All language subtitles for 21-TheaterShootLightingWalkthrough.mp4

Now I'm going to show you the lighting
diagram,

what it looked like.

And then we're going to look at a
video.

That's a walk throughout, and you can
see it in place.

Don't be too scared by the diagram.

Let's go get the time that we go.

So this is the stage.

This is how I broke it up.

So stage is the bottom third, the
middle third is the downstairs.

And then this is the mezinine up here.

Just to kind of put it into

perspective for you,

this is where it ended up.

So you can see some of the
considerations that were being made and

some of the things that were being set
up in the first video.

This is where it finalizes.

And I'm going to show you the video in
that a second.

But so we got the two multi spots back
on the mesin which we're creating the

spotlight effect.

I've got my

five foot octabox as like my main key
light from my subject.

Everything else other than maybe

this.

Like, this is kind of like the
enclosure when you're thinking about am

lighting in studio.

This is for the most part what you're
thinking about, right?

Key light,

fill light.

And then these were creating the glow
and the rim on the back of her two

lights.

There

that's her little tiny world.

Everything else is environmental.

So this is about lighting the space

more so than the subject,

because that was the challenge here.

So

this is a b one with a warming gel.

It's casting a little bit of light
across the stage.

Now, this is also like two degrees,
putting a little bit of light on her as

well, but it's just lighting up the
edge of the stage a little bit.

This one over here in the back left
corner.

This is a b one with a cto.

This is kind of mimicking.

If you saw in the original shot, there
was like a light over the backstage air

on the left hand side it's that.

It just meant to flare it a little bit
more, so it's augmenting.

What's there

building on that idea of motivated and
practical light.

The d one, modeling light is the d one
is the modeling light.

Only I wasn't even firing it as a
strobe.

I just wanted a really low power fill
on that.

And so I think I ended up turning it
really close to all the way up on the

modeling light.

But it was enough power that could just
give me a little bit of kick to the

shadows, which is what I had in the
behind the Scenes, sorry, in the

backstage, lights

that I lost when I turned them off,
because it was creating those bad

shadows on the neck.

And so that was kind of solving that
issue.

These two lights here are just creating
a little bit of visual interest across

the tops of the seats and the aisle.

Ways to put a little bit of light
across the tops of the seats, give me a

little bit more visual interest.

And that's the exact same thing that
this is doing in the back, the back.

So it was like, all right, build the
spotlights, that's in place, make sure

she looks how she needs to look.

And then, sorry, what is it?

Ok?

This is just

too visually

heavy.

Over here with the shadow.

Let's put a light in there.

Let's put a little bit of light across
some chairs.

Now it's okay.

Now let's suit over there.

Ahman up in the top.

Corner it's also really dark.

Let's put a light up there.

That was just me looking through the
frame and going, what's missing, what's

missing, what's missing, what's missing.

And then sometimes you have someone
walk around the space.

I'd have, like, Lindsay, walker on the
space.

Take a shot, fire it.

Take a shot fire it like how does this
light look

in different places?

No, I like it here.

Great let's anchor it down, hide it,
put a cto on.

It's ready to go.

And so sometimes it was just a matter
of finessing and figuring out where

those little

bits needed to go.

As why it used the modeling lights, as
opposed to slash was just a power

issue.

It was totally a power issue.

I was shooting

at like, 1602000

io because I couldn't control

the theater lights.

And so I needed to get it pretty dark,
because I was shooting it,

like, probably 130th

of a second, maybe even slower.

And so

the

d one, the five foot, I turned it all
the way down, still too bright,

so then I ended it underneath to make
it even darker.

Then I turned it away like it was all
about, because I needed the pop of

flash to freeze her, but I needed a
power less.

And so that's like, I had to keep

this being as low as it was, in no way,
shape or form, was this going to be

the minimal kick that I needed.

So I used the modeling light, but

I also didn't have to use a cto on it,
which I was short on.

So it was just another solution to get
to what I wanted.

All right.

So

that said, let's take a look.

Aunt

the lighting, walk through.

Now we've gone through, and we've made
a lot of our changes.

We've tweaked a lot of the lights that
we were already working on before, and

we really kind of dialed in what we're
trying to achieve

with this image.

