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Hi Everyone, I love collecting behind the scenes photos where you can see lighting setups from great cinematographers. Does anyone have any they'd like to share? These ASC articles on Se7en and Carol both contain a lot of great bts photos of Darius Khonji's and Ed Lachman's work: https://ascmag.com/articles/flashback-seven-1995 https://theasc.com/ac_magazine/December2015/Carol/page3.html# All the best, Alex

Hello Every One! Thanks in advance for checking out my post. So as the title says, my work is building a video studio. I work at a toy company as their in house video guy (1 man department). This is a brand new position and its quickly evolving. When I started, I was making simple product demo videos for retail sites and social media, now we are building a studio with the goal of producing some of our TV commercials in house. That being said, lighting equipment is not my strongest area of expertise. Basically my question Is, If you were investing in lights to build a professional studio. Which lights would you buy? I know its a very open ended question, but in doing research, I'm finding that there is plethora of choices and its making me more confused than anything. I know that there isn't a magical configuration of light that will cover you for every need but what would be a good all around set? Im thinking I want at least one ARRI SkyPanel S60-C (maybe two) What other lights would pair well with it? Here are some examples of past TVC's we've had produced. Example 1 Example 2 Example 3 The studio space itself is 30x30. We are most likely going to install a Ceiling rail system if that makes a difference in selection. Please feel free to ask me any questions. Thanks Again, George Mills

Hey, I'm relatively new to working on my own projects and it's been quite awhile since I've shot a short film, as I've mainly edited up until this point. I'm shooting a short film this weekend and I'm trying to achieve a very specific lighting look. I'm trying to bring out a more of yellow, somewhat sickly look without over lighting my actors. And the space is small and I have a very limited budget, so I've been using work lights up until this point. This is the room: 1.https://drive.google.com/file/d/100eenq3szzINkdNcrsPVaog0cgHznaKH/view?usp=sharing 2. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1t-XntmH0FZOx2GiO8s1EAYdHwY9PQVM6/view?usp=sharing We're removing all the photos from the wall behind the desk and chair, a well as removing most of the stuff from the lower book shelf. We're placing a yellow practical light on that lower book case for some of the yellow-ing effect. I was thinking about using to overhead soft box lights coupled with lighting outside the window. I'm just a bit stumped on how to really work with this space and whatnot. What my goal is something similar to this style of lighting with a bit more age and yellow: 1. http://mattscottvisuals.com/lighting/2015/10/23/largesourcetungsten I've been trying to draw up lighting diagrams by looking over his work and considering some of the tests we've ran in the room. Thanks for any help!

Hi, I'm fairly new to this forum so hopefully, I'm writing this query in the right place. For my dissertation, I completed a test using Dedolight DLH4's (The 3 head kit) and I used the dimmer switch to adjust the intensity of the light. I was wondering what the dots represent on the dimmer switch? I've attached an image below for reference. I was hoping to find a numerical value as so far my research has only found this indicating 'dimming from minimum to maximum'. Any information or guesses are greatly appreciated and hopefully, someone can shed some light on this!! Thank you.

Hey everybody. Coming up this week I'm going to be shooing a commercial for a company that makes granite table tops and was hoping to get some thoughts on how to light it. The idea is that we'll be shooting overhead looking down as we see hands on the counter doing different day to day tasks. For example, we will start with one counter top as we see a hand throw some keys on the counter, cut to a different one as we see someone else's hands preparing food, then another as we see the hands of a kid playing with a toy car, and so forth. I'm curious as to how some of you guys might tackle lighting this. I'm imagining high key, soft lighting. Obviously I can't use a soft overhead source because my camera will be in the way, and I'm a bit concerned about distracting reflections on the counter top. I have a few Arri fresnels, Lowel Pro's, Omni's, and a Tota available to use. At the moment, I'm thinking along he lines of shooting a 650 Fresnel through some kind of diffusion to the side, maybe even a book light, but I'd love to hear your suggestions. Thanks!

Would really appreciate information, thank you. :)

