The Lighting Diagram:


The Left Side Setup:


The Right Side Setup:

(As a side note- the blue furny pad that you see pictured is for helping to catch the soccer ball and later the tennis ball. It was not placed for light control.)

A View From the Center:

Why ...
Going into this shoot I knew that I wanted the final result to be a very graphic look - one that emphasized form and movement. To accomplish this I chose to go with a set of 3 1.2k HMI’s. Unfortunately one of the ballasts was D.O.A so I did not get a chance to play with the third light, but for this shoot it would have been overkill. Using the bigger lights enabled me to accomplish two things: 1. I had a bigger spread of light to work with & 2. I could work at the lower T-stop that I wanted. (Around the 4 - 5.6 range). When using a bigger light from further away not only is the spread of light bigger, but it is more consistent and even in its drop off. Since I would be working with very active subjects I wanted to have an even light spread around their frame of action.

The next thing I decided to control was the quality of light that would be hitting them. While I did want a graphic look, (one which a hard light would give me) I did want the light to wrap around the subject a little bit and help provide a little bit of fill. So to take some of the edge off of the light I placed 4x4 frames of 250 diffusion in front of each of the lights. These frames were then placed close to each light. Placing the frames close to the light means that the light would be softened some, but would still retain some of it’s original punch. (If I wanted more softness and less punch I could move the frame further away from the light.)

The last thing I needed to control was the light spill on the background. I’m a big fan of true blacks, and I can’t stand milky, noisy blacks. To get rich blacks not only do you have to expose properly, but you have to control the spill correctly. To control the spill first i used the barn doors on the lights to get the spill in the rough area I wanted it. But that was not enough, there was still some light falling on the background making it a milky black. (Could I have corrected it in post? Sure to some degree I can. But my preference is to do as much in camera as possible. It is always better and quicker to shoot it right then to try and fix it later.) So to stop the spill from hitting the back wall I placed a 4x4 floppy on the inside of each light. This effectively created an 8’ x 4’ barn door on one side of the light. (A floppy is a flag that has a side that you can un-velcrow to hang down and extend the flag. This extension is unsupported - it is “floppy” - hence it’s name.)

With my lights set in place I was able to get the hard edge with a slight wrap for the graphic look that I wanted to achieve for this shoot. The final resulting image is below.

RED BEAUTY:

How ...
For this shoot the black muslin was changed out for the white muslin and then I repositioned the lights accordingly. A single 1.2k HMI PAR with a soft lens was used to light the majority of the wall from about a 45 degree angle. The second 1.2k HMI with a soft lens was used for the key light and was placed at about a 45 degree angle from the camera. A 4x4 frame of 250 was placed in front of the key light and then an open single and an open double were placed to the left side of the light cutting down the foreground. A 150w HMI with 250 was placed as a key side fill coming from almost the same position as the camera. A second 150w HMI was hung high and pointed down to act as the hair light. and again the camera remained on the 8’ job for the shoot.

The Lighting Diagram:


The Left Side Setup:


The Right Side Setup:


The Right Side Setup - In Close Up:

Why ...
Ideally all three 1.2k HMI’s would have been working. Unfortunately this was not the case, so I have to adapt and make some concessions. My preference would have been to light the white muslin with two 1.2k HMI’s and use the third as the key light. But since this was not an option, I had to use one of the 2 1.2k HMI’s to do double duty...

To light the muslin I added a soft lens to the 1.2k HMI and pointed it towards the wall. Adding the soft lens gave me a wider spread to the beam giving a more even illumination to the wall. I experimented with adding a frame of diffusion in, but that cut my light down to far. I wanted the white to blow out into a white infinity. This was especially going to be important to help hide the wrinkles and creases in the material. The second 1.2k HMI helps to supplement this light and finish off the the back wall.

The next step was to light my talent. In opposition to the last lighting setup, I wanted this to be even, pleasing, soft beauty lighting. To soften the key light I added in a soft lens to the 1.2k HMI and placed a frame of diffusion to further soften the light. If the third light was working I would have spaced out the frame and the light so that it would have been even softer, but as it was I still needed some of that punch in the light to help over expose the back wall. To help me further separate the background from the foreground in exposure I placed a single and a double open net so that it cut 3 stops of exposure to the talent. This allowed me to overexpose the muslin while properly exposing the talent. (An Open Net is one that does not have a hard edge on the side of the frame. It is “open”, giving it its name. Having this open side allow a soft transition with the next. Whereas with a regular net that transition would be hard and noticeable.)

As we were lighting the talent, Jerry suggested that we try an old Hollywood glamor lighting trick - to use a key side fill. A key side fill is one that comes from the same side as the key and it gently wraps around to the fill side of the subject. This flattens out the lighting and helps to hide any wrinkles or blemishes that may be present - and was a must for many leading ladies of earlier films. This was a great suggestion as it was in keeping with the look and feel that I was after, so we went with it. And I must say that i was very happy with the results. The nice soft fill on the face really helps to make her look more glamorous and pleasing to the eye. (Not that she needs much help to start with.)

Finally, it was time to help add some separation to the talent and the background. The 150w HMI hair light helped to give a bit of an edge to the talent as well as to the white cloth that she was playing with. Not only would this help to provide separation from the white background, but it would also help me later when I was grading the footage as I need the separation to keep the detail in white cloth. The final resulting image is below.

An Additional Tip-
While it was not imperative for this shoot to be on a jib, having it on a jib allowed me to do two things which in the end really added to the success of the shoot. First it allowed me to add some extra movement to the shots making for a more dynamic feel. And secondly, it allowed me to quickly reposition the camera anywhere I wanted at a moments notice. This allowed me to keep to a tight schedule and get what I needed without a lot of lost time in changing setups. So consider your options on your next shoot- is there a solution that will both help inspire your creativity and vision as well as help cut time - if so that will go a long way in making for a successful shoot.

Cheers,
Ryan E. Walters, Cinematographer