Chapter 5 Excerpt

“Lighting Basics”

Types of Light

There are basically two types of light - soft and hard, and they each have their particular uses. In general, hard light is not flattering and soft light creates a warmer feel.

Soft Light

Soft light refers to light that wraps around the subject and casts shadows with soft edges. The softness of the light depends mostly on:

1. •Distance of the light source. The closer the light source, the softer it becomes.
   

2. •Size of the light source. The larger the source, the softer it becomes.
   

3. •Angle of the light source between the illuminated object and the light source. The larger this angle is, the softer the light source.
   

There are numerous uses for soft light. If you start to carefully observe lighting in real life, you’ll see them for yourself. Soft light:

1. •Can cast shadow-less light.
   

2. •Can reduce shadows without creating additional shadows. This is called “fill lighting.”
   

3. •Can make a subject appear more youthful or presentable by making wrinkles less visible.
   

4. •Is created by a floodlight. Floodlights illuminate a large area with diffuse soft light.
   

Hard Light

Generally speaking, hard light is used to portray a mood, like in a theatrical presentation. Hard light:

1. •Will cast shadows that have harder, distinct edges with not much transition between illumination and shadow.
   

2. •Will produce harder-edged shadows.
   

3. •Will accentuate the textures and details in an object when hitting the textured surface at an angle.
   

4. •Is created by a spotlight. A spotlight produces a narrow, focused beam of light.
   

It’s All About Contrast

Lighting is important for a lot of reasons, but if we break it down to just one thing, it’s all about contrast. Contrast is the range between the darkest and the brightest areas that we can perceive. Unfortunately, even the best studio cameras can’t handle the contrast of the world’s reality the way our eyes see it. Most people perceive a contrast range of about 1000:1 (darkest to the brightest), but the best video cameras can only deliver a contrast range of about 250:1 and your average camcorder can handle a contrast range of about 100:1. In order to stay inside your camera's optimum exposure range, you have to compress the contrast range either by adding ambient light or by reducing light on overexposed areas.

For that reason, when we see a stage or location lit by video lighting, it doesn’t seem very realistic at all. When something looks well lit and easy to see to the naked eye, many times the lighting just won’t work for the camera because it’s out of the acceptable contrast range of the camera so we have to make everything brighter. That’s why you always see gigantic lights all over a movie set. All that light looks totally unrealistic to our eyes, but the camera sees it a lot differently. What that means is whenever you think you have plenty of light during a shoot, chances are the camera will want more.

Video Versus Home Lighting

One of the big differences between video lighting and home or architectural lighting that we’re so used to is the angle of the light. Architectural lighting is nearly always straight down from the ceiling, and that ends up casting some ugly shadows on the eyes and under the nose as a result. Video lighting is aimed into the subject's face rather than down on the top of her head. This eliminates some of the ugly shadows and sends light into the eyes of the subject so that the viewer can connect with the her.

It’s been found that anywhere from a 45 to 75 degree angle (measured from the top of the head) works best. You can prove this to yourself if you have an on-camera light or flash on a still camera. Any light that point directly into the eyes of the subject gives them more of a “deer in the headlights” look or makes them squint. That’s why the angle is easier on the subject and more flattering as well.