in this video i'm going to share three easy steps for cinematic lighting in any scene
call it a recipe or a formula but if you constantly find yourself not knowing
where to start or just generally feeling unhappy with your life in setups this is it
whether you're shooting outdoors in natural light using one light or setting up a bunch of
lights regardless of your budget these steps will instantly raise the production value of your films
step number one keep it natural with lighting the goal is always to make the scene look and
feel like no lights were used the only way to do this is to use lights from angles that make
sense to the viewer in other words using the light sources that already exist in the scene
and motivating them towards a more flattering image before you start setting up lights ask
yourself where is the light already coming from naturally is it coming from a window a door a lamp
perhaps once you've identified your light sources it's time for step two upstage lighting this is by
far the most popular technique used in cinema and commercials also referred to as shooting backlit
find the brightest light source in your scene and put your subject in front of it the light source
doesn't have to be directly behind your subject but the more important matter is your camera
placement and the goal here is to shoot from the shadow side let's look at a few examples in this
scene the brightest source is the window and the camera is placed on the shadow side of the face
shooting towards the light in this case we have 100 natural light coming through the window at
the right angle but most of the time you'll have to motivate the natural light from outside first
with a brighter led shining through the window giving you more control and consistency next we
have this lamp the only visible light in the scene coming from behind with the camera shooting from
the shadow side even if the camera is moving i'm starting from the shadow side for the majority of
the shot and we have the bright source coming from the curtains the same goes for shooting outside in
natural light when comparing these two frames the one on the left feels flat and boring and
the one on the right has a lot more depth that's because of this gradient going from bright to dark
into the shadows with the rim light creating separation from the background in frame
a shooting with the sun directly from behind is filling in all the shadows and even with
shallow depth of field it still feels flat turn it around shooting into the direction of the sun and
immediately things change the brightest source doesn't have to be exactly behind your subject
you just want enough shadows to make the image pop this approach is so powerful that i plan
most of my outdoor shoots around when the sun will be behind my subject usually the first or last two
hours of the day shooting into a brighter source also illuminates certain elements better like dust
steam smoke and light rays before i carry on i want to take a moment and tell you about a free
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now to motivate different light sources starting outdoors in natural light the first thing i did
was to diffuse the backlight hitting kristen a simple five in one reflector does the trickier but
on bigger sets i like to use a scrim jim usually an apia to motivate the sunlight i'm using another
five in one reflector on the white side to bounce full into the face but the most important part
is the angle where it's coming from and this is the crux of upstage lighting a common mistake
would be to take the reflector and put it on the opposite side of where the sun is coming from
to fill in the shadows but now it just looks unnatural what you want to do is angle it from
the same side as the sun and only fill in the side of the face where the sun is coming from creating
a gradual roll-off into the shadows in the first test we were also getting a natural fold bouncing
from the table so i added the black cloth from the five in one reflector as a negative fill
to protect the shadows removing full is just as important as adding full so if you're not getting
that gradual roll off from bright to dark it helps to try and remove some light on the shadow side
like we did in this example in the kitchen going indoors to motivate the lamp i put the full lights
on the same side as the lamp but at an angle to wrap around gradually into the face here i just
used two nan light power tubes an easy affordable setup i put the grid attachments on to keep the
light from spilling all over the room and to keep the ambience of the lamp intact looking at
it without grits you can see why it's important to control the light to keep the scene natural
the first tube is set at a brighter intensity with the second tube a bit lower to help with a gradual
fall when lighting a scene it's super important to always start with your wides because your first
objective is to light the overall space and not the face as i move in for a close-up i now have
the opportunity to soften the light on the face by using a diffuser because it's not visible in the
frame moving on to step three adding more depth there are multiple ways you can spice up a scene
but first let's start with color contrast this is achieved by using different temperature lights for
example here we have the warm light coming from the lamp with a cooler light emulating moonlight
coming from the back in this case i just used two power tubes one for the back and one for
the window and then here we're using the lamp a practical that already exists in the scene to
create a nice warm room light it doesn't always have to hit your subject directly like in this
example where we have a warm tungsten feel with a cooler white light in the background you can
add texture to your scene by lighting up certain areas with practicals like this lamp creating two
different colors or by using a focus light where it looks like the sun's coming through a hole in
the roof or in this example where the projector attachment is creating a streak of hard light the
checkerboard is a great way to achieve even more depth and involves contrast between the brightness
in your scenes most prominently seen in this example where you have bright dark bright dark i
use this method mostly for indoor scenes with dim lighting setups to create more mood for example
in this shot the lighting enhances the tension in the room next you've got reflections shooting
into surfaces that reflect light automatically creates more depth and i'm always searching for a
frame where i can utilize this and then one of the best ways to create more separation between your
subject and the background is to use a hazer i use this on most of my film sets and even if you don't
own one it's usually pretty cheap during looking at the before and after you can see how the haze
softens the background automatically drawing your eyes more to the subject shooting silhouettes
is also a powerful way to separate your subject and if used in the right context you don't need
detail on your subject since the movement tells the story once you see these elements in cinema
you won't be able to unsee it if you have any more questions feel free to drop it in the comments
below and i'll do my best to answer thanks so much for watching and i'll see you on the next one