By Paddy Winfield

11/20/08

Here are some tips on lighting for indoor and outdoor shoots!

OUTDOORS

-         Always remember to check the weather before you shoot. The weather and time of day you shoot can have a significant effect on the final product.

-         It is always important to know exactly what direction the sunlight is coming from. If you catch a beam of that direct sunlight into the lens of your camera you are going to record a hideous glare

-          The best time of day to shoot outdoors is mid-morning or mid-afternoon when the sun is shining at a diagonal angle and not glaring from above.

-         Use the sun as your fill light by using a reflector on the opposite side of the subject. You may need a stand or a person to hold the reflector in the correct position. A white board or a silver reflector works very well to create this type of fill light.

-         You can purchase professional reflectors for a reasonable price from a location that sells video gear, but it is just as easy to make them at home with aluminum foil. A foil reflector is great, and you can simply take a thick piece of cardboard and cut it into a large circle. Then cover it tightly with foil. I’ve had better luck with just using a silver car windshield reflector!

INDOORS

-         Shooting indoors is a hard thing to do if you don’t have a light kit but there are ways around it. I would only shoot during the day and next to a window so you use the sun as a nice fill. You will have to gather as many lamps as possible to use as a key light on your subject. Try placing the lights on chairs and desk around the edge of the frame and pointed at your subject.

-       Sometimes it does add a little spice to the shot if you put a dim lamp in the background of the frame.

-         If you’re shooting next to a window you can also use some reflectors to bounce a little sunlight onto the subject’s faces.

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