350 Video Digital Communication & Production
Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc.
Look for Motivation
Outside of urban centers, there is often little
actual light. To motivate video lighting, simulate
car headlights and house or shop windows with
lights placed low and shooting horizontally.
For streetlights, move rim lighting directly over
subjects to create eye socket shadows.
Do not worry if some of your lights do not
have enough motivation. This lighting problem
is so common, even in big-budget productions,
that viewers have come to accept night
exteriors full of unexplained light sources.
Atmosphere
Outside night scenes in movies are often
wet because rain or fog (real or fake) picks up
and scatters light rays, Figure 16-30.
Figure 16-29. This large castle background is lit
by four lights. y g
Sue
Stinson
Figure 16-30. Rain provides p effective atmosphere. p
Sue Stinson S S i
Lighting at “Magic Hour”
Magic hour is the brief period before sundown.
On a sunny day, magic hour provides light qualities
that look especially attractive on screen. Shadows
from the low sun are long, which models objects and
enhances the impression of depth. The moisture
in the air is often low, so everything appears
exceptionally sharp and clear. The color temperature
is warmer, lending a golden tone until near sundown,
and then a distinctive sunset-orange tint.
The characteristic long shadows and warm light
of “magic hour.” g
Goodheart-Willcox Publisher G dh Will P bli h
Lighting for magic hour is simple because
the low sun makes reflector placement easy. The
problem lies in capturing all the footage required
in the relatively brief time before the sun actually
sets. For this reason, you may wish to preset and
rehearse more than one camera setup, so that you
can move quickly from one to the next as you shoot.
Another problem with magic hour is white
balance, because the color temperature drops
continuously as the sun goes down. One way
to solve the problem is by compensating for the
color shift while shooting. To do this, manually
reset the white balance frequently. That way, you
will capture the long shadows and clear light of
magic hour, but all your original camera footage
will have the same neutral color balance.
After you have edited a magic hour sequence,
you can apply sunset tint to taste or even warm the
images up progressively as the sequence unfolds to
simulate an actual sunset. Be aware, however, that a
digitally applied sunset color can have a mechanical,
too-uniform quality. If you have the skill to capture it,
there is no substitute for real “magic hour” light.