Indoor Lighting--to flood or not to flood?

**Mike Buckles** · April 21st, 2003, 04:03 AM

I've read a topic in the other super 8 forum where people were saying they were using 1k and 2k lights in their setups...my photoflood lighting kits only go up to 500 watts per head..they can switch between 250 and 500 watts..if i'm filming in a livingroom or dining room/bedroom etc. of a house, would it really be necessary to have that much light? Is it better to shoot with one 500 key and a 250 fill with a 500 on the background and let the camera meter close down if it needs to and lock it, or if the meter indicates enough light, have all lights on 250 watts? The rooms i'm shooting in are average size to small...those people using 1k lights must either be shooting on a professional set, or must be burning the wallpaper down at somebody's house! Any advice?

**Alex** · April 21st, 2003, 10:14 AM

The ceiling will affect your light output tremendously. The higher the ceiling, the less light will hit your actors on a bounce.

I assume we're talking about Kodachrome 40. Ceilings that are over 12 feet and you may start to feel like the 500's aren't enough.

I don't use 250's that often so I'm not sure under what situations they are ideal for. Remember, most video cameras have an approximate ASA of between 200-400, which probably makes them 2-3 stops more sensitive then Kodachrome 40.

**Mike Buckles** · April 21st, 2003, 08:00 PM

I actually had planned to use diffusers in front of the lights...do you recommend bouncing for either the key, fill or backlighting? It sounds like I should be using 500s on Kodachrome, and 250s on video. My ceilings are not high...about 7-8 feet.

**Alex** · April 21st, 2003, 08:24 PM

Bounce lighting off of ceilings can cause eye-sockets to look sunken in on some actors.

I just saw Spy Kids (the original). They used ultra soft, ultra big light sources, (you can see huge reflectors in the actors eyeballs most of the time. (If your actors wear glasses, big light sources can be a pain)

Spy Kids also used large set pieces in the background which seemed to work well off of the rather unrealistic facial lighting, so overall, two wrongs did make a light! [img]tongue.gif[/img]

You need to decide what is the purpose of your backlight, is it to give beautiful hair highlights, or is it add a thin line of light along your actors bodies to set it off from the background?

I don't normally diffuse the backlight. I may put it on a dimmer to set it at the intensity that I want.

That gives me an idea for a new topic, I hope you don't mind. [img]graemlins/idea.gif[/img]

**Greg Crawford** · April 21st, 2003, 10:01 PM

If your happy with your results keep doing what you have been doing. for beginners I would recommend using more broad fill. Then add key lighting and back lighting, (kicker) and background light as you build on your knowledge.

After a point when you add more lights you create the chance of double shadows and more problems, then you need more and more lights to eliminate these man made problems.

Are you aware of the "Inverse Square Law?"The inverse square law states that the intensity per unit area varies in inverse proportion to the square of the distance. Simply stated, double the distance and you lose 4 stops of light.

It is nearly impossible to light indoors with just one light source. If you have a half scrim, that's a device that allow one half of the light to go straight on through without being held back by the window screen like mesh. You can use one of these half scrims to cut back the light on the foreground while allowing the background to get a stop or two more light. This can help even things out. Scrimps and half scrims come in a single and a double rating.

If your lighting gear does not allow for scrims and half scrims try using ND Gels or diffusion material over one half of your light source. Attach it with clothespins to half of your barn doors. You will get nearly the same results of having a half scrim.

If your light sources do not have barn doors or burn to hot. try making a filter frame that you can hold in front of the light source (at a safe distance). You will probably need to light stands. One for the light and the another for the light control device.

C-stands are grate if you can fit a couple into your budget. They rent for about $5.00 a day or less. 3 or 4 day week rates at most rental
houses.

**Mike Buckles** · April 22nd, 2003, 01:06 AM

My light stands do have filter holders on them...I like the scrim idea...so I scrim half the foreground, so the background can be lit without flooding out the entire scene? I also like the idea of using the dimmer on the background light...i was afraid it would throw the color temp of the lighting off if I used a dimmer, but I guess it would be the same to switch the light between 250 and 500 watts...I plan to get some of my film transferred to video in the near future...I can hopefully post some screen shots of the low light tests I did with Kodachrome..turned out pretty good! thanks for the good advice everyone!

**Alex** · April 22nd, 2003, 07:33 PM

Sometimes run and gun shoots will try and make one light do two things. They allow the light to spill off of the subject, then put a bounce card to bounce the spill onto the fill side.

An interesting quick technique but one that probably works better with interview subjects than actors that need to move around the location.

**Actor** · April 23rd, 2003, 12:31 AM

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=2 face="verdana, sans-serif">quote:</font><table border="0" width="90%" bgcolor="#333333" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="0"><tr><td width="100%"><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#FF9900"><tr><td width="100%" bgcolor="#DDDDDD"><font size=2 face="verdana, sans-serif">
double the distance and you lose 4 stops of light.
</font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>
Wrong! If you double the distance you lose 2 stops of light.

Doubling the distance quadruples the area covered by the light. If you double the area you lose half the light; that's one stop. If you double the area again (quadrupling it) you lose half the remaining light; that's another stop, two stops total.