Hi guys! Okay so I have a shoot coming very soon. One particular scene is in a garden at night, with friends around a table eating & in conversation. Its gonna be 10/12 seconds in the final video. So I want to put up hanging lights between 3 palm trees in the location with the characters underneath the lights. I tried looking in to research for other DP's who have done this look quite nicely. Deakins in Sicario I found he used 40 watt bulbs and there is quite a lot of them (plus light bouncing back down off the ceiling). Here is an image for reference: So here is now my location. All exterior so no bounce from the lights giving me extra illumination down there. So obviously this will be at night. The hanging fixtures as mentioned will go between the 3 palm trees (table and actors near center). The production designer on our meeting had with her the hanging garden fixtures. She had also 5w bulbs. Each meter of the hanging fixture is 2 bulbs (10 watts with these bulbs). I am worried that once this all is hanged up it won't be enough using these bulbs to light the scene. In my head it's around 200w over the talent heads, but if Deakins is using all 40w bulbs there than it makes me think I need to put higher wattage bulbs in this too. I could use a 500w / 1k Jem Ball over the top of them if this happens, but I kind of like it being easier to set up the wide only using the practicals & then with my MIDS coming in with a soft source for their faces (granted I am only getting 1 wide but still saves me putting up this giant light up top). Let me please know your thoughts. Would this be enough with these 5w bulbs? Should I get a bunch of 20/40 watts instead? Should I fill in the 5watts with a bigger light up top out of frame? Anyone who has done something similar before I would really appreciate the feedback. I am using the RED Epic Dragon to film. Thanks!

Hi all, sorry if this has already been answered in other threads, this is my first post here. Due to financial constraints, i won't be able to buy more dedicated cinema lights until next month. I have 4 clamp lamps with daylight LED lightbulbs. If I get more of these, will I be able to light scenes decently? How can I create different atmospheres with these? And are there larger, brighter bulbs I can get for them? I understand fully that lighting is one of the most important aspects of filmmaking, but for the time being, I don't want to sit on my ass and do nothing when I can be refining my skills.

Hi, I've been conducting a little research about gel and I wasn't sure the relationship of transmission and stops. Say, a gel has transmission of 30%. Does that mean that the gel reduces the luminance by 70%? If so, is it in lux or lumen or stop? (I don't have a firm understanding of these units so I might be saying random things) Also, is it helpful to know the transmission vs. wavelength chart? I'd also like to know how the colour temperature of an original source affects the end result through gels. Is there a certain colour temperature that's most appropriate for gels? Or is it totally up to users? If you have your way of working with gels that'd be amazing to know as well. Thanks!

Hey everyone, Since this is my first post in here, I'll quickly introduce myself: My name is Benedikt Dresen, and I'm a Filmstudent / aspiring Cinematographer from Germany. I started out doing music videos, but now I'm getting more and more into narrative work. Right now I'm in Pre-Production for a 14-minute Shortfilm I'm DoP'ing. The film is set at night, only in one apartment, which will be built on stage. It's about a woman entering her home, where she find a complete stranger waiting for her, who's intentions remain unknown. The whole story unfolds through dialogue, but the blocking will still be very vivid, so there isn't really any corner of the apartment, that's not in the frame at some point. So directions of the action/camera shift throughout the different scenes. Also the Lighting will change quite a bit. In the story, the Stranger is in total control of it. The base-setup I want to do, is basicly like the one in the attached Mood Picture: A soft, cold, kinda "toppy" ambient light coming from one side of the room + really dim sodium streetlights from afar, only illuminating the windows a bit. There will be 3 main setups happening in the living room: 1. Like the mood picture, but also with a tiny practical illuminating a small coffee table in the middle of the room 2. The stranger will light some candles and maybe more practicals (warm and cozy feeling, as it seems like he's not a bad guy for a moment) 3. Absolute "darkness" as the Stranger turns out all the lights, while she left the room for a second. So the lighting should basicly mimic total absence of light. One more thing that's important: As she is our protagonist, she's supposed to be keyed in a not too unflattering way. While the stranger, should only get a back/rimlight most of the time, so we can't see his eyes or facial expressions most of the time, leaving him and is intentions mysterious. Gear-whise I basicly have a full set of Arri Tungsten Fresnels and some open face units to work with. + CTB of course, and some color gels to match Sodium Vapor Streetlights. 2x 2kW T2 Fresnel (including 1 chimera I believe) 2x 2kW Open Face 2x 1kW Fresnel 6x650W Fresnel 6x300W Fresnel My approach till now would be: - Creating this soft, ambient light from the top left corner in the room. Maybe shooting the 2kW through a lot of Diffusion, or creating a large bounce. (from above the walls, as we won't have a ceiling built) - Aiming the 650W, or maybe only 300W through Sodium Gels to each window that's in frame, trying to keep it a few stops under in order to not make it light up the room to much, as the ambient light should dominate the room. - Trying my best to flag the ambient light off the top of the walls, to create some kind of gradient/contrast, as seen in the mood picture. My main concerns about all of this: - The ambient light should direction-whise always function as a backlight in order to keep that moody, night feel. For the main actress I will need a fill, max. a rembrandt style shape. Should I try to rely on a close soft bounce for this kind of fill (that's basicly her key), or should I introduce an LED through Diffusion? Also would you have this light at the same stop as the backlight, or over/under? - As the direction in which we're shooting in the room is shifting throughout the scenes, I would basicly need to shift the direction of the ambient light aswell, in order to keep it backlighting the characters. Is this an okay thing to do, Lighting-Continuity whise? I'm thinking of the ambient light not as a "light" that has a source in the story, but as a light, which represents "absence of light" and has no believable source in the story. Does that make any sense at all? Or should I keep the direction of the ambient light locked, and introduce more lights to backlight whenever needed and flag the ambient off the faces, whenever they would be frontlit by it? Additional info: I'll be shooting on the Sony FS7, paired with the XD-CA unit, recording 4K Cinema DNG RAW through the Atomos Shogun. This is my biggest project up to now, and there's quite a budget flowing into the stage built, so I'm really trying to do my best in my department and not **(obscenity removed)** up. I would endlessly appreciate to get some feedback of you more experienced Cinematographers about my general idea and if it does make any sense, and if my approach to lighting it will work, the way I imagine it to do. Regards and Thank You all, Benedikt

