Lighting | Workshop

This workshop was our first introduction to learning about the lighting. We learnt about how to set it  up and what different filters and objects we could use to defuse some of the over exposed light. When setting it up we set up a camera as well so we could see what it would come out like because it looks different when you look at the set compared to looking through the camera. We were put into groups and given the task to experiment with the lighting and use different materials to give different effects on the lighting directed towards the model. I was in a group with Nisserin, Laura and Ellie, and we took turns operating the camera, operating the lights and being the model.

We experimented with the angles of the lights and the barn doors on the cameras to see how it would change the look of the scene and how effective it would be. As a big group, before we split into separate groups, we experimented with Ida as the model and changed the angle and position of the lights. In the first image we used one light which was directed to the left side of Ida's face, and the light was on flood lighting to make it spread across her face. In person the light looked very orange and had hints of redness in it, which doesn't make the model look natural. The ISO settings in the camera were changed and was white balanced to make the colours natural, which then made the lighting look natural and well lit. We then closed the barn doors to make a slight open which can be seen on Ida's face. We wanted the light to be shining on her eyes, specifically, so it looked like there was a line of light across her eyes. This was a little hard to do and we ended up using a few pieces of black card to hide some of the light and keep the focus on the eyes.

We then split up into groups of 4 and experimented with the lights ourselves. At first we experimented with just one model and we decided to see what it would look like if the light was behind the model at an angle. We placed the light behind Ellie at a far distance and kept the barn doors open with the spot light on. We then made sure she was behind a black background as we wanted the contrast between the dark colour and the bright light to be visible. I like this lighting look as it reminds me of shots they do in the X Factor when they are introducing the next act in the final shows, but also it makes me think of celebrities and how they are usually shown.

 

We also then tried with two models; Ellie and Laura. We moved the light further round to face the side of Ellie and we added another light in front of Laura on her right. We added an ND filter to the light on the left hand side of Ellie and saw that it made the colour more natural and less intense. We then experimented with different coloured filters to see what effect they had on the lighting. I liked the blue filter gel as it creates a natural colour but also gives a nice amount of blue light on the models.

 

I found this workshop very useful and I enjoyed learning and experimenting with the lights and finding different ways to create natural light.