting prothetics, i.e. hard or soft light, flat or contrasty, cool or warm etc. thanks

:rolleyes:

[Tony Brown]

If they're any good you should be more concerned about lighting the scene in an appropriate manner.

 

I have to say its essential to shoot tests, you can then comment on the quality of the make up and discuss with the relevant people BEFORE the event how to overcome any problems that prevent themselves.

 

Obviously high key and ECU's will not help anyone, so get your input / concerns in early. Don't leave it until the day.

[chillpot]

thanks for the advice, we will be doing tests and obviously the appropriate lighting for the scene is my first priority, but as i said i was asking for any advice regarding prosthetics, i have just done a blue screen shoot with some students doing prosthetics and i found that some benefited from flat lighting which hid a lot of unwanted creases, where as others worked far better with a cross light and very little fill to hide any problems, toplighting seems to help with the difficulties of joins around the neck. i didn't shoot on film so i must test the issues with the prostheitcs reastion to the stock we are using.... any other advice would be greatly appreciated. are there any articles or books written about lighting for prosthetics?

[David Mullen ASC]

You pretty much have figured it out -- it just depends on the prosthetics. Some require modelled lighting to bring out the texture while others require flatter light to reduce textures (like joins and seams.) Some are better done than others -- obviously bad prosthetics need a lot more hiding! Some might require careful flagging with small nets and fingers to hide select areas, or small spotlights to bring out certain areas.