Hi everyone! I have a few quick questions about running a Mole-Richardson 10kW Tener Solarspot (or really any other large fixture) from a 100A 120V service panel on the building mains. The panel has Cam Lock output and will be going into a 100A distro box like this: https://www.lighttheatrics.com/lex-100-amp-3-phase-motion-picture-box-with-tail-input-dbs100dt-b4bi2/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAzrTUBRCnARIsAL0mqcwbjlgWj2tBopApyjosTuHu4g6KpgcC221J8FoAubpZwbrsBvLRjOsaAlBMEALw_wcB I will need to power fixtures such as the Mole Tener and ARRI M90, which I assume we will be fitting with 100A bates connectors. My questions are: Does the power need to be balanced across all three phases, or is this only necessary on a generator and not from AC power? If it does require balancing, what adapter would be used? (100A - 2x 60A Snakebite would only connect on two legs, and I've never seen a 100A Bates - 3x 60A, besides the fact that it sounds like a dangerous and bad idea) I believe that if I run the lamp from one leg, or split between two with a 100A - 2x 60A Snakebite, that the neutral in theory could hold the excess load. I won't be able to run an acceptable ghost load along with the 10kW with the power I currently have. What are the negatives, if any, of doing this, and am I just completely wrong about that? Is it better/possible to get a single phase distro box and run only 4-wire from the 5 Cam Lock outputs on the service panel? I understand the basic concepts of balancing a load within 20% for each leg of 3-phase off a genny, but I am new to using 3-phase AC power from a building. Hope this isn't a stupid question, but I couldn't find a specific answer elsewhere. Am I worrying too much? Too little? Thank you guys in advance for your help & patience!

So, I've posted this on a few forums, and if you've seen this already, I apologize. I just bought an old set of Came TV 900 LED panels for a very low price. They are very bright and the quality of light is great, but they have a magenta shift. Do I send them back or just buy some plus greens and go on my way? Does anyone else own these panels, or have this issue?

I have the spectacular challenge, due to budget, of attempting to match day for night to our night for night footage. I have a feeling this will end up being a sad time in the DI where my night for night is graded to look more like day for night, but what can you do. My biggest concern is matching quality of light as best I can. I know the rule of thumb is generally to get some spots of day light light while avoiding the sky. Some of the matches will be for ECUs which I'm not as concerned with, but the wider matches are what I fear the most. Any and all suggestions are greatly appreciated! I've attached some ungraded lo res stills.

I've always had problems capturing strobes when shooting digital video (either the shutter misses the strobe entirely or only captures a portion of it). I've used the paparazzi light from Lightning Strikes before and it's great, but for this scene I need to see the lights strobe in the frame as the actor takes pictures (actor needs to be able to pull the trigger on them). 1) Any strobes out there that are good to capture digitally? Shooting on the Alexa mini 23.98. 2) Any tricks? I can change the shutter if necessary. Thanks. -Andrew

Hi Guys, I am currently on a hunt for great and affordable LED tube light like the quasar science, to enhance music videos and other projects. When I search online for them, they are like £60 for a 4ft one. Does anyone know any websites, stores, rental houses that provide great & affordable LED tube lights, that work well for filming? I'm writing from the London, so I would preferbally would like things that I could buy over here, thank you! Christopher

Hi guys, I've been given the task to shoot a music video. The director wanted to be to create a lighting set up similar to the picture below. It's very low budget, so I have 3 kino flows and one Arri 2k. I wanted to know what will be the best way to avoid spill when using the kino flow to light the subject? Thank you for reading Christopher

Hey everyone! Long time reader, first-time poster. Recently, in a number of films I've been watching, I've seen a vast amount of ways to light through windows. I brought this subject up to a lighting professor of mine and we've been having discussions on it since. I know that to create realistic and natural window lighting, you need to use a mixture of hard and soft light to represent the sunlight and the soft skylight. Of course, the mixture and positioning of these depend on the time of day you're going for. I haven't had the time to do any tests of my own, but I will attempt some soon. I have a few questions when it comes to this topic: 1. Have any of you done this in the past and how have you accomplished it? 2. What type of fixtures and diffusion have you used? 3. Do any of you have any experience using tracing paper on the window itself? And if so, is there a fixture that would still be able to push hard enough light through it to represent the sunlight? I'm completely okay with windows blowing out, especially when working on low-budget projects where you don't have the resources to light whats outside the window. Thanks!

