How to Light Using the Lights You Already Own

Lighting is just as, if not even more so, important than the camera you film on. Bad lighting will make a high end camera look terrible, and amazing lighting will make your smartphone look like it can shoot the next Hollywood blockbuster.

The problem is that lighting can get expensive. Film lighting can cost in the thousands and quickly break any budget. So what do you do when you don't have access to the lighting kit they used in the last Christopher Nolan film? You get creative. There are countless ways to light a scene, it really just boils down to what you have access to and how to work within your limitations. For instance, if you film inside and shoot directly into a window on a bright sunny day, unless you have a vast amount of lighting equipment on hand then either your window is going to just be a giant block of white, or your talent will look like they're in witness protection and just be a blackened outline. So if you're working with limited gear, don't shoot into the window. But, maybe you can instead utilize the lighting of the window as a source for your talent. We're going to explore a few tricks you can do to light your scene by using affordable solutions you may already have lying around.

Lighting Sources

Natural Light

Unless you're filming in Alaska in the Winter, there's a good chance you've got access to the brightest light around - the sun. This giant ball of fire that we rotate around once every 365 days also happens to be an amazing light source. If you have zero artificial lights available to you, then use the sun. So why would you ever use any other light? Well, while the sun is an amazing light source, it's also a beast to work with. It moves, it's harsh, and good luck moving on your own it if it's not where you want it to be. It's not exactly the most controllable light around. The key to working with it is to modify it. If you're filming on a cloudy day, God may already be doing this for you. A cloudy day is a filmmaker's best friend, because a solid cloud cover is one giant layer of diffusion. The problem with the sun without diffusion is that it's harshness means that your shadows will be just as harsh. Just look at your shadow on the ground in the middle of the day - if it's full sun, then the lines on that shadow are so sharp you could cut a block of cheddar cheese on them. Sharp shadows means the lighting isn't the most flattering, plus your poor talent will most likely be squinting so hard that you'll be questioning if they're sleeping. So if you're filming outside on a sunny day, you'll either want to find the shade of a tree, the cover of a small roof, or bring your own diffusion. Don't worry, we'll cover some cheap diffusion options later. The idea of filming into a window applies outside. If you're filming in a shaded area, but behind it is an area that is in full sun, it's either going to be a wall of white or the talent will be a blackened blob. The better scenario is to film inside and use the natural light through a window as your key light source. You'll still want to explore diffusing the light, but this way you're not filming from a darker space to a brighter space like you may be outside, plus the light is coming off angle from the sun so it's bounced and therefore already softer. Not to mention your talent is much less likely to squint, because instead of looking into the bright light around them, it's hitting the side of their face.

Worklights

What if you're filming in a windowless room? Or it's night? Or you do in fact happen to be located in Alaska during the winter? Well don't worry, there are options for you too! The goal with our lighting is to find something that will be bright enough to light your talent. One cheap option that you may already have lying around is a work light. That's right - those lights that you see on a construction site can also be great on a film set. Just like using the sun, the key is to modify them. They're strong, but they're harsh. The other thing to look for is to make sure that you're aware of the color temperature of the light. Some are tungsten, some are daylight. There are even some where you can dial in your own temperature. Whatever temperature they are, you just need to make sure the settings on your camera match, as well as be sure that the rest of the light sources in the shot match. There's nothing worse than filming in an area that is lit by daylight, but then your talent is lit by a tungsten/orange light. Something in that shot is going to look bad, so make sure you match the temperature of your lights. You also want to make sure it’s not a light that will flicker. Some LED lights flicker, so do some tests with your camera to make sure you don’t have any flicker.

Lighting Modification

Now that we've talked about a few light sources you can use, it's time to explore a few ways to soften up those lights. Diffusion basically takes your harsh light and makes it much more appealing for what you're shooting. There are some instances where you'd want harsher lighting, but if you have a person in the shot then you'd most likely want to soften the light. In Hollywood, they use specialty fabrics called scrims and nets, but those fabrics are not something you're going to find cheap. The idea is that the scrim catches the harsh lighting that either the sun or your lights are putting out, and then it spreads it out so it's not so direct. The person is then being lit by the fabric as opposed to the light that's shooting at it. When used correctly, this makes for a much more beautiful light with shadows that roll off as opposed to the sharp lines you're used to. You're here to see how to pull off these effects without dropping the big bucks, so let's explore a few cheap ways to modify lighting.

