Realism or Pictorial Realism
With these more common styles, you may
want to establish the practicals and then use
camera setups that exclude them, while simulating
their light with video lights.
Adjusting Intensity
To balance visible light sources with the rest
of your lighting, try fi tting larger or smaller lamp
bulbs, as needed. Halogen replacement lamps
can be dimmed somewhat to reduce intensity,
but ordinary lights are already too orange to
permit much further color shift through dimming.
On the other hand, if you light a scene entirely
with household bulbs, you can simply set the
camera’s white balance manually to match their
2700K–2800K color temperature.
Moving Light Sources
Subjects often carry light sources, such as
fl ashlights or lanterns. When the practical light
is not on-screen, you can simulate its light for
better control.
●
Flashlight. A small spotlight with a handle
makes a good simulated fl ashlight. Focus
the beam in the spot position to create a
hard edge, Figure 16-25.
●
Lantern. To make a convincing “lantern,”
clip sheets of diffusion and orange fi lter
material (for “candlelight”) to a broad.
and shop windows) create problems because
they are rarely in the right place and/or
operating at the right intensity. To solve these
problems, it is usually necessary to establish
the light source by showing it on camera, and
then replace it with a more controllable light.
Practicals
How you handle the lights that appear in
the video frame depends on the lighting style
you have chosen.
Naturalistic or Expressionistic
Oddly, the opposite extremes in lighting
styles can use the same technique: replace bulbs
in practicals with screw-base halogen lamps and
use them for actual video lighting. The resulting
light will be contrasty, but excess contrast is
acceptable in these styles (Figure 16-24).
Figure 16-24 You can light with practicals if the result
fits the lighting style you are using.
Incidence Equals Reflection
In dealing with bald heads, spectacles, and
other reflection problems, remember that light
bounces off surfaces at the same angle, but in
the opposite direction. So, if a reflection is hitting
the camcorder lens, the light is probably too close
to the camera position, whether horizontally,
vertically, or both. That is why raising a light or
moving it sideways will often remove or at least
lessen a reflection.
To minimize reflections, place lights at angles of 45°
or greater.
Chapter 16 Lighting Applications 347