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Eye to Eye: Whats new in lighting

The majority of modern digital video cameras and D-SLRs are capable of delivering high-quality images provided the lighting conditions are good. Attempting to shoot in low light introduces the risk of noise and limited depth of field. Whatever the claimed camera sensitivity, good lighting is as essential today as ever. The following is a short over...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 March 2012

Fast 3D

It is easy to make the assumption that 3D should comply with existing standards, as in the 2D video streams of television or movie images running at 24, 25 or 30 frames per second, according to the relevant 2D standards. However, the recent step up to doubled frame rates, generally referred to as 50p or 60p for television and 48p (or higher) for mo...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 November 2011

Lighting Q and A

I AM SETTING UP A STUDIO WHAT IS THE MOST EFFICIENT AND PRACTICLE WAY TO LIGHT IT Modern studios and current camera technologies have changes the way efficient image capture can be achieved. No longer do we need huge 5K and 10K lamps in our small to medium studios, but a new generation of lighting tools is now available, and has actually been aroun...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 January 2011

HotTips on how to be a better lighting cameraman.

First up, don’t worry too much about HDFor most of my early career I shot with film, not video, so I usually approach things from a film point-of-view. This means I don’t see an awful lot of difference between SD and HD. In my opinion, the extra definition has more of an impact on the make-up team and the set designers because, regardless of what l...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 January 2011

Accessorising DLSR video

Some DSLR stills camera manufacturers now include HD video capabilities within their top-of-the-range products. This raises the prospect of lower cost stills cameras shooting good quality HD video. While this is true in certain circumstances there is much more that needs to be included with these cameras to make them consistently produce their best...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 March 2010

Film Affect

As shooting on film for TV applications is increasingly being replaced with HD, there is a growing tendency for people to wish to apply film tools and methods to origination when using the electronic medium. However, unless aiming for a specific look that cannot be achieved any other way, it can prove more time consuming and costly to work this way...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 January 2010

Lighting. Back or rim light part 4

In my last article, I discussed modelling of the ‘talent’ by choice of lamp, and careful choice of the horizontal and vertical angle of the ‘key’ light. Having made those choices my next priority would be to choose a ‘back’ light. It is also sometimes known as a ‘hair’ light which gives a pretty good clue as to its function. Just to say that we are...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 May 2009

Camera rigs and lighting

The biggest single story at IBC this year, apart from the usual company-eats-company rumours, was the continuing progress of stereoscopy or '3D' as it is currently undersold. A stereoscopic snapshot may well be 3D (displaying length, width and height) but a stereoscopic movie is in fact 4D as it includes a timeline. John Logie Baird set the stereos...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 January 2009

How we lit Mick

Shine a lightLets start at the beginning with the most fundamental, basic of questions – what’s the point of lighting anything, let alone a living legend like Sir Mick Jagger? The answer is simple – because lighting is the most important part of the whole process. Not the filming. Not the fiddly edit. Not the chin-scratching pre-production. The lig...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 January 2009

SOOM under the Senegal sun

No power – inconceivable for Europeans, but normal for the African village Ndelle. Situated six hours from Dakar, it is attainable only by dusty, sandy fields. However the approximate 800 village inhabitants have reason for joy: The company Solar 23 is building a solar plant in Ndelle. The German cameraman Jrgen Killenberger captured this project i...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 January 2009

Is it cool to use cool lighting

Is it cool to use cool ?The term ‘cold lighting’ is used within the film & TV lighting industry as a generic term for energy efficient, Fluorescent, LED, and Plasma (panel) lighting sources which emit little or no radiant heat. HistoryThe technology is not so new; Evidence exists of neon lighting being used on a film set in Teddington Studios Engla...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 August 2008

The Reflecmedia Chromaflex portable chromakey system

The use of keying a foreground image over a background image to form a composite is an established and widely used technique in film and TV production. For most cameramen this will usually involve them in shooting a subject against a coloured background, typically green or blue. Sounds simple but reality can be far from it, anecdotes abound of nigh...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 May 2008