lighting allows an audience to see what your shooting. Lighting is a tool that adds depth, texture, and nuance to a composition. Careful use of (skillful) lighting can make any shot a great shot audience
white balance-
light has a color cast that tints the objects in a shot. Unlike the human eye a camera does not compensate for differences in lighting for better or for worse. (37)
Cinematographers use the term "Color Temperature" to refer to the range of color a light source emits, and is measured as a temperature in units called Kelvin. (at the end of the scale light sources emit more red and yellow light, at the higher end they emit more blue light.
Avoid mixed lighting situations. Filmmakers avoid household light bulbs and flurescent lights in a room, and use tungsten lights to shot a shot. Film reels are balanced to shoot in daylight (or tungsten environments). Daylight film= outside. tungsten= indoor shoot. Dv camcorders have white balance features (take a sample of the white in the area every time camcorder setup is changed. Color temperature of indoor lighting varies depending on type of lights, while the temperature outdoors depends on the time of day.
Lights in a indoor location or daylight coming through windows can make a mixed lighting situation making a preset white balance useless. Setting white balance example.(39)
Setting an aperture
-exposure: the way light interacts with a negative to create an image.
wider apertures let in more light, smaller apertures allow less light to pass
Relying on a automatic setting does not give much control
Aperture of a camcorder is like Iris of human eye (both expand to let more light in, or contract to keep them out.
Different exposure settings can have someone in focus with an abstract background, or a bright background with the person being a silhouette.
Zebra Lines tell you if a shot is too bright or not. Too much zebra lines all over the frame means too much light has been let in, while no visible zebra lights could mean the exposure may be darker. (blown out=over exposed)
A camcorder with zebra lines would show thin diagonal lines indicating a problem. No zebra lines could mean the shot is good.
Indoor Lighting
careful lighting and subtle shadows give an image texture and depth. Paying too much attention to evenly expose all areas of a frame can make a shot lose its shading and nuances. Following the rules to the "T" isn't always completely necessary.
Buying a light kit may help
Fine-tuning light set-up
-keys to interview lighting are diffusion( fabric made of spun glass going in front of a light to soften the output- it makes the light softer and more manageable to a cinematographer) and light source placement (the light creates very bright areas and very dark shadows). Both of these create a more even light source (bright spots are pleasant lights, dark spots show detail and contour).
However, lights get very hot.
Chimera: lightning kit that allows a cinematographer to create intricate lighting effects that fade from light to dark under the control of the filmmaker.
(page 44 picture) a small light is used to fill any uninvited shadows (fill light). The Chimera serves as a primary light creating highlights (key light). A hair light adds a crescent-shaped shine to the head of the interviewee. It helps separate their head from the background (picture). (Links.)
Outdoor ligthing. (45)
For Outdoor lighting shooting in bright sunny settings isn't the best idea as it creates dark shadows. An object such as a I neutral density (nd) filter and a bounce card can be used.
a neutral density filter darkens the objects in a shot, but does not change the color casts, via a glass filter placed over the lens of a camcorder (a camcorder may have a built in ND function).
A Bounce Card is works the same way as a reflective screen used in a car windshield to prevent it from getting too hot. It bounces light to where you want it.
These items are especially useful when the subject has on a cap to avoid shadows under the cap (i.e. placing a bounce card under the face to eliminate the shadows under the cap
Shooting at night especially during dusk, because daylight looks blue during this time. The Golden Hour is the time immediately before/after a sunset because it gives off an especially warm glow (everything looks better onscreen).
Shooting at night may or low-light settings may require manual exposure settings, careful focus, and a high contrast viewfinder. A viewfinder may be helpful in avoiding grainy shots.
The Depth of field may be limited in darkers shots. In bright daylight a cinematographer can easily keep the foreground and background of an image in focus at the same time. At night it is more shallow, so it can make it harder to keep all areas in frame in focus. Automatic Focus on a camera, may cause it to be obvious that the camera does not know which person (subject) to focus on.
closing terms
daylight is blue, indoor light is yellow, white balance, manual functions are better, cloudy days are great for lighting, chimera and hair lights are good for indoor shoots, certain problems such as focus and under/over exposure are hard to fix in post production
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