Ambient Light or Front Fill Strategies

[Dan Quigley]

Hi there. I'm seeking ways of creating more ambient light or front fill that looks non-directional.

For example, I motivate a backlight source but there is no other light source to motivate from so I increase ambient light to retain detail.

What is a basic strategy for doing this? Could it just be a light punching through a 6x6 diffusion behind or near camera and then adjusting the lighting ratio for the backlight to get the intensity you want? 

[Stephen Sanchez]

Hello Dan.

Examples of your work always helps us give a more tailored answer.

So, on lighting. I ran into this situation at a studio I worked at with a newly hired in-house DP. He asked me the same thing, as he'd never worked in a studio. And I told him to "add a window." So long as it's off screen, it doesn't matter. If there's a dark hole, add a window off screen, or a lamp in the room, or "lamp light" from off screen. You'd be surprised how easily the brain justifies it without explanation. But it must interact with the whole room, not just the subject. It's important to remember that windows are not 1x1ft panel lights. They are generally 4x4ft, or 4x8ft, and can even be "cheated" to be larger if desired. I use bounce only for window light, and cut the top off. Add sun in you want. Try to keep the sun fixtures outside the windows.

I find it easiest to light the room in this way first. Then, move onto the face. Key with your choice. But remember that the fill side is the ambient bounce of the room. Now if you're in a studio with half-sets, then there are no real walls to return onto the face, so it ends up being super dark. So you'll have to "recreate the room" as the face sees it. This can be done with white or gray cards/surfaces, then back it off until you get the desired ratio. I personally like to go bigger than key for fill, but you'll figure out what you like as you keep at it. Do this, and you'll find that you'll see detail.

If you're on location. It becomes easier since the rooms naturally fill. I will sometimes "add a window" if necessary here. But I've found that throwing light through the windows, adding interior lamps or motivated "lamp light" off screen, does the job fine. And then I move on to the face.

[Dan Quigley]

Thank you Stephen, this is extremely helpful.

[Phillip Mosness]

Lots of people find the Chinese lanterns to be quick and convenient for soft ambient. 

They're also very budget friendly. 

 

[David Mullen ASC]

Usually some large white cards or bedsheets near the subject is enough, with or without light added to them, but if the ceiling is white or some white can be taped into it, you can bounce into it. Or the floor instead. If a set doesn't have a ceiling, I often have a large bleached or unbleached muslin frame hung over the set.

[Dan Quigley]

On 12/22/2022 at 4:40 PM, Phillip Mosness said:

Lots of people find the Chinese lanterns to be quick and convenient for soft ambient. 

They're also very budget friendly. 

 

True. I would worry about it being too "sourcy" but I bet a large one could help. Especially if you're in a situation where you don't have other options or space.

On 12/23/2022 at 12:03 PM, David Mullen ASC said:

Usually some large white cards or bedsheets near the subject is enough, with or without light added to them, but if the ceiling is white or some white can be taped into it, you can bounce into it. Or the floor instead. If a set doesn't have a ceiling, I often have a large bleached or unbleached muslin frame hung over the set.

Thanks, David. On really low budget stuff, people are quick to shoot light into the ceiling as their key so I have always tried to avoid that. However, it makes perfect sense for raising the ambient light of a scene.

 

All, here is an example just for fun. I find myself wanting to retain some detail in the bottom half of the subject's legs along with other dark areas of the shot without a "sourcy" looking light. Sounds like a large bounced light behind camera at low intensity would do the trick.

 

Thanks, everyone.

 

[David Mullen ASC]

That's a good situation for a weak floor bounce since key light is shining downwards from the window so you could justify the floor lighting as the key bouncing back up. Plus a floor bounce would lift detail in the legs, feet and under cabinet area without filling the whole room too much nor the white tile backsplash. The advantage of a ceiling bounce though would be to add light to the top of the stove range.

[David Mullen ASC]

Here is an example of a ceiling bounce to add ambience to the corner of the room where the file cabinets are. I used an LED Leko with some blue dialed into it to create a cooler cast compared to the warm sunlight effect coming through the window.

[Jakob Webb]

On 12/23/2022 at 5:03 PM, David Mullen ASC said:

Usually some large white cards or bedsheets near the subject is enough, with or without light added to them, but if the ceiling is white or some white can be taped into it, you can bounce into it. Or the floor instead. If a set doesn't have a ceiling, I often have a large bleached or unbleached muslin frame hung over the set.

When you have white walls and you bounce into the ceiling I've found that it makes the walls look flat and terrible. I tried creating a circle of light in the middle of the ceiling which helped a bit but now the character was getting most of the light onto him (since he was in the middle of the room). What would be a good way to fix this and have an ambient light that doesn't wash out the image?