 |
Television Lighting Design |
|
|
Lighting for television is a specific
art – and science. Those lighting designers who are the industries
best are not surprisingly - in demand by many networks and television
programs. The reason for this is simple: they understand the nuances
of how light can be manipulated and used to make the set –
and the actors look good. They also know how to hide less attractive
attributes. Light CoherenceCoherence is the hardness or softness of light and is probably the most misunderstood lighting principle. Hard light is light that is transmitted directly from a small point source. This results in coherent or parallel rays and provides a sharply defined appearance. What's a good example? The light from a focused spotlight or the sun at noon. Hard light casts a clearly defined shadow. And will show imperfections in the skin or the engraving on a piece of jewelry. For television lighting that requires this approach, you can use a beam-spot projector and ellipsoidal spotlight. Soft (diffused) light tends to hide surface irregularities and detail. Soft light sources are used in production to create a broad, even area of light. Because soft light tends to hide lines, and blemishes, it's good for fashion shots or other scenes where you want everything to look good. A soft light source placed close to the camera minimizes surface detail. This is called flat lighting. One thing to keep in mind however is that whatever you are lighting may appear dimensionless. Color TemperatureColor Temperature is a little more
peculiar. Under normal conditions, color consistency kicks in and
automatically makes a perceptual adjustment for sources of light
that we think are white. In television, color consistency
works differently. Major color shifts can happen between scenes
when they are cut together, unless we color correct. This is something
that is regularly done. Keep in mind that the color of sunlight can vary a lot based on the time of day, the amount of haze in the air, and where you are on earth. This is something many people don’t even think about. The color temperature of average summer shade is rather blue-about 8,000K. Midday skylight ranges from 9,500K to 30,000K. Light IntensityThe control of light intensity is the more exciting characteristic of light, especially in television, because of its effect on dramatic production. Light intensity is measured in foot-candles (candela) in the United States and in lux in most other countries; sunlight ranges from 32,000 to 100,000 lux, a well lit office has about 400 lux and TV studios are lit at about 1,000 lux. Most television cameras need at least 1000 lux of light to produce good quality video in the middle of the lens f-stop range. Many on-location shoots are done with as little as 30 foot-candles (about 300 lux) of light. And the latest generation of professional video cameras can produce a nice shot with less than one foot-candle (less than 10 lux) of light. A Final Word on TV Lighting Video, when compared to film, can appear flat and dimensionless. This is due to the lighting that’s used. What typically happens is that lighting angles and intensities are optimized for one to three camera angles and distances. To reduce shadows, the safest way to deal with this is to light relatively flat (high-key) using multiple key lights to cover every camera angle.About Angstrom Lighting Angstrom Lighting offers the best stage lighting, theater or theatrical lighting, concert lighting, dj lighting, video lighting, party lighting, event lighting and lighting rental fixtures, lighting supplies, lighting equipment, lighting design and lighting education in the industry. Angstrom Lighting is located in Hollywood, California; additional information can be found at http://www.angstromlighting.com Click Here to see Additional Angstrom Lighting Articles Click
Here to see Angstrom's
full line of products
|
