How to light eyes

[Jon Amerikaner]

Hi I am wondering how I can improve my ability to light actors' eyes and still achieve dramatic light. If you look at the first minute of my reel http://vimeo.com/24089193 you will see a scene that I believe really needed an eye light. I'd love to hear any tips you have on how I can get that sparkle in actors' eyes without compromising the overall scene lighting. Thanks

[David Mullen ASC]

Hi I am wondering how I can improve my ability to light actors' eyes and still achieve dramatic light. If you look at the first minute of my reel http://vimeo.com/24089193 you will see a scene that I believe really needed an eye light. I'd love to hear any tips you have on how I can get that sparkle in actors' eyes without compromising the overall scene lighting. Thanks

 

Any light near the lens will create a reflection in the actor's eyes, the main thing is not to let it be strong enough to lower contrast too much. Sometimes it also helps to put some sort of snoot around it to keep it confined to the face.

 

Sometimes I'll use a Litepanel Micro over the lens, since it is simple to use and attach.

[Adrian Sierkowski]

Because they eyes are so reflective, one of the tricks I have done in past is just to put something white and bright in front of them and/or on the camera. I've done such odd things as, on a close up, having someone hold a piece of white paper off camera, things like that. A china ball on a boom/dimmer can also be useful to move around as needed.