Basic Lighting for ENG
Bad lighting is never acceptable no matter how rushed you are. No matter how good an
editor you are, trying to save a poorly lit interview in editing is just a recipe for disaster. It
can be done but you won’t be fooling anyone. Three-point lighting is always the preferred
way of lighting a subject but let’s face it not every ENG crew has the time or the manpower
to set that up. When the Mayor tells you that you have 1 minute for your interview because
he has to go into a meeting you can’t say OK but wait 5 minutes while I set up these lights.
What can you do?
1. Camera light. Keep a battery on it and ready to go at a moment’s notice. While it
doesn’t tend to throw a lot of light it will at least get rid of some of the darkness in and
around their eyes. Sometimes it is all you need if you use it in combination with opening of
the iris.
2. Don’t shoot on Automatic anything. The auto iris function reads the light level for the
entire screen. So if there is something really bright the camera will iris down to make that
the highest point at 100 percent. Sometimes it is OK to overexpose the background in
order for the guest to be properly exposed. To do this simply open the manual iris by a
stop or two. The background becomes over exposed but the camera clips it off at 110
percent so now it becomes an artistic choice. What happens if you spin the guest around so
there is a dark background behind them? You can then open the iris without overexposing
the background.
3. Let the sun shine in…. If you are near a window or door where there is lots of daylight
spilling into the picture…USE IT. Let me be clear I am not advocating shooting a silhouette
in front of a window. If you put that window to your side or behind you then you can use
the daylight as a light source. Make sure you white balance the camera for outdoor light
even though you are indoors because the main light source is the sun. Now if you turn on
the camera light and set it to Daylight this will fill in some of the shadows and make for a
better-lit shot.
4. Know your numbers…. If you have a 6500 degree white balance indoors someone is
going to look pretty blue when you get back to the station unless you shot on an outdoor
filter. Light is measured in degrees Kelvin going from 3200 for indoor light to 5600 for
outdoor light. In between are fluorescent lights that range from 3700 to 4900. So what
does all this mean? You need to match up the proper filter with the proper light source.
Indoor or clear filters should have a white balance temperature between 2000 and 4000
degrees. Outdoor filters (with or without Neutral Density) should be between 5000 and
7500 degrees.
Back to the example, why is the subject so blue? The camera white
balanced at 6500 degrees that should immediately tell you that there is an awful lot of
daylight present. But you were indoors shouldn’t you use an indoor filter? The short
answer is no you should use a filter equivalent to the light source. This is a case where
having a color viewfinder is an advantage. What does it look like? If it is blue in the field it
will be blue back home. In rare instances the camera will compensate and the flesh tones
will be fine but the background is off color. Changing to the correct filter will solve that
problem.
5. Know your number part 2… It stands to reason that as day turns into night that the
color balance should drop as the sun goes down. For the most part that is true. When it is
dark outside you want to use an indoor or “clear” filter. That in combination with a light
either camera mounted or on a stand should give you a 3200 degree white balance. The
exception to this is that some streetlights are very strange color temperatures and do weird
things to the white balance. Check your color viewfinder to make sure it looks correct.
Dusk and Dawn make the temperature go in the opposite direction. So as day turns into
night the color temperature actually goes up. It is not uncommon that in the one hour
before the sun sets to go from 5600 degrees to 9000 degrees. And then 10 minutes later it
is 3900 degrees. Bottom line between those hours constantly white balance.
6. If the sun isn’t where you want it …MOVE IT. Not really…since you can’t actually
move the sun how about reflecting its light to where you want it. Take a folding Flexfill
reflector and adjust it so the reflected light lights your subject. The EDC offers Gold and
Silver Flexfills as options when you take out a camera. The Gold side tends to throw a
warmer light while the silver side is a little harsher. Reflected light can really balance out
the shadows from an outdoor stand up. You can also use a large piece of poster board or
anything else that is reflective. Avoid overly shiny material such as chrome or other types
of metal. Reflectors can also be used to bounce light from a camera or stand light. You
have to be careful that you don’t have them too close to each other so you don’t burn the
reflector. Simply turn the light away from your subject and then reflect the light onto the
guest. A white ceiling also accomplishes this task.