Think about it, when our dream of becoming a filmmaker first sprouted in our minds, what did we think of? Maybe we are imagining the name under the light, the director’s chair, the huge camera and the exquisite scene, etc., yes, the huge, luminous, sunny light.
In fact, this article is one of a series of articles on lighting and lighting, and we hope it will be helpful to your photography career.
In the process of photography, we will discuss the essence of the problem. Usually only the electricity union will ask this question, but every filmmaker should be clear: How much electricity will be consumed during video and film shooting?
Let’s discuss some of the main issues in film photography.
Table of Contents
Main light
The main light is the main light source in the lighting setup and the main lighting factor on the lighting equipment. The main light ranges from 300 watts to 2,000 or even 5,000 (1K and 5K).
What might you need 2K or 5K light for? Well, in large budget scenes, they are used to provide sufficient lighting for the shooting scene like the sun or full moon at night.
Think about the moonlit nights or “outdoor” daytime scenes in the movie, you know that they were actually shot in the studio. “Spectre” and “the Hitman`s Bodyguard” are two good examples.
These powerful lights are actually very versatile. Another great use of them is when you push the “sunlight” through the setting window to shoot indoor scenes.
The light-emitting angle and distance of the lamps we use are different, which can emit beautiful clear lines and hard shadows, or more soft.
Photographic light is often used with some blinds to create shadows and depth, or to create a beautiful “sunshine” appearance on the subject, which can make dark colors look more beautiful.
However, you might end up using 500 watts to 2K watts of light in independent movie shooting. Because the lamp in this power range will provide you with good brightness, it can be used as the key for most office video, studio shooting, indoor scenes and Instagram video shooting.
Kits and low-wattage lamps in the package can be rented from most equipment rental companies at a very affordable price. Therefore, don’t think that good indoor lighting is suitable for shooting, because you don’t have a suitable light source indoors.
If you are going to the filming site, please check whether your equipment is complete, which should include a 250W-1000W lighting kit, and you may even rent a 2K or 5K single package.
Fill light
As people in the industry know, the fill light is an auxiliary tool for the main light, which is used to fill in the dazzling shadows caused by the intensity of the main light.
We often watch sports games. The common shot is that the players are fully illuminated and there are no shadows on their bodies, but there are four shadows distributed on the ground around them. It is because the lights are set on all sides to fill the shadows on the body, and the visibility should be as good as possible.
The intensity of the fill light should not be as strong as the main light, so no matter what the intensity of the main light is, it should not be less than the intensity of the fill light. In other words, if you use a 1000W or 2000W main light, the fill light shooting we mentioned earlier will work at 500 watts or less.
However, those simulated scenes of day, night, strong sunlight or moonlight illuminated with higher power will also be applied to the filling exponentially. In this case, the fill light can always reach 2000W.
Whichever method you choose, it will depend on the taste of you or your boss, and follow the recipe instructions.
Background light
We all want to improve the texture of the image. At this time, we use the background light, which will add a little extra beauty. As the name suggests, the backlight is to place the light behind the object in order to grab their edges with a little light. This can produce a good gloss or halo effect, and help distinguish the background from the hair, facial features, etc.
Because it is used to emphasize the existing light, the backlight should be smaller than your fill light and main light. Unless you use some really powerful lights, the maximum power should be within 250-500 watts.
Remember that the backlight is designed to work with the fill light, so unless the backlight is set as a creative choice, don’t shine the subject with strong light from behind.
LED and illuminaires
Using LEDs instead of tungsten filament lamps can keep the power consumption low enough, the brightness high enough, and the power factor reaches 0.95, which can effectively avoid circuit overload.
LED lamps are the most advanced lighting sources today. They use less power but can bring more powerful brightness than HPS, fluorescent lamps and tungsten filament lamps. For example, the brightness of a 500-watt tungsten lamp is not the same as that of a 500-watt LED. A 500-watt LED will be at least 5 times brighter than a 500W tungsten lamp. The main reason for this difference is the light efficiency, that is, the amount of light emitted by the light source of the same power. Lumens is a measure of the amount of light emitted by a bulb or any luminous source.