Bouncing

The first and easiest way to diffuse light is to bounce it. This has a very similar effect to diffusing it through fabric, but it's not as controlled as hitting the fabric directly. The easiest way to bounce light is to point it at the ceiling, and then use the light bouncing off to light your talent. This light tends to spill all over, though, so if you're looking to just light a certain portion of a person then you're going to end up fighting the lighting. This allows for a beautifully soft light, though. In fact, you’re looking at a shot lit in this way! Instead of bouncing off the ceiling, you can also direct the light onto a wall and bounce off of that. You just need to make sure you're not trying to bounce the light off of a wall that has a color painted on it. If you use a wall painted in a color other than white, the color of that wall is also going to spill onto your talent. So if the wall is green, suddenly your talent may look like they just got off a boat and are fighting sea sickness.

Don't have a white wall? Good news - you can apply this concept to ANY surface that's white! White poster board, foam bead board, a sheet, really anything that's large, solid, and white. The larger the surface the softer the light will be, but also keep in mind that the larger it is the more it will spill elsewhere. So if you're not wanting to light the entire room, then maybe you'd want to just bounce off of a smaller piece of bead board so you can control the light a bit better.

Diffusion

You can also do the same thing we were talking about earlier and just directly diffuse the light. Don't have scrims lying around? Right, that's why you're here. Well, what if I told you that you could pull a similar look off using a sheet or polyester shower curtain? You once again want to make sure that the fabric is white and non-patterned, but both of these items will work similarly to a scrim. The downside to these is that the fabrics are not tailored to work with lighting, so they won't necessarily be as scientifically accurate with how they affect the light. A sheet may let less light through if it's a thicker fabric, or the shower curtain may pull some of the warmth off of the light you're using. But the average viewer is not going to notice, and these will be significantly better than if you hadn't used any lighting modification in the first place.

Booklight

Finally, there’s the booklight. Wait, not THAT kind of book light…

This one is more of an advanced move, but you're up for a challenge, right? The book light is the king of soft light. It's double diffusion at it's finest. You'll need a lot of light to pull it off, but if you light with a book light then you're guaranteed to win the next Oscar (*Oscar win not actually guaranteed.) A book light is when you take your main source light, and point it towards a surface to bounce the light. Then, between that bounced surface and your talent, you place ANOTHER piece of fabric to soften it even further. It's applying both the bounce and diffusion methods to lighting. The reason it's difficult is because you need to play around with the placement of all the items, and you need a pretty strong initial source. The light needs to be strong because with every step of diffusion, you're losing some of your light output. So if you tried to do a book light with a single weaker work light, you may not have enough light to properly expose your camera. It is definitely worth the efforts, though!

Flagging Lights

One last thing to consider with lighting is that sometimes you don't want to add light to a shot, you instead want to take some out. Lighting is more about modification than it is illumination. Typically you'd remove light by using a tool called a flag, but this is the easiest piece to substitute. A flag is literally just a piece of black fabric pulled over a metal frame. It literally just blocks the light, just like the blinds on a window or the brim of your hat blocks the sun off your eyes. So how can you block light without a flag? Anything that blocks light can be used as a flag. The most obvious is to use a black blanket. I've used moving blankets in the past. I've even used a book on a shelf. Whatever you're using to block the light, though, you just want to make sure it's not something colored in a way that it's bouncing light back into the shot. It needs to be something dark and solid. Beyond that, go crazy with what you use to block the light. If I'm blocking light in a shot, often it's to pull some distracting light off the background or my talent.

Cheap Lighting

What if you have a few bucks to invest in some lighting? What would I recommend? I'd suggest looking at the Aperture 60d, 100d, or 200d. They're not the strongest lights around, but they put off a great amount of light that will hold up to almost any of the methods above. And they don't break the bank, ranging from $170-300. I actually very regularly use a 200d as my main light and have been incredibly pleased with the results. You can also get an affordable light dome from Aperture and other companies that will do a similar job to what you may get with a light shined through diffusion. The plus side to this setup is that you will have everything all in a single stand and it's easier to work with.

If you don’t have the money for that, then subscribe to the channel for my next video - the $25 lighting setup. Doubt the quality of that type of light? What if I were to tell you that this whole video was lit using it? 🤯

This overview only touches the tip of what you can do with lighting, but learning how you can affordably light a scene and then modify the lighting used is the best way to equip yourself to experiment.

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