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Horizontal eye lights from 4' Kinos/Quasars/Titan tubes


Mike Kozlenko

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Just curious how much consideration you guys put into how these horizontal or vertical lights will look in the eyes when used as a key or fill? Obviously the farther away it is, the less tube-like reflections you get in the eyes, but if you need to get them closer to the talent, do you guys like setting a sort-of rule to always diffuse it with something? I use titan tubes for a quick pop of light on the face sometimes when I'm in a hurry , so sometimes I'll gaff tape off 2' of the tube so it becomes a 2' tube, and this makes the horizontal reflection in the eye a bit less distinct, but it's still there to some extent. Is this shape of reflection in the eyes something ya'll try to avoid, or do you sometimes find it acceptable?

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The “Lord of the Rings” trilogy has a number of close-ups with a horizontal Kino tube reflected in the eyes (might be a Mini-Flo on the matte box in some cases.) It’s just a matter of taste and what you have at hand. I tried using a Kamio ring light as an eye light on “Jennifer’s Body” and ended up masking it down to a bottom “U” shape, sort of a smiley face... in the end, I wish I had tried something else. 
 

Today I either use a small Aputure ML9 on the matte box or a larger Litemat 1 under the lens.

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On 12/30/2019 at 3:12 AM, Mike Kozlenko said:

Just curious how much consideration you guys put into how these horizontal or vertical lights will look in the eyes when used as a key or fill?

I actually think about this A LOT haha. I use the Quasar Qlions frequently. 
A lot of the dialogue we have with them starts with someone seeing them and immediately saying 'those would make great eye lights'. But they are very bright so it can become a liability if you don't want it to be too present as a front facing light.
One solution I had for it, during a travel show shooting T2.8 was to put two layers of diffusion in front with the lights touching the diffusion so they still appear as individual linear eye lights.
 

Edited by Joshua Linder
typo
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