Self-education in lighting

nyns · January 10, 2005

Hello all,

I have owned a very good super-8 camera for a little while now and have been mostly shooting outside with whatever availble light there is. Now I want to learn more about lightning scenes and to start off in a very basic way by placing some lights in a room with an actor, both still and moving, and using available light mixed with tungsten lightning. I'll be using the the two available color reversal stocks, kodachrome and ektachrome and the two available reversal B/W stocks, Tri-x and plus-x.

The camera I own does not have a very fast lens (F1.8) but it does have the ability to manual adjust exposure via aperture control, fps settings, etc.

I would like some suggestions on whether this is a good way to start learning and what else I should be doing. I also want to invest in a basic lighting kit to start off that I can use indoors. In addition I would like to invest in a good light meter. Any suggestions on what I should buy in both cases? I live in manhattan and am going to make a trip down to B&H to look for a good lighting kit. Also browsing on ebay for good lighting kits.

I think at some point David Mullen had a post on learning to do lighting this way but I can't find it. Wasn't sure if I should post this on the super 8 forum.

Any thoughts or suggestions are most appreciated.

Tenolian Bell · January 10, 2005

For me I began my lighting journey with still photography. While in college I took still courses, and learned a great deal about lighting, exposure, shutter.

For me it was a bit easier because you were only responsible for a stationary object. It becomes more complicated once you have to light for motion.

In stills you can light in various ways (hard/soft) from various angles (top, side, bottom). You also get to light various objects with different textures (shiny/matte, smooth/rough) and different colors.

It lent itself to a lot of experimentation, without a great deal of expectation, or cost. So I was free to make mistakes and learn.

Michael Nash · January 11, 2005

You can learn how to light with any format, but stills are usually the easiest and cheapest. That's how I learned how to use my first light meter. Set up a scenario, take notes on light readings, take the still, change the setup, repeat. Then make a contact sheet of the whole negative roll so that you can compare exposures. Very cheap.

Michael Nash · January 11, 2005

I forgot to mention that these days you could use a digital still camera for the same purpose, and take an infinite number of pictures. The only downside is that a digital camera that has enough control over aperture, shutterspeed and focal length might set you back a bit.

John Pytlak RIP · January 11, 2005

I forgot to mention that these days you could use a digital still camera for the same purpose, and take an infinite number of pictures. The only downside is that a digital camera that has enough control over aperture, shutterspeed and focal length might set you back a bit.

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Even the consumer-level Kodak DX6490 and DX7590 digital still cameras have manual aperture/shutter capability (PASM mode), and a 10:1 Schneider zoom lens, with a pretty low "street price":

http://www.kodak.com/eknec/PageQuerier.jht...pq-locale=en_US

Allen Achterberg · January 12, 2005

just go out there and do it. make it happen

Bob Hayes · January 12, 2005

When in film school as one of my first projects I took stills of a face with one light in coming from every angle I could think of. I shot about 40 stills of top light, side light, up light etc.. It was a great way to get into lighting face. John Alonso used to put a bare bulb on a stick and move it around his actress? faces to see the best angle to light them from.

Dan Salzmann · January 12, 2005

I couldn't agree more that stills as described in the other posts is "the way" to start.

It would be valuable to have a spot meter as a tool when doing these tests for more precisely targetted readings of light values in whatever setup you are photographing.

After all, a director of photography is first of all a photographer.

Greg Gross · January 13, 2005

Canon EOS Digital Rebel/300D

B&H Photo,New York City

With Canon EF-S 18-55mm lens- $869.95

Rebate- $100.00

Total- $769.95

I bought one last fall,it cost me more money then present offer. Very pleased

with this camera. I'm going to order a Kino Flo ring light tomorrow from B&H

Photo New York City. I plan on having a holder made at a machine shop which

will hold the Kino over the lens with a "U" shaped holder,attached to each side

of Kino. A straight piece of stock screwed on to bottom,horizontal of "U"(square

U) will then attach at other end to camera bottom, at tripod hole. Will use lock

washers and some type of wing nuts so that entire assembly can be broken

down quickly. See "Off Topic"(forum) for post by director Mark Douglas. I have

a great fascination for lighting with one light and will use this set up for experi-

mentation. Also thinking about attaching to top of Bogen 13ft. light stand with a

ball joint. I was curious to hear about Johm Alonso using light on stick, I've done

that for years in still photography. Still photographers call it a modeling light. All

my studio strobes have 100watt modeling light. Best regards to all.

Greg Gross

Phil Rhodes · January 13, 2005

Hi,

I quite like ring light, possibly because it got a glowing reception the first time I used it on a music promo, but it does require that your subejct has pretty good skin.

Phil