Lighting in large bathroom

Michael Ognisanti · May 17, 2017

Hi everyone,

Any ideas of how to go about lighting in this bathroom (pic attached)? It's a larger commercial bathroom so we have room to work but also low ceilings. I don't want to use the hard can lights. Trying to get a good ambient balance that fills the space evenly and soft.

My initial thought was a few chimera pancakes overhead to mimic the overhead cans. Would that provide the ambient I'm trying to get or will it look to toppy? The floors and walls are dark so I won't have the bounce that I think I'd want.

Or I could use a frontal key but that doesn't feel like bathroom motivated light to me.

Appreciate any help,

Thanks

David Mullen ASC · May 17, 2017

I'd use something flatter like an LED blanket light or Litemats or just put some white on the ceiling and do a bounce if you have room for that. But this is assuming that the middle area of the ceiling is off camera.

David Mullen ASC · May 17, 2017

You may to put a decorative frost strip over the top 1/4 of that big mirror or a neat black card, etc.

Michael Ognisanti · May 18, 2017

You may to put a decorative frost strip over the top 1/4 of that big mirror or a neat black card, etc.

That mirror was my next problem to solve. Thanks David.

I don't think we will see the ceiling. The litemats would be great if I could get enough to fill the space. I think we will be moving around a lot.

Matthew Kane · May 18, 2017

Swiveliers could be handy, assuming those cans have a regular medium base. You can drop down from the socket and replace the bulb with an incandescent mushroom bulb that can be focused on the action as you like. Perhaps it'd look nice to swivel some of the bulbs to light the wall, rather than straight down. If you use the practicals this way, a selection of par38 or par20 bulbs (flood, spot, etc) would be useful.

LED tubes (ie Quasar Science tubes) are a cheap rental, and can be stuck to the ceiling with zip ties or tucked above the drop ceiling tiles (or just taped to the ceiling--I can't tell if that's a drop ceiling or not). You can power them from a pignose adapter.

If you're shooting a lot of improvised handheld shots, with unrehearsed blocking, where any part of the room could be in the scene at any time... just replace the bulbs with something you like, and take out bulbs as needed to to increase contrast on the camera side. That kind of camera work calls for a looser approach.

Mark Kenfield · May 18, 2017

If they give you enough punch, I'd consider using the built-in downlights. Just tape some diff over them (low-enough to spread the beams).

Some strategically placed poly under uncovered downlights can also provide some matching fill.

Satsuki Murashige · May 18, 2017

I suppose the real question is, how much of the bathroom will you be seeing at one time, and what's the action going to be?

It looks like those black stall doors are sucking up a lot of light, so I'd imagine you would need to add an awful lot of ambient to get the room all soft and even, especially once you lose the overhead cans. If you really do have to move around to a bunch of different locations on the day, then maybe it's worth looking for an alternate location that requires less work.

If that's not possible, and you can get away with only seeing narrow angles of the room, then it might be possible to gang a few large Litemats on stands in the corner to simulate a large frosted window. A bit odd logically for a bathroom, but you do see them in some institutional buildings. That would give you a nice reflection on the black doors and a good sheen on the floor. Then if you add a few fluorescent tube-style practicals above the sink, maybe a few inside the stalls, and a Joleko into the ceiling, that might be enough.

JD Hartman · May 20, 2017

If they give you enough punch, I'd consider using the built-in downlights. Just tape some diff over them (low-enough to spread the beams).

Some strategically placed poly under uncovered downlights can also provide some matching fill.

Or if the downlights, pot lights, recessed fixtures have medium base sockets, use them with tampons as mounting points for additional lights.

Michael Ognisanti · May 21, 2017

Thank for all the advice. I just found out we should be roughly in one spot for the whole scene. I think I will leave the overheads on and either tape diffusion on them or possibly fly a frame overhead (only 2 people in scene and not to wide). I might be able to get it a bit lower to spread the beams more.

Thanks again everyone,