LIGHT Dr Tahzeeb Fatma
"The proper use of light can
embellish and dramatize every
object.”
Josef von Sternberg, one of the cinema's masters of film
lighting :
TYPES OF LIGHT
No matter how the light is technically generated, you will
work with two basic types: directional and diffused.
Directional light has a precise beam that causes
harsh shadows. The sun, a flashlight, and the
headlights of a car all produce directional light. You can
aim directional light at a specific area without much spill
into other areas.
Diffused light causes a more general illumination.
Its diffused beam spreads out quickly and illuminates
a large area. Because diffused light seems to come from
all directions (is omnidirectional), it has no clearly
defined shadows; they seem soft and transparent
CHARACTERISTICS
The light’s intensity (brightness) affects exposure.
A light’s quality refers to whether it is concentrated “hard” shadow forming light
or diffused “soft” shadowless illumination.
Lighting impacts contrast, which is the relative brightness of the lightest and
darkest areas in the shot.
The direction of the light has an effect on the appearance of the subject.
The light’s colour temperature refers to its overall color quality.
When using coloured light for effect, directors need to be concerned with:
Its hue (the predominant colour; for example, blue, green, and yellow)
Its saturation (chroma, purity, intensity) referring to its richness or
paleness
Its luminance (brightness, value), or how light or dark it appears
Much of the impact of an image comes from its
manipulation of lighting. In cinema, lighting is more
than just illumination that permits us to see the
action.
Lighter and darker areas within the frame help
create the overall composition of each shot and thus
guide our attention to certain objects and actions.
A brightly illuminated patch may draw our eye to a
key gesture, while a shadow may conceal a detail or
build up suspense about what may be present.
Lighting can also articulate textures: the curve of a
face, the grain of a piece of wood, the tracery of a
spider's web, the sheen of glass, the sparkle of a gem.
TYPES OF SHADOWS
There are two basic types of shadows, each of which
is important in film composition : attached shadows,
or shading, and cast shadows (conceal identity,
mystery, deformed shadows for drama)
TYPES OF LIGHT:
INSTRUMENTS
Spotlights
Most studio spotlights have glass lenses that help collect the light
rays and focus them into a precise beam.
Fresnel spotlight The workhorse of studio spotlights is the
Fresnel (pronounced “fra-nel”). Its thin, steplike lens.
Its lens creates a relatively light beam that can be partially blocked
by barn doors. This spotlight can be focused, tilted up and down,
and panned sideways by turning the knobs with a lighting pole (a
wooden pole with a metal hook at the end)
BEAM CONTROL OF FRESNEL SPOTLIGHT
A) To flood (or spread) the beam,
turn the focus spindle, ring, or
knob so that the lamp-reflector
unit moves toward the lens.
B) To spot (or focus) the beam,
turn the focus spindle, ring, or
knob so that the lamp-reflector
unit moves away from the lens
ELLIPSOIDAL SPOTLIGHT
The ellipsoidal spotlight produces a sharp, highly defined
beam. Even when in a flood position, the ellipsoidal beam is still
sharper than the focused beam of a Fresnel spot. Ellipsoidal spots
are generally used when specific, precise lighting tasks are
necessary.
As with the Fresnel, you can spot and flood the light beam of the
ellipsoidal. Instead of sliding the lamp inside the instrument,
however, you focus the ellipsoidal spot by moving its lens in and
out.
Some ellipsoidal spotlights can also be used as
pattern projectors. These instruments are equipped
with a slot next to the beamshaping shutters, which
can hold a metal pattern called a cucoloris, or
cookie for short. The ellipsoidal spot projects the
FOLLOW SPOT
Sometimes you may find that a television show requires a
follow spot, a powerful special-effects spotlight used primarily to
simulate theatre stage effects. The follow spot generally follows
action, such as dancers, ice skaters, or single performers moving in
front of a stage curtain
FLOODLIGHTS
Floodlights are designed to produce great amounts of highly
diffused light. They are often used as principal sources of light (key
lights) in situations where shadows are to be kept to a minimum,
such as news sets and product displays; to slow down falloff
(reduce contrast between light and shadow areas); and to provide
baselight.
With some floodlights, as with some spotlights, you can adjust the
spread of the beam so that undue spill into other set areas can be
minimized. You can also create a floodlight effect by flooding the
beam of a spotlight and diffusing it further with a scrim.
There are four basic types of studio floodlights: (1) the
scoop, (2) the softlight and the broad, (3) the fluorescent
floodlight bank, and (4) the strip, or eye light.
Named for its peculiar scooplike reflector, the scoop is
one of the more popular floodlights. Although it has no
lens, it nevertheless produces a fairly directional but
diffused light beam.
Softlight and broad Softlights are used for even,
extremely diffused lighting. They have large tubelike
lamps, a diffusing reflector in the back of the large
housing, and a diffusing material covering the front
opening to further diffuse the light. Softlights are often
used for flat (virtually shadowless) lighting setups.
Scoop Light
Incandescent Softlight
Fluorescent floodlight bank The fluorescent floodlight
bank goes back to t h e early days of television lighting. In those
days the banks were large, heavy, and not very efficient. Today's
fluorescent banks are relatively lightweight, much more efficient.
These floodlight banks act like softlights except that they do not
get as hot as incandescent floodlights of equal output. Some
floodlight banks use lamps that operate on various fluorescent-
like principles.
Strip, or cyc, light This type of instrument is
commonly used to achieve even illumination of large
set areas.
REFLECTOR
Reflectors can be used in many situations with a variety
of techniques.
A. The sun provides the key light, and the reflector
is the fill light.
How effective a reflector is depends on its surface and on
its angle to the sun or other light sources. If a reflector is
used beside the camera and reflects a source directly
ahead of the camera, the intensity and coverage of the
reflected light is at its maximum. As the reflector is
angled to the source, its output and its coverage fall.
Any large white cardboard will do almost as well. If you
need a more efficient reflector (one that reflects more
light), you can crumple up some aluminum foil to get an
uneven surface (for a more diffused reflection) and then
tape it to a piece of cardboard,
BOUNCE LIGHT
It is a common trick in photography to point the flash at the ceiling
or a wall when photographing interiors to give the scene an overall
wash of diffused bounce light. However, don’t use a coloured
surface, or the reflected light will have a similar hue.
DIFFUSER
A diffuser is a large piece of translucent material that you place
between the light and the subject to spread the light and make it
softer. The size of the diffuser depends on your subject.
GELS.
When coloured lighting is needed, a sheet of coloured plastic,
called gelatin or a “gel,” is clipped onto the front of a lighting
instrument, making sure that the gel does not to restrict the
ventilation of the lamp.
Gels help control the intensity of light (ND Filters), change indoor
light to outdoor (colour-temperature blue (CTB) gels) and change
outdoor window light to indoor light (colour temperature orange
(CTO) gels). The kits may also include gel frames to mount the gels
on the lights.
THREE POINT LIGHTING
Three-point
lighting is also
known as
“triangle
lighting”
Or
“photographic
lighting.” Three
lights are used to
create the
lighting
treatment:
the key, fill, and
The main light, or key light, is positioned slightly above
and to one side of the camera. This is normally a
spotlight, and it reveals the shape and surface features
of the subject. The key light produces district, harsh
shadows.
The fill light is a floodlight that is placed on the opposite
side of the camera from the key light. It reduces the
shadows (made by the key light) but should not
eliminate the shadows. The fill light also reduces the
lighting contrast.
A backlight is angled down onto the subject from behind
to separate the subject and the background. The
backlight emphasizes the shape of the subject.