It helped to get the model in position
in her dress.

And that really actually changed what
we were lighting a little bit.

So I want to take you through where we
ended up.

Previously I had said we were going to
leave the backstage lights on.

I found that I was casting too harsh of
a shadow.

We cut it off.

But

what ended up happening as a result is
we lost any kind of fillight we had in

the shadow area.

So I ended up bringing in,

this is just a regular pro photo b, one
light.

I'm not actually using it as a strobe.

I'm using it the modeling light,
because I wanted to do something with a

really low power that was a little bit
warm.

And so that's why I have that in
position, that I just use a giant umbrella

at a very high setting on the modeling
light, because it's not supremely

powerful, but it's enough to give me a
little kick to the shadows.

The key lights,

roughly in the same place.

We moved it forward a little bit.

It's still a five foot octabox.

It is also at a very low power.

We couldn't quite get it low enough, so
we ended up using additional layers of

diffusion and Nd on the inside to
really bring the power of that down.

And I wanted to make sure that my key
light was a strobe, because we are

shooting at a really slow shutter
speed.

That's going to freeze the light a
little bit and make sure the subject is

in focus.

If I were to shoot this at like a 15th
of a second, which is what I met

already, the subject's going to be a
little bit soft.

So that key light as a strobe, is going
to help lock that in to be frozen

over on the

camera.

Left side, we ended up adding in

a stroblight to give a little bit a
kick, because we turned off one of

those background lights.

That's giving us a little bit of flair.

On the left hand side, we've left that
corner

practical light on.

It's just giving me a little bit of an
interest in that dark corner.

In the

back of the theater we still have are
two multi spots with the datalight

attachments to give us those spotlight
effect.

Those are both on the mesanine.

So let's break down a little bit of
what's happening environmentally.

So up top, on the mesinine, I have the
two spotlights,

that's my multi spots with the
datalight attachments, as you're giving

me my main flares right at camera.

I also have one more light up there
that's raking across the chairs to give

me a little bit of light texture across
what would otherwise be a pretty dark

section of the image.

Down below, I have two lights on the
chairs, again, giving you that same

texture like I had before.

And then I've also got another light
raking across the stage to give me a

little bit of texture across that as
well.

Once I got my model into position, I
found that the light wasn't really

glowing as much as I wanted it to.

So I added a light on the back side of
her dress,

which is a b one, on the floor.

Again, this is a modeling light, just
cranked up really high.

And then to get a little bit more
creative, I happen to have a flashlight

in my bag,

which we gelled, and we turned this on.

It's pretty bright it's actually quite
a bit brighter than the modeling

lights.

And so this is going to create kind of
the flair and the spotlight of what

would be hitting the back of my
subject's head.

And so that's those two together, kind
of creating that full body spotlight

effect to kind of solve the problem of
the spotlights in the back not quite

being as bright

as I would have hoped them to be.

So for those of you keeping track at
home, total number of lights, we've got

eight strobes.

We have two strobes as a constant
modeling light.

So think of those as just a regular
constant light.

And we have one flashlight, bringing
the total number of lights to today,

set to eleven.

Now we've done our lighting tests.

We've got everything kind of in
position where we want.

It's the time to put all of the hard
work into play and bring out our

subject and actually start taking some
pictures.

All right,

so

I'm going to put this up one more time.

And while we do this, I'm going to take
a look at

the light room catalog one more time.

And I want to show you what the before
and after is

on

the environment by the time we've added
in the haze,

we've added in the spotlights, back
there.

And obviously there's no hair light,
because it's a cleaner stage,

but here's my octaboch.

You might have seen this, and it's not
in the diagram, but you might have seen

this in the video.

There was a flag.

And the reason that flag was there is
because, as I started to move, the light

feathered off of for a little bit to
decrease.

The power it's pointing right at my
camera.

And because it's hazy and at my camera
it's flaring.

And so the flag comes in, and it blocks
that

light from being as strong on the right
side of my frame and on my camera.

And that's what that's for, it's just
meant to stop the flare from hitting me

in the face.

You can see that little kick over here.

There's also another one scooting
across that area down here a little bit.

And you can't really quite see it all
that much.

