Lighting for film and video can be complex and time consuming, some cinematographers will take many hours to light a scene. Fortunately, there's usually a great ball of fire in the sky that is simple to use and can help create a beautiful look. Also works indoors!
the two main types of light
Although there are hundreds of different types of light available and thousands of ways to use them; really light can be split into just two types - hard light and soft light
hard light
also known as: point, direct or hard light
olympia at checkout
This light is usually more dramatic and creates shadows. Some examples of hard light are:
- Film lights pointing directly at the subject
- Sunlight without cloud
- An angle poise lamp
Hard light can usually be made softer but making softlight hard is more difficult - or perhaps it's pointless :-)
soft light
also known as: soft, bounce, diffuse & fill
olympia onboard the boat
This gives a more even gentle light to your scene, with less shadows. There are a number of ways it can be created:
- Reflecting a lamp off the ceiling or a white wall (easy, but not very manouverable)
- Bouncing light off a large white reflector, a sheet of builders polystyrene board for interiors or a 'Lastolite' pop out white reflector
- Placing a sheet of 'trace' in front of a lamp
- Placing some diffuse material over a sun blasted window (net curtains can do a pretty good job here)
- Use special film lights called kino-flos (which are a largish bank of flourescent lamps positioned close together)
- Sun completely obscured by cloud
- Filming in total shade
Some people suggest tinfoil as a soft reflector, this is often too mirror-like and you end up with a hard light reflection, there's nothing like flat white
Essentially the wider (and usually nearer) the soft light is the softer everything becomes. Although if your soft light gets too small or far away it can infact become a hard light source.
Totally soft light everywhere with no modelling light or direct light can create a bland look. Good lighting is usually a balance of both hard and soft light