lighting

Cinematographer Shane Hurlbut explains lighting for day exteriors, writing, "Lighting day exteriors is as much about choosing the right time as it is about your manipulation of the daylight. Sometimes you can choose the time that you shoot. Many times, you are locked into a schedule that doesn’t necessarily work for your lighting approach. If it is not the right time, you have to go with it and do your best."

Read his full post here on his blog.

In this video from News Shooter on the NAB floor, Will from Manfrotto introduces their new pro line of LEDs that will consist of five on-board models and three 1x1 models.

Watch below.

Shane Hurlbut of Hurlbut Visuals writes: Many of you have heard me talk about how I light to eye by either looking at the back LCD screen or a  lighting monitor like an HP DreamColor. Lighting to eye is something that is based on experience and what you like esthetically. I trained my eye through the use of exposing film, not an LCD screen or a monitor, but a photo-chemical process and by the use of a light meter. Many say that the light meter is dead with digital. I disagree. It is the only tool that you have in your box that can measure what you love. It can tell you how you lit a specific scene in case you have to go back and pick something up later in your schedule. You will need that tool to measure footcandles and f-stops to guide you to make the match perfect.

READ THE FULL STORY HERE.

EOSHD reviews the Switronix TorchLED BOLT light, writing, "LEDs are in my opinion the future of cinema lighting. Until now though I’ve not been too satisfied with the throw of light they produce. Too short, too directional and the character of the light isn’t the most flattering. The BOLT has been designed with input from filmmakers and contains two sets of LEDs of different temperatures and you can mix the temperatures. What’s it like?"

Read the full review here.

On January 24, 2013 a new entry into the popular romance genre premiered – a multi-platform production called The Elements Club. Producer/writer Kys Realm and cinematographer Emily Perez carefully planned the production of “Lord of Lingering Shadows,” the first of 11 episodes, knowing that it would set an entirely new look and feel for the historical romance. “Our camera choice for the series was the Canon 5D with Canon 16-35mm lens,” says Realm. “But our saving grace was a variety of Litepanels LED lights. We simply could not have shot this first episode without them.”

Cinematographer David Mullen (Big Love, Smash) gives an in-depth lecture on Innovations in Lighting in this video from AbelCine Expo, including how he uses lighting cheats to create certain effects along with demos of new lighting fixtures.

Watch below. (via HowToFilmSchool)

AbelCine is now streaming its 5-hour AbelCine Expo: Innovations in Lighting. See the latest in new lighting technology and learn from DPs who are using current lighting tools to their advantage.

Watch below.

Cinematographer Ryan E. Walters shares his method for creating a lighting diagram, writing, "Preproduction is king in the projects that I work on...The better prepared you are going into a project, the better the end result and the easier it will be to deal with any challenges on set when they arise. (And believe me, they will happen). One of the crucial parts of preproduction for the projects that I am involved with is the creation of the lighting diagram, and I'm going to share with you what my process looks like..."

Read his full post here.

When New York-based cinematographer Quenell Jones was faced with a short shoot and tight locations for the upcoming short film "Waiting for SuperMEN," he immediately turned to Litepanels MicroPro as an on-camera light source for several crucial locations.

I’ve had a chance to play with a lot of little LED fixtures in the past couple of years. It seems these guys are everywhere, and they’re incredibly useful. Although I am rarely in a situation where I’m doing a standup interview with an LED mounted on the camera as a front light, I do use them on camera for eyelights or tuck them in corners for more general illumination. They’re versatile fixtures that work well in any number of situations.

Last time, I broke down the elements of tungsten light sources; for this second installment of Adventures in Lighting, we’ll take a look at fluorescent fixtures.

Designed by photographer Jerry Ghionis, the ICE Light is a handheld LED daylight light source that offers a soft and even wrap-around light without the need of heavy stands. The ergonomic design allows for single-handed operation and requires no additional mounting accessories.

The ICE Light retails for $499.90. Watch it in action below and read more about its specifications here.

With dozens of LED lighting vendors crowding the NAB Show exhibit halls a few months ago, LED technology has proved to be more than just a passing fad for television and motion picture applications.
 

Wide Open Camera and EVS present this light test involving two dozen different film lights. They write, "We kept it simple: we lit our subject, Simone, with each light without any diffusion and through a 2×3 silk.  Everything took place inside a 12×12 black duvatyne tent. Everything was shot on a Sony Fs100 with Metabones adapter and Zeiss ZE 35mm."

Watch the test below and read more here.

TV Technology delves into the pros and cons of LED lights, which have been consistently gaining in popularity over the past few years. They write, "There are certain provable advantages to LED lights. Their raw efficiency is 10 or more times that of tungsten fixtures. That efficiency means they throw off a small fraction of the heat of legacy lighting fixtures. Without needing heat resistant housings and lensing, LED lighting fixtures can be made more lightweight and compact than their predecessors.

Richard Harrington gives some tips for lighting properly for chroma key. He writes, "When shooting chroma key footage, be sure to turn off all the Auto settings on your camera. This means no auto-exposure, auto-white balance or auto-focus. If any of these are left on, the footage you are trying to key will constantly be changing as your subject moves. These constant fluctuations will make it harder for you to get good results.

DP Shane Hurlbut sings the praises of the portable Roscoe LitePad kit, writing that it "knocked [him] out with its size, versatility, color and punch. This light is LED technology, but used in a very different way than all the other lights on the market. It requires no heat syncs like a LitePanel light and is 3/8 of an inch thick. The big difference is that it does not fire the LED directly at you. It fires them sideways onto a white source that becomes your light. This is a very big deal."

International Cinematographers Guild, Local 600 along with IATSE Local 52 and ARRI/CSC present the Lighting Workshop and Digital Symposium: two days of master classes, presentations, panel discussions and show floor demonstrations about the art, craft and technology of lighting; cinematography; and digital workflows on-set and in postproduction. The expo will feature more than 30 camera, lighting, film negative, postproduction and accessory vendors and will focus on education.

PROGRAM DETAILS

AbelCine's Andy Shipsides and Jem Schofield of The C47 show you how to calibrate the Sekonic 308DC light meter to the light sensitivity of the Panasonic AG-AF100, thereby allowing you to quickly draft out your lighting set-up before you shoot. Watch below.