Sees me in this frame,

what you'll see it in one of the other
ones.

But there's a little bit of texture

to the seats up here.

It's very, very faint,

but you can kind of see a couple of
them over here creating a little bit of

visual interest across the chairs.

Otherwise, this just becomes a dark
void as does this a little bit.

And so it's in.

And over here you can see it flaring a
little bit because it's pointed at camera.

And so it's meant to mimic what was
already happening over there, but it

just gives me a little bit of texture
to the light.

And so this is

basically where the background ended up
before we brought in the subject.

And huge difference, although I still
think it holds onto

what it's meant to feel like.

And so that's what that was.

Now,

from here, we actually brought into the
subject.

And this is what one of the early test
frames ended up looking like.

And you can see how that rim light

creates this really beautiful outline
of her

all the way around.

And it's also meant to mimic what these
are doing, because they couldn't quite

reach her in terms of power.

So even at 1200 Watts, they weren't
really giving me that rim that I

wanted.

So those lights behind her are achieved
that way.

All right.

Now,

put that lighting diagram back up there.

And before we actually,

you know,

move away from this section toward the
next section,

I want to maybe take some questions
about the lighting setup.

So photomaker asks can a grid modifier,
be put on a flashlight and would have

behaved the same way as a grid on a
more professional stroke.

I'm going to say, sure.

I would think so.

I mean, you're using a really small
flashlight that looked like, yeah, it

was, it's a pretty small flashlight,
it's the one that I was showing earlier.

I would probably think that if you were
going to do it, it would need to be

a really small grid, like a small
degree, we might be, my thought,

my beam was pretty tight as is.

So I would think

you may not need it, but

I would think so, like, in terms of
possibility, it would make sense that

you could.

In as far as your flashlight goes, can
you talk a little bit about, like, for

somebody just starting out and who
doesn't have access to all this stuff,

like, how creative can you get with

flashlights and

stuff like that?

I mean, light, at the end of the day, is

light as light, you know.

And whether it's,

there are certain reasons that you go
with one kind of light versus another.

Sometimes it's power, sometimes it's
the ecosystem that comes along with the

modifiers and what you can buy for.

And sometimes it's certain features.

Sometimes it's the ability to fix them
I'd actually think that's a really

important thing.

That a lot of people don't talk about,

how easy something is to be repaired,
because things break.

And there are tools, and I can be hard
on my tools sometimes.

And so I know that if something is
broken, I want to be able to send it in

somewhere, to get it fixed versus
having to buy another one, like that's

something I think about.

The flashlight was more, so just a fun
thing to go, well, we can do this.

So why not just be a little bit
creative?

And I think it's important, because you
look at it, and I can't tell the

difference between it being a
flashlight and it being a regular

light, and that's

really the point.

I mean, knowing what light does,
knowing what hard light looks like and

soft light looks like,

the ways in which you modify it are
endless.

I mean, I change the color of it.

in just this particular instance, or
you make it brighter, make it darker,

you can make it brighter by moving it
in.

And

the more you understand just light in
general, and the tools of light, it

really opens up the Doors to being able
to do whatever you want with it.

Someone told me a long time ago,
lighting is easy.

You put light where you want it, and
you block light where you don't

that's it.

And it's very simple, like it's, but
it's

like, once you understand the tools,
once you understand how to move a

light, point, a light, modify a light,

all you have to do is know what you
want.

We oftentimes go into a situation not
knowing what we want, or being unsure

about what we want.

And the more confident you are in
knowing what that is, the easier it is

to lighten and get your point across.

I mean, obviously you're not going to
be able to light a theater with two

lights.

It doesn't work that way.

But

you can compromise.

Maybe you come in, you put a low
powered light on your subject, you put

them out in the middle of the stage,
and you drag the shutter like crazy.

You could

get a lit theater,

like, you can get it

so that you're able to light and
utilize the space.

This is just kind of like saying,

what if we could do whatever we want?

Then what?

And that was this.

That was what happens when I have total
control,

and

I can use as many lights as I want.

What does that look like?

And so it would be like, all right, we
get the lights in place, like,

I don't know, you're going to really
like, yeah, we got another light.

Put a light way up in the top corner of
that frame.