So this week I am going to make my first DIY flexi LED panel. Going to get the YUJI BC series LED's. Will mix 2700K with 6500K, with a cross dimmer. I am shooting a short film on Saturday, in a relatively tight location, and the director wants relatively free camera and actor movement at times. I am thinking this will be good to quickly tape the panel overhead / on a wall, with lots of diff, for some side/overhead tungsten, but not have any stands in the way (we don't have a gaffer either, so I will feel more comfortable with this. How do people use flexi LED panels, or just the LED strips in tight locations? Any screengrabs of work you've done with them? Thanks L

Both working, both are in reasonable condition. One has barn doors, other hasn't They're big and heavy, so I'll ship to Europe only. https://www.ebay.ie/itm/202085601853?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649 https://www.ebay.ie/itm/202085600277?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649 I also have one 4k Sirio HMI with magnetic ballast, I'll also will let it go if someone interested

I'm selling two LTM 10k Fresnel lights. Both are in reasonable condition. I'm based in Europe so shipping to Europe only. http://www.ebay.ie/itm/202083804910?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649 http://www.ebay.ie/itm/202083805648?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649 and used 10k bulb: http://www.ebay.ie/itm/202084009528?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

Hi everyone I am Mohamed From Cairo and my question is about light equipment for women shoes shoot lighting setup. I have frequent women shoes photography sessions, I need light setup equipment that i can use it frequently and easily any recommendations ? best regards Mohamed El-Fallal Thanks

Hi again everyone. Not really a question this time but would wanted to show my lighting plan for an upcoming project to get some feedback. I have attached my lighting plan... The talent will be talking to camera and cooking. The background will be dressed with Christmas decorations and what not to celebrate the coming season. I want the lighting to be very soft and cold, to have that winter feel. I'm shooting it all in daytime. I'm using an M18 through the left window (only window our too the left) through a bed sheet which will highlight the background and rim our talent. The other M18 is inside in front of the talent which will be my key for her. I plan to bounce it and have the light come through another bedsheet to get it softer. For the fill, I will bounce it in from my M18 sources. I guess actually I do have a proper question. Would you recommend an Arri Skypanel S30C through multiple diffusion instead of the M18 inside? The kitchen is very small so I did think at one point maybe I should go for that instead. The shoot will start early and end before sunset. Anyways any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks so much!

On an upcoming narrative film, I am attempting to get a high contrast look in a large white-walled room on the top floor of an old Victorian house. I have no way of rigging outside the windows as they are too high up and there are about five of them. My largest Daylight unit is a D12 and largest tungsten is a unit is a 2k. I have numerous other small units. I still want to be able to see outside the window. Here is a bad location photo. Shooting on f55

Dear Forum, Stanley Kubrick is a director whom I have admired for as long as I can recall. His innovations to filmmaking are innumerable and in his wake has inspired several contingents of new filmmakers to push the limits in terms of conventions. Anyway, it was yesterday when I rewatched The Shining that a particular question came to my mind - his lighting techniques. I know that Kubricks use of practical lighting was quite groundbreaking, but how much did he actually rely on them to light the entire set (excluding the use of large daylight fixtures for interior day scenes)? Kubrick enjoyed immense creative freedom on his productions and was thus able to reconstruct the entire interior (and parts of the exterior, I believe) of The Overlook Hotel on a soundstage. Please take a look at the still attached. As you can see there are numerous practicals visible, and they are all blown out. Is it reasonable to suggest that all bulbs are a minimum of 1kW? Since the fastest available film stock until 1981 was only 100 ASA, would these practicals have been enough to light the entire scene? And what about the reflection on the floor in the bottom left of the frame? Many thanks in advance!!

Hey everyone, I'm a film student working on a project that requires me to shoot a model miniature. The problem is, the model is inside a protective glass case. It's only about an inch thick, but I can't remove it. Any tips for lighting the model through the glass? The model is fairly large (6 ft x 6 ft) so I was thinking of using a soft fill on the opposite side than I am shooting to reduce glare but that's kind of restrictive to the shots I can get. Not sure if anyone has done anything like this before but I thought I'd ask. Thanks! Zach