Jump to content

lighting tricks...


Recommended Posts

Hi All,

 

Just want to know when shooting interviews, how to make your subject matter appear younger looking (especially when you have to shoot close-ups)? I have used 2 bounced light source and tried to soften the light as much as I can, however it didn't help as much I thought. Eventually I had to digitally enhance them in post-production -- anybody has a better idea? Maybe a china ball?

 

thanks

 

M.T

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Premium Member

Read my article on how I like my women soft. I was taught by the old school hollywood gaffers who taught me that the trick to women is to light them soft (and sometimes hard with a spot head on) and from the front with little to no shadow unless you are using hte shadow to divert the viewer. That, eye lights, soft filtration and back light makes women look wonderful at any age.

 

http://www.bluesky-web.com/soft.html

 

BTW Sex and th City (the movie) used electronic painting after the fact to soften many of the closeups of the 40+ actors and horse who had to look like they were still in thei thirties for the film.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

http://www.bluesky-web.com/soft.html

 

BTW Sex and th City (the movie) used electronic painting after the fact to soften many of the closeups of the 40+ actors and horse who had to look like they were still in thei thirties for the film.

 

 

Hi,

 

I read the article and it's helping a lot. just wondering, instead of placing a flex fill on the floor and use the bounce light, what if I get a kino flow and place it low (pointing at her from a lower angle)? would that work? or is it still too strong?

 

Also, will a soft filter work?

 

thanks!

 

M.T.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

instead of placing a flex fill on the floor and use the bounce light, what if I get a kino flow and place it low (pointing at her from a lower angle)? would that work? or is it still too strong?

 

Also, will a soft filter work?

 

thanks!

 

M.T.

 

 

the flexfill would still give a broader therefore softer source than a kino. the strength of the underlight would be varied depending on how much eyebags and bone structure the talent has!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For younger actresses, I place my Chimera just to the side of the lens and maybe about a foot higher. For older actresses with wrinkles, the stand goes in the same place, but I drop the height to just over the lens. Backlight accordingly.

 

I like the look of a Black ProMist, but never anything heavier than a 1 at most or else it gets a little obvious. 1/4 or 1/2 works fine.

 

And of course a brilliant Makeup Artist always helps.

 

The thing to remember is that no matter what you do, an older "talent" is older. We can do a certain number of things to help them look better, but they'll never look 15 again no matter what we do or how much their Personal Publicists complain.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Premium Member
the strength of the underlight would be varied depending on how much eyebags and bone structure the talent has!

Be careful with that light from below -- you don't want the Dracula look.

 

 

 

-- J.S.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Premium Member

An Obie is an old school trick.

 

There's a trick I like for this: I take an 8' X 4' sheet of 1" single sided styro and mount the 8' dimension horizontally, white side toward subject. I cut a square hole in the middle big enough for my lens and shade to poke through. Then I set up 4 1KPars to bounce off both sides, top and bottom. The barn doors keep some of the light off of the lens and camera but it still gets pretty damn hot. But, the light is fantastic and the subject is soft, soft, and lovely. The set up is a pain and clumsy to move. I use it mostly for CUs and head shots but it will hold up even with medium body shots.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

An Obie is an old school trick.

 

There's a trick I like for this: I take an 8' X 4' sheet of 1" single sided styro and mount the 8' dimension horizontally, white side toward subject. I cut a square hole in the middle big enough for my lens and shade to poke through. Then I set up 4 1KPars to bounce off both sides, top and bottom. The barn doors keep some of the light off of the lens and camera but it still gets pretty damn hot. But, the light is fantastic and the subject is soft, soft, and lovely. The set up is a pain and clumsy to move. I use it mostly for CUs and head shots but it will hold up even with medium body shots.

 

 

I like that Paul! It is like a Ring-Lite but with a much much larger Source.... very cool.. gonna try that. I also use Softlites (Zips) under lens on the older Folks when they need some smoothing out..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi All,

 

Just want to know when shooting interviews, how to make your subject matter appear younger looking (especially when you have to shoot close-ups)? I have used 2 bounced light source and tried to soften the light as much as I can, however it didn't help as much I thought. Eventually I had to digitally enhance them in post-production -- anybody has a better idea? Maybe a china ball?

 

thanks

 

M.T

 

What are you using to bounce the light? I assume you're probably using bead board or something similar. If you're using a more specular bounce, like silver, then try bead board instead. Also, try bouncing from different angles. I find that bouncing some light from below the subject can soften the face tremendously.

 

As for the camera, what are you shooting on? If it's digital, you could try taking down the detail level of the camera a bit. Or, you could try using a softening filter.

I ran into a similar problem a few months ago. A woman had very "detailed" skin. Make up came in to fix the problem. Unfortunately, they were inexperienced and actually made the problem worse by putting on this nasty blush which only made the problem worse! I was able to rectify the situation by taking down the detail a bit helped out alot. Of course, keep in mind how busy your background will be and how this might effect the rest of the image.

Also, you might want to try using a softening filter on the lens-a very light pro mist or something. Again, consider how this will effect the rest of the image and if the look will be consistant with the rest of the footage.

Good luck and tell us how it turned out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

An Obie is an old school trick.

 

There's a trick I like for this: I take an 8' X 4' sheet of 1" single sided styro and mount the 8' dimension horizontally, white side toward subject. I cut a square hole in the middle big enough for my lens and shade to poke through. Then I set up 4 1KPars to bounce off both sides, top and bottom. The barn doors keep some of the light off of the lens and camera but it still gets pretty damn hot. But, the light is fantastic and the subject is soft, soft, and lovely. The set up is a pain and clumsy to move. I use it mostly for CUs and head shots but it will hold up even with medium body shots.

 

 

yup, the ring light is the ultimate erase-all-the wrinkles solution. similar to paul's contraption i usually use a 4x4 styro with with a hole in the middle but use 4x1 tube or 4x2tubes of kino 40 taken out of their housing and assembled into a 4x4 square light on the styro. just gives an alien-look catchlight on the talent's eyes though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...