Lighting for Camcorder Video
By
Lawrence Benedict
Lighting is an art that has fascinated and absorbed great
cinematographers for their entire lives. Lighting tells more of the story
than most of us realize. When it is done right, you barely know it’s
there.
Our objective in lighting home videos is to improve the quality of our
videos by knowing a little something about movie lighting. Our first tip
is one that goes for everyone who gets involved in lighting,
professional or amateur.

Tip:
You don’t need any more light than you need.
Isn’t that comforting? I know of a portrait photographer who is invited
to do gallery exhibitions of his unique work where each of his subjects
was lit with one single incandescent (ordinary) household bulb. The
resulting photo portraits look like modern Rembrandts.

Lowlight Capabilities
With camcorders there are still limitations, however. When shooting
outdoors or in, the more light you have will result in brighter colors.
On the other hand, the lowlight capabilities of specific camcorders
determine at what point a shot will get muddy and “picture noise”
will appear in the dark areas.

If you plan to use your camcorder in under-lit situations, look at the
camcorder with the lowest “Lux” rating (the amount of candlelight a
camcorder can shoot in) and carefully test different camcorders in dark
areas before you make your purchase. How can you test a camcorder’s
low light function in a brightly lit store? We know a savvy sales rep
who connects the camcorders to a monitor, then places them inside a
cabinet and closes the door. The picture on the monitor tells the tale.
Some camcorders can shoot in very low light but the picture turns to
black and white, while others retain their color at the same lux level.
Acceptable Lux values, (1 through 10 or higher) are very subjective
and it is strongly advised that you compare the camcorder’s
performance with others in the same lighting conditions. A new
measurement created by The Electronic Industries Association (EIA-
639) is more reliable, but is slow to reach the marketplace.

Even Light is Best
The more even the light is in your scene or viewfinder, the better your
picture is going to be, especially the brilliance of colors and its ability
to handle the dark areas. Any area that is too bright will have a
tendency to lose picture information to the point where it has a
tendency to “Bloom out” or appear to contain no picture information
at all. The “Auto Iris” function on today’s camcorders is so effective
that it can handle the high-end low-end of illumination very well, so if
your scene is partly in shadow, frame it so it is all in shadow, or if it is
in full sunlight, avoid having dark areas in your shot.
When shooting out-of-doors, you will get the best results by having
the sun behind the camcorder, and off to one side or the other,
slightly, rather than shining directly on your subject.
The time between 4:00 and 8:00 pm, (approximately), is known to
professionals as “Golden Hour” because the sun is low in the sky,
and the atmosphere filters the light, giving the entire scene a romantic
golden glow.
If the sun is behind the subject and shining into the lens of the
camcorder, colors will be washed out, and lens flares (those colored
star burst effects) will be very distracting. However, a backlit subject,
framed with some planning, can add a halo-like effect to their hair
(see Three-Point Lighting – Backlight – below).
When a bright light behind a subject is unavoidable, you can use the
“Back Light” function of the camcorder that will help to brighten up
your subject while allowing the background to bloom out.
You can use available light when shooting your indoor home videos
to considerable effect, and you are not at the mercy of it. Set up table
lamps to illuminate the people in the room. If glaring light is blasting
in on a dim party room from a kitchen, lower the kitchen light. Turn off
the ceiling light in the kitchen, and use a couple of table lamps
instead.
Not only should you add light in advantageous places, lighting also
involves eliminating light that you don’t want. Is exterior light from a
window making everyone in the shot dark? Cover the window or frame
it out of the shot. To begin, let’s take a brief look at professional
Three-Point Lighting. The basic concept is quite simple and can tell us
a lot.

Professional Three-Point Lighting
For those of you who wish to learn more about lighting, and perhaps
move on from shooting home videos to documentaries, short movies
for the festival circuit, or even take a whack at your first feature, this
can be a lighting primer. It will give you an idea of how a basic scene
should be lit, and you can keep the arrangement of these lights in
mind even if you are not using lights.
Three-Point Lighting creates what is known as “Modeling;” (giving
a face the appearance of three dimensions and a flattering look while
eliminating shadows from the subject’s nose).
It is possible to rent three-light kits from large camera stores or video
rental houses for $50 or less a day, or you can buy cheap lights from
camera shops as well.
Lighting kits come with “Barndoors” to block or adjust “light spill”
and for attaching “gels.”
This is an example of a popular kit made by the Lowell lighting
company:
Lowell GO 97Z Lighting Kit Contains: 2 Tota-lights (T1-10) 2 750w,
120v Lamps (EMD) 1 Omni-light (01-10) 1 Omni Barndoor (01-20) 2
500w, …

The designation “Three-Point Lighting” comes from the positioning
around the subject of three lights (known as instruments to
professional lighting people). Each one has a different intensity.

The Key Light
This is the light that shines, most obviously, on the subject’s face. It is
positioned about 30 degrees to one side or the other of the camera,
and provides the strongest illumination. (It is very often “bounced”
off a “White Card” to give a softer look, or it can be “Diffused”
(covered with gauze-like material) to soften in a similar way.
“Lighting Umbrellas” can also be used, where the umbrella is
attached to the instrument and the light is turned away from the
subject, allowing the light to be reflected onto the subject from the
umbrella.

The “Fill Light”
The fill light is a softer light than the key light and is positioned about
30 degrees to the other side of the camera.
It is generally set further back than the key light allowing that side of
the face to remain slightly (or even strongly) in shadow. This gives a 3
dimensional shape to the face.
The fill light is most often “Bounced” (reflected off a white card) onto
the subject.

The “Back Light”
Artistically, this can be the most important light of all and it serves
several purposes.
It is generally the strongest of the three and is set (or hung) behind
the subject, shining down on their head and shoulders at about a
forty-five degree angle.
This instrument puts a rim of light around the subject’s head and
shoulders, serving the primary function of separating them from the
background that is the result of the two dimensional image created by
the camcorder. It has the additional benefit of creating a sort of halo
effect, adding a shining glow to the hair that is very flattering.

Even if you are not going to be using the formal lighting set up
described above, you can think about what modeling looks like and set
up practical lights to create a similar effect. (Everyday lights, that are
actually used in a shot, are known by professionals as “Practicals.”)
You can even cheat a little and put larger bulbs in them (though not so
big however that you melt someone’s favorite lamp! Do not exceed the
maximum wattage printed on the lamp). A light bulb that is used in a
professional lighting instrument is known as a “Lamp” and should not
be confused with a practical table lamp!

The Local Drug Mart or Home Improvement Store’s Staging and
Lighting Department.
I’ll bet you didn’t know they had one, did you! Here’s what you can
buy there for your shoot:
White cards (poster board or card stock) to bounce light.
Clothes pins to attach gels to barn doors.
Duct tape (when you can’t afford gaffers tape.)
Caution: these tapes will take paint off walls and leave sticky adhesive
on clothes; especially duct tape.
You can use blue painters’ tape that is almost as strong as duct tape,
to avoid having to repaint your friend’s wall.
Dental Floss, very strong, can be used for hanging pictures and the
floss won’t be visible on camera.

This article is excerpted from “How to Shoot Better Camcorder Videos
– Help from the Hollywood Pros”, by Lawrence Benedict.

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