hall of mirrors lighting

gimlay · February 6, 2005

Im getting ready to light an 8' by 8' room made of mirrors. The floor will be made of a semi reflective mylar like material. My idea is to bounce light in from the cieling from a reflector or white sheet hung above the room. And maybe hide a few soft lights inside the room.

What kind of lighting should I use? Im think about trying a few Kino-flos, but Ive never used them. Ive also heard about flourescent bulbs that can be replaced in practical fixtures but I dont know where to get them and HOW to balance them.

Any Ideas?

Chris Keth · February 6, 2005

Im getting ready to light an 8' by 8' room made of mirrors. The floor will be made of a semi reflective mylar like material. My idea is to bounce light in from the cieling from a reflector or white sheet hung above the room. And maybe hide a few soft lights inside the room.

What kind of lighting should I use? Im think about trying a few Kino-flos, but Ive never used them. Ive also heard about flourescent bulbs that can be replaced in practical fixtures but I dont know where to get them and HOW to balance them.

Any Ideas?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Wow, 360 degrees of mirrors? Is there any way you can not have mirrors surrounding actors but imply that is the case? It would help a great deal.

Miguel Bunster · February 6, 2005

Checkout pancro mirrors...

M

Bruce Douglas · February 7, 2005

You should be aware that whenever you frame a corner of your mirror room, the reflection of the camera WILL be in frame. This is because of the corner cube effect the mirrors create (which is the same effect of Scotchlight reflecting light only in the direction of the light source).

I used to go crazy moving the camera left or right and the reflection always moving with me rather than out of the frame!

Some ways to deal with this are:

- covering the camera and hiding it in darker parts of the frame

- hiding the reflections behind the actors or props (makes movement tricky)

- framing from above or from the floor.

But you didn't ask about this so I'll get to what you did ask about. Lighting from above is ideal for ease in hiding lights. 8 by 8 is an awfully small space and if you can keep your lights above, you will make things much easier on everyone. You can go all the way from stretching a white cloth over the set and lighting through it for a very soft light to using pools of light for a moodier effect as your actors move in and out the light. You spoke of using the first approach. In this case, the only advantage of kinoflos is if you anticipate heat problems or have limited power available. Otherwise just go with regular quartz lights or photofloods through the cloth.

Where I would use 4x4 kinoflos, though, is inside the set if you need supplemental modeling. They are black and have integral barndoors so they will flag themselves if you use them sideways to your actors. They can also be laid on the floor with no fuss and no fear of melting the mylar.

Sounds like a fun and challenging shoot!

Bruce Douglas

Bob Hayes · February 7, 2005

Light it from the top. Make the mirrored walls ?wild? so they can easily be rotated. The more adjustable the mirrors are the more fun you will have with reflections and keeping your self out. Take one of the panels and cut a 2? x 2? hole in it camera height. Replace this section with a two way mirror. Shoot through the two way mirror into the room. Be sure you have enough light. The two way mirror will take up 2 stops.