Lighting Essentials

Lighting has been pretty much brutalized in small market video (zoom, youtube, Speakers Bureau streaming).

Lighting is not actually all that difficult to understand, and the result of attention to the basics can provide an enormous boost to the production quality of your video presentation.

Lighting is made up of different sources and different colors and intensity. Marrying them together can be dizzying. Finding a place to shoot the occasional video presentation where we can control 100% of the light is not within the budget (or space) of most presenters. So being able to control ALL of the lighting is far from possible. But we can cleverly make use of what we have.

We're not trying to design a Cecil B Demille set, just get folks to be able to view a video presentation and not be distracted from the message by the media carrying the message.

Light comes to us in two flavors, Point Source and Diffused. Direct sunlight and most LED lighting is pretty much a point source light. Sunlight filtered through cloud layer and florescent lighting is pretty much diffused light. Point source light tends to sharpen the edges of things like faces and hair, while diffused light tends to soften the edges of things like wrinkles, and double chins. See how this works?

If you want to minimize wrinkles (who doesn't), shoot with diffused light. If the only light you have is direct (point source) sunlight from a window, place some diffusing cloth between the window and the Talent (your face).

Lighting comes in several colors: Sunlight is brightest white due to its ultraviolet quality , Florescent white is next in line towards infrared.  LEDs can come in a range of colors from bright white (near ultra-violet) to downright red (towards infrared). Incandescent lamps glow closer to infrared.

The different colors of light can produce faces that can look markedly pasty, all the way to faces that look like they are just back from a Florida sunburn. Neither of which is particularly attractive or endearing to the viewer. In fact poor color light can materially distract the viewer from your message.

The good news is that video recording devices usually contain some algorithms that help in automatically adjusting the color temperature (that's how lighting color is measured) of lighting affecting the recorded image. But the quality of the circuitry in the camera can easily be overrun by the shear number of different color lights on the 'set'.

If your face is being lighted entirely by the sun, the camera color adjustment (called color balance) will do a pretty good job of duplicating flesh tones. The same is true if entirely lighted by incandescent lamps. It's the mix of many colors that  drive camera auto white balancing nuts-o. So the second step in improving video lighting is to avoid mixed light sources as mush as possible.

You don't want to look like you are shooting in a tunnel, Make sure you throw some light on your background. The light does not need to cause the background to overpower the Talent, just enough to give the shot some depth.

The best way to make your face stand out from your background is by adding a Backlight. A backlight is a low intensity lamp shining down on you from behind, but outside the frame of the video. A Backlight creates a spectral highlight around your head that makes the edges stand out just a little from your background. This is a real subtle change in light, but produces a startling effect on video. It is also a great way to highlight your hair highlights.

While you are trying all these light positions for your quality video, remember that no light should be shining right into the camera lens. The automatic gain control in the camera will shut down the aperture of the lens putting your face in darkness - similar to standing outside and trying to see someone while looking into the sun.

Reflectors are fabric or plastic hoops finished with a shiny surface on one side and a flat surface on the reverse side. They are used to reflect light into areas that need it and away from areas that don't. Reflectors are held in place with special clamps, but can be just as effective if held by an assistant or duck-taped to a floor lamp. Reflectors result in color matched light, and little additional heat generated by extra lamps.

OK, now you know enough to be dangerous...I have done my job.