Thursday, June 4, 2015

Lighting Master Course (with Special Thanks to Dave Walvoord)

Dave Walvoord gave us a master course in lighting recently. He went over the various types and said to render each one by itself to make sure it looks good by itself. Here it is in action for shot 040.

 
Incandescents: First of all, these are the self-illuminating surfaces with all the lights off.

 
Key Light: This is the light that most highlights subject and directs the audience's attention. It comes from a corner of the room we never see, and thus, from an unknown source.

 
Edge Light: This brightens up the hard edges and sculpts our subject a little better. In this shot, it's physically motivated by the screen.


Rim Light: This light is placed directly behind the subject to create a thin rim that helps separate it from the background. Here, it's originating from the computer, making it slightly screen left of a traditional rim light, but I figured the edge light made up for the lack of a right rim on lefty.


 
Fill Light: The soft light that fills in those ugly hard shadows. Here, it's originating from the left of the camera, but adjusted to look as if it's coming from the computer keys.