Because

in a lot of instances,

at the

commercial level, where budgets are

quite a bit bigger,

you have the ability to say, all right,
let's go rent more gear.

But just because you're not doing that
doesn't mean you can't take the exact

same methods that we are using

to light and think about light, and
motivate light towards something that

only requires one or two.

And that's because

with that, like the second shoot uses
one light it's one with one.

I use an octabox for the entire second
shoot there's scrims to block the sun.

But the actual lighting gear is

one light, one modifier.

And,

like, you can also get a really
beautiful effect.

It's just a matter of knowing what your
tools can do and really getting out and

practicing, like practicing in time are
like the best things that

you could do to do stuff.

You just have to get out and do it.

Like, experience is the best teacher,
trial and error, make a lot of mistakes.

Yeah,

Alexander asked, were you happy with
the shadows and possible noise

considering?

The higher iso.

And how does that like, sort of
interplay?

Somebody else asked about, like, the
haze?

How does the iso interplay with that?

So

there are kind of a couple of points

to

contend with in terms of the iso.

One, like, I'm always cognisant of what
my shadows are doing.

And here's the thing,

I have no shadow clipping, and I have a
little bit of highlight clipping in the

absolute brightest parts of the whites

that's negligible.

The haze is going to lower the contrast
of the scene over off.

But even if you look at an image like
this,

there's also

no real clipping in the shadows.

Now, the difficult thing

about something like this,

so this is shot at iso 2000.

This is shot at iso 2000

at 113th of a second.

This is my full crop

at 100 percent

on that image.

So

I actually, there's no noise reduction
run on this either.

I don't think that's terrible.

I'm actually ok with that.

And

when I actually do the stitching,

which occurs later, the image gets much
bigger, which means the noise gets

much smaller.

And so

that's also something that you could
hear.

And, I mean, listen cameras today are
really good with low noise.

I mean, even at a 1600, I have no
problem printing this huge.

I mean, obviously 4000.

No, I'm not going to, but

I'm not going to print it at 4000,
necessarily without doing maybe some

nice noise reduction to it.

But I was comfortable

shooting this at 1600,

because

the way cameras handle low light
nowadays is mind blowingly good,

and they're only getting better.

So you're going to be able to do more
and more with less, with less light in

the future.

So

it's a consideration, absolutely.

But I also know that my limits

of, like, a 1600 or a 2000 are totally
within the realm of acceptability for me.

And if this

only goes online, and if it's never
printed this huge,

even at 4000, iso, like,

you don't see it.

I mean, just to, kind of,

i'll show you later,

once we actually get into the actual
shooting, i'll show you the result of

it, and i'll zoom in on the stitch.

And it's just, it's

the most negligible amount of noise.

It's hardly anything, especially in the
grand spectrum of what it is.

Haze also helps

dial stuff into a more

constrained

tonal space, because it lowers the
contrast of the theme.

So helps a little bit with clipping.

You just lose detail in the shadows

because of it.

But, you know, it's more about
atmosphere and effect than it is about

being supremely technical with, oh,
make sure we have dodo detail everywhere

that's fine.

So, with cinematic lighting,

a lot of, like,

real

movies and stuff are shot at

24 frames per second, versus

lower the rings, which was, I don't
know, 48 frames per second or something.

So images tend to feel a little softer.

Is that also what you go for when
you're doing stuff?

I mean, I still try to adhere a little
bit to

photography with trying to make it,
because it's a still, I mean, we're not

looking at it in motion.

So I do, I want to make sure my subject
is sharp,

if I get, like,

I think this is

pretty good.

And now here's the other thing,

like, it's not,

you know, so

it is actually a little better than the
sharpenscreen.

But

yeah, I mean,

I want to make the subject a focus.

So that's why I was shooting with the
strobe,

it's why I want to make sure the focus
is good,

hold the flashlight, make sure it's
right, stuff like that.

So, yeah, I mean, I'm not really
necessarily trying to

shoot it soft on purpose.

But sometimes if it's,

I mean, listen, if it's a little bit
soft,

i'll give myself a little bit of
leniency based on the environment.

But, I mean, I think that's a totally
acceptable degree of

sharpness,