week 2 lighting exercises

[Sam Kim]

http://web.mac.com/samkim/iWeb/exercise/practice%202.html

 

No video this week, just screen grabs. how?s the lighting? i need a wider shot i think but i was going for low key, 3 point interview lighting for a mini doc of the Kim?s. Please comment back on the forum or send an email, samkim at mac dot com. Cheers.

 

Different lights at my disposal this time around and it makes a difference.

[Jonathan Bowerbank]

Not bad, not bad

 

Photo #6 looks kinda weird with that shadow...don't know if it's just a random take or something.

 

Only thing, you might want to use more diffusion if you're wanting to hide some of the wrinkles. If you like the sharp wrinkles as they are, and it works for you, than great! But it's just a suggestion :)

[Bill Totolo]

Seems contrasty to my eye, for interviews. Of course what I do tends to be flatter.

What was your fill light doing?

 

I think I see a double shadow in pic one. Could you work to elimainate that?

 

Also what exact lights did you use? By using bigger units you could get a bigger eye light and more fill.

If you're limited to small units you could always bounce 'em. If you like the hard look you could bounce off mirrors or shiny boards just to make your source larger.

 

What was your thought process for the b/g? Could you have done anything with the walls, especially in the wide shot?

 

I like your framing on pic. three. Nice job.

[Michael Nash]

Try reversing the direction of your key light. If the subject is looking screen left, put the key light to the left (and vice versa). This is what's known as "short side" lighting, or lighting the far side of the face, rather than the "broad" side. It creates more depth and modeling, reduces ugly "short" shadows, and allows the key light to penetrate both eyes better. It also allows you to bring the light more frontal to the person's face if you need to, while still preserving some modeling (for a subject that's looking off-camera).

 

And yes, avoid double shadows whenever possible, especially hard ones. Softer lighting is always more flattering on faces, although you can create nice-looking interview lighting with hard light.

[Bill Totolo]

It's a great classroom excercise to light interviews with hardlight. It's hard to do. I find men with rugged chiseled faces handle it better than women. Women are very sensitive to their lighting and won't want hard light.

 

Practically speaking I go to the softboxes for speed and predictability. In this event I shot interviews with about 20 people, not knowing what their particular strengths might be, that's usually the case. Broad soft source over lens set to the right with soft fill. I think I used some cometic gel over the key for a little warmth.

 

No time to tweak color temps (between key/fill) so pretty std fare. But std. lighting is better than ugly lighting: