THREE POINT LIGHTING FOR MULTI-CAM INTERVIEWS

This form of lighting technique is used to create a 3 dimensional look to the subject and is mostly used in interviews and anywhere where a subject is stationary looking towards the camera. However the principals of 3 point lighting can be applied to other types of filming scenarios as well. This is as long as you understand what each light is doing.

This type of lighting uses three lights (hence the name), your key light, fill light and back light. The key light is where you will light the front of your subject from a slight angle. This is often done with a soft light as its more flattering for peoples faces. The fill light is uses to fill in most of the shadows created by the key light. Usually this is 50% output of the key light to keep some shape to the lighting and not make the image look too flat. The back light or kicker/hair light is placed behind the subject and is used to separate the subject from the background. A hard light is often used so that it can be focused to where you want the light to be. A soft light may produce too much light spill onto your lens reducing contrast. This basic setup can be adapted to taste or the projects needs.

As part of your lighting kit you should have both soft lights and hard lights. In modern terms using LEDs this means having a light panel with attached softbox for a soft light and what’s called a COB light which is a single source light with a fresnel attachment giving you the ability to focus a hard light source. Its also possible to use a COB light with a softbox to create a soft light as well. This flexibility is why COB lights are becoming more and more popular. In essence the larger the light source, the softer the light. so the larger the softbox you buy the softer the light will be but also the more of the lights output you will lose. By contrast a fresnel will increase output by focusing the light to a smaller area.

Soft-Box attachment

Fresnel Light (hard)

Sometimes you may want to use a hard light as a key or fill to create a more edgy look. For example the interview could be part of a documentary about espionage where a more low key lighting look could be suitable. However for the most part a soft-light is used for key and fill. The amount you increase or lower the output on the fill light can give you a subtle stylised look as the more contrast on the face, the more low key and moody the interview will look. If you are looking at an image and want to know how it was lit then looking closely at the eyes will give you this information.

Here you can see the high key light and subtle fill in action. The lower output of the fill light creates a more cinematic look.

When shooting a multi-cam interview its better to have the second camera on the key light side so you have more light . With a slight adjustment to the back light the same basic light setup should be fine. without the need for a fourth light. Experiment with different ratios and lighting setups within these principles and you can adapt your lighting to fit the particular project you are working on. Good luck! TJK

GETTING STARTED AS A COLOURIST - 5 Steps To Get You Going...

• COMPUTER……Of course having a relatively fast computer will help you as working with proxy workflows is less useful with colour grading then it is for editors. This is because when colour grading the footage you want to see the full quality of the file and have all the colour information so you can make informed decisions when grading. So if you can buy a system that’s no more than a few years old you should be fine.

• DAVINCI RESOLVE…….Im biased because this is what I use however its commonly used throughout the industry and the basic version is completely free to download and start using. What I did is used the free version until I had earned the money needed for the studio version through my colour grading work. Another tip I would say is that the makers of this software Blackmagic Design offer a training course and exam that you can take making you a certified end user of DaVinci Resolve software. I did this and not only do you learn lots about the software and colour grading in general but being certified shows potential clients your efficiency at being a colourist.

• CONTROL SURFACE……Or balls! This is the one item that will make you look more like a professional colourist then any other. While colour grading you often have to grade many many clips in a day and have physical controls can really speed up your workflow. Blackmagic Design make their own ones which are probably the best ones to use with DaVinci Resolve however I decided to buy a Tangent Ripple which is made by a British company and the benefit of this one is you can use it within other editing systems to grade there and not only DaVinci Resolve like the Blackmagic one.

Tangent Ripple

• CONTROL AMBIENT LIGHT……Its very important to control the lighting in the room that you are colour grading. This is because our eyes are very sensitive to changes in the colour of the light and will adjust your perception of colour. Obviously what you don’t want is your grading to be different at the start of the day to the end of the day because theres a large window in the room your grading in. The solution is to use heavy curtains or blinds and buy a smart bulb. With this smart bulb you can set it to 5600K or 6000K which is fairly neutral and it will stay like that for as long as you are grading for. The smart bulb I bought was from a company called LIFX and they have a great app that makes everything really easy.

LIFX Bulb

• MONITOR……Finally probably the most important thing is to have a reliable monitor that is calibrated correctly. As this is what you will be basing all your creative decisions on so it better be accurate. Spending a bit of money on a monitor that is designed for either colour grading, photoshop or graphics work will cost more but will be better in the long run. Calibrating the monitor from time to time will also help and theirs many tools that allow you to do that yourself. The thing to remember is that you can’t control what screen people choose to watch your film or content after you have finished grading it. Thats why its good to check what your grade looks like on popular consumer products like ipads and tv screens to make sure its in the ballpark on all of these. Another last tip is to make sure the client giving you notes is using a good display to view your work otherwise you could be singing from two different hymn sheets.

So that’s all I have for now. Let me know your thoughts down below…..TJK Colour Grading

Perfect New Ways for Being A Hybrid Shooter in 2022

There are certain jobs I do that are very much ‘one man band’ jobs where I need to turn up with everything I need and shoot some nice content for a product or company.  Often on these shoots I am asked to shoot stills along side filming, supplying the client with more digital content to cover the event along with a 30 second video scissor-reel.  This is the norm for many people who are true hybrid shooters but only happens occasionally with me.  This is often due to the need to create different types of content to feed the needs of the many social media and marketing content platforms people use today.  It can be tricky to get your head into two ‘quite different’ disciplines of stills shooting and video shooting but I have recently found a good solution.

The Rotolight NEO 3 mounted onto the Canon R5C

I have recently bought the perfect hybrid shooter combo that makes shooting video and then switching things up into a photo-shoot very simple and intuitive.  These two products are both very new and only just finding their way into the hands of creatives as of June 2022.  The first is a camera called the Canon R5C which is arguably the first ever true hybrid video/stills camera.  This is because the interface completely changes when switching from photo to video which not only gives you the features you need for each discipline but also really helps in getting you into the right headspace.  In fact apart from poor battery life in video mode there seems to be very little comprise at all with it being a hybrid camera.  It's effectively a Canon R5 with a Canon cinema camera bolted onto it.  

It couldn’t be more simpler to switch between the two modes.

The second part of the combo is the Rotolight NEO 3 light.  This is suppose to be the most powerful toplight that mounts onto the camera ever made so can be used as a fill light even when filming outside without the need to keep moving a large light and light stand around.  The NEO 3 is battery powered so can be placed anywhere if desired and of course the continuous light can be used for stills as well but in true hybrid spirit it can work as a sync flash and offers double the output in that mode.  This can be used with a wireless receiver or more simply with a PC sync cable that connects directly into the Canon camera.  When shooting stills this can be useful for the power output as i said previously but also for battery life as you are not constantly draining the battery as with continues video lighting.  Icing on the cake is provided in the form of the RGB chips on the NEO 3 allowing the camera to use any colour you can think of in both video lighting and also flash lighting modes so carrying gels with you is no longer necessary.  For video, light effects are also included which can be useful at times depending on the project. 

The NEO 3 is battery powered and had a really user friendly interface.

It is great, the way these two products from different manufacturers can work so well together. In one moment I could be shooting with a model for a fashion video for on the Canon R5C shooting in video mode in 4k resolution and 120fps ‘slow-mo’.  While the NEO 3 attached to the camera via the cold shoe mount is giving me a nice fill light and attractive round reflections in the models eyes.   Later in the day I can switch the R5C over to photo mode and turn the model towards the sun to use as my key light.   Putting the NEO3 into flash mode I can use a long sync cable to place the NEO 3 just behind the model using it as a rim or hair light with the greater light output.  Doing all this with a camera and light that fits into a small backpack does feel like a bit of a game changer for hybrid shooters or any shooters that sometimes have to operate on their own.   Let me know what you guys think below……..TJK Equipment List