The ability to control the amount, color, and quality of light can turn an ordinary
scene into a masterpiece. That's why some of the best lighting is often done in a controlled
environment like a studio. To help you get the most out of your studio lighting, we'll
show you what factors to consider when placing lighting gear such as lamp type, fixture type
and room dimensions so that your scenes can look just as good as they do in the movies.
The first factor to consider is what kind of lamp you want to use in your studio. The
most common and inexpensive lamp you can get is the incandescent or quartz-halogen bulb.
Of course that doesn't mean they're the best. In reality, quartz-halogen bulbs are the warmest
lamp types on the market. They can easily raise the temperature in a studio by several
degrees after having been on for only 10 minutes. They also use up an incredible amount of wattage
for the amount of lumens they give and have a fairly short life span which means you'll
have to replace them often. As a result, many lighting technicians have started to use fluorescent
lighting. Though they're bit more expensive than quartz-halogen bulbs, they stay much
cooler, have a softer light quality, and draw very little power. The only real drawback
is that they don't have enough lumens to light distant objects well. However, many news stations
and studios are beginning to use these lights due to their reasonable price and soft light
quality. The last lamp type to consider is the LED. They are by far the most efficient
light sources and unlike other lamps generate virtually no heat. The only real issue with
LEDs is the odd shadow the panels cast due to their multi-light setup, and the extremely
high price. Even so, energy-conscious places like the White House Press Room and high end
news studios have been using LED fixtures to save significantly on bulb and energy costs.
Fixtures or housings also play a role in good studio lighting. Choosing the right fixture
can give you the kind of control that makes studio lighting so great. One feature to look
for in a fixture is a Fresnel lens. A Fresnel lens is a type of glass that bends light.
It's usually paired with a movable lamp mount that allows you to easily narrow or broaden
your beam of light. This allows you to choose how the light affects the scene. The narrow
beam of light casts a strong light over longer distances while the wide beam of light falls
off rather quickly. () You should also consider whether or not the fixture has a removable
plug-in. Especially if you plan to save some money by using your studio lights on the road,
having a standard sized removable plug makes it easy to take down lights without having
to undo all of your electrical wiring. It's also nice to have the ability to mount barn
doors and colored gels to the light fixtures in a studio. This way, you'll be able to control
both the color temperature of the light and where it falls in your frame. Light size is
another factor to consider. Generally, the rule is the bigger the light source, the softer
the light quality. Because of this, bigger light sources such as multi-bank fluorescent
fixtures work great for green screen backgrounds since they help soften shadows. Much like
broad lights though, soft lights have a shorter throw so you'll probably find that it's best
to use them at closer distances. Finally, since your lights will be in a fixed studio
setting, it's a good idea to make sure your fixtures have DMX outputs. These outputs will
allow you to plug a 3 or 5 pin XLR cable from your fixture to a light board in order to
control intensity. However, if your light fixtures don't have DMX outputs, you can still
control the intensity of your lights by plugging them into a DMX relay or dimmer pack. These
units will assign each plug a channel address which will allow you to dim your fixtures
using a standard lighting board. By having this ability, you can save a lot of time and
effort in setting up lights in your studio.
The best way to know which lights you'll need to adequately cover your studio is by drawing
a lighting diagram. To make one yourself, start by measuring the dimensions of each
part of your studio. Then draw both a bird's eye view of your studio using a computer program
or graph paper. At this point, you'll want to determine how far away you want the camera
from the back wall and how far the background or backdrop is from the front wall. Keep in
mind you'll want enough room to for monitors, tripods, and other people so you won't want
to place the camera too close to the back wall. Next, draw symbols representing the
camera and backdrop in your diagram. From here, calculate the distance from your backdrop
to your camera and divide that number by 3. This is the distance your subject should be
from the backdrop in order to get the shallowest depth of field when using a zoom lens. Your
subject will need to be far enough from your background so that you can separate their
lighting from the background's. If this is not the case, it's okay to move your subject
a little closer to the camera. n addition, you can use another rule of thumb to find
out where to put your background lighting truss. Simply divide the height of your backdrop
by half. This will get your lights far enough from the screen to cover your entire backdrop
with light. However, if the background is taller than 10 feet, you may have to use some
lights on stands to cover the bottom of your backdrop. If you're using a 3-point lighting
setup, you'll want to place the back-light along with the background lights on this truss.
Next, you'll want to set up at least one more truss about 4-8 feet away from where your
subject will be. This truss will have the subject's key and fill light. Lastly, if your
studio is fairly wide, you'll probably want to include several key and fill lights at
3-4 foot intervals in order to make your shots look great no matter where your subject moves.
As you can see, setting up a lighting grid is no easy