Best Lighting for Videos?

[BeeMania]

So I was wondering how to get the best lighting for videos. As you can see in one of my vids, its really dark, so I have to boost the contrast and brightness up just a little bit. What it also does is lessen the quality just a bit, and I want to achieve the best lighting effects.

Any ideas?

 

[Kolbykooz]

Hmmm it varys for me. I tend to do a lot of color correction anyways, but if it's bright out I use natural lighting, otherwise I use my own light with a pink filter, it's bright and looks natural

 

[ConnersCraft]

Use 3 point lighting. RPM did a great video about this on their channel. You can get some great lights at b&h online for really cheap.

 

[randomlilnikki]

Use 3 point lighting. RPM did a great video about this on their channel. You can get some great lights at b&h online for really cheap.

Yeah, came here to say this. I haven't perfected it yet, but watching a whole heap of vids on three point lighting helped me a ton. I also reflect light toward me, rather than facing a bright light directly at me.

 

[ConnersCraft]

Yeah, came here to say this. I haven't perfected it yet, but watching a whole heap of vids on three point lighting helped me a ton. I also reflect light toward me, rather than facing a bright light directly at me.

Yes, reflection is always your friend. It is also important to use the sun to your advantage. You need to balance sunlight with other lights to get the right color temperature and such.

 

[markkaz]

The quickest fix that I can suggest is that you need the light in front of you, not on side of you. Now if you are using a web-cam and you're close to the wall, it might be hard to light up.

Pardon this screen-shot. I was in the middle of a rant video...
I use an over-head flourescent light plus you can see clamp lights. Now, I am not the subject of the camera. The items on the table are the subjects. I use the clamp lights (one above my head) to light from the left and you can just barely see one on the right edge of the screen that lights from the right. They use CFL's (compact florescent lights). You shouldn't mix florescent and incandescent lighting because it will distort the video. Incandescent tent to be yellowish light.

 

[BacklotMedia]

So I was wondering how to get the best lighting for videos. As you can see in one of my vids, its really dark, so I have to boost the contrast and brightness up just a little bit. What it also does is lessen the quality just a bit, and I want to achieve the best lighting effects.

Any ideas?

I have used a couple of different light kits. But on a low-budget, one-man crew (which is what I usually am) it gets difficult to lug around a lot of lights. I purchased a Neewer Pro CN-160 LED light (around $34 on Amazon) and it is a good, inexpensive way to light your videos. I am actually about to buy a couple more to have a very mobile light set.

 

[BeeMania]

Thanks for all your advice guys

 

[gregbowes]

Use 3 point lighting. RPM did a great video about this on their channel. You can get some great lights at b&h online for really cheap.

B&H video store is great, even cheaper would be to go to Home Depot or Lowe's and get some halogen work lights. That's what I did anyway

 

[scifiriot]

B&H video store is great, even cheaper would be to go to Home Depot or Lowe's and get some halogen work lights. That's what I did anyway

Halogen work lights are pretty harsh and hard to control. They're not particularly flattering, either and their color temperature is all over the place.

You can get some great pro compact CFL bulbs for cheap on Amazon that screw into regular light sockets and can run on household AC without blowing your breaker. Look for Alzo Digital and color temperatures of either 3200k (tungsten/yellowy) or 5400K/5600K (daylight, more blue). More expensive than household compact florescents but still pretty cheap and they last a long time.

Once you've got the source lights, the next step is learning how to control them (diffusion, flags, china balls, etc.). One decent sized 24"-26" paper china ball fixture with a good bulb in it can do wonders.

We released a new video for Isa Llama Sci-Fi today (in my sig). We shoot that to make it look natural and not "lit", but behind the scenes it's lit with a 36" china ball using a 500W tungsten balanced filament bulb, back lit with a 300W Arri fresnel, and fill from windows gelled with CTO+ND to balance the daylight to the tungsten bulbs.[DOUBLEPOST=1376457915,1376457334][/DOUBLEPOST]Forgot to add we use the he** out of a pair of Harbor Freight 1000w Router Control Dimmers, which work great as light dimmers as well and only run about $20 each. Also worth mentioning that we got the Arri 300 and the window gels used (I think we paid $5 for the gel roll), and the key light is a $6.00 bulb in a $5.00 650w rated ceramic socket, all inside a $17 paper china ball. The whole set up didn't cost nearly as much as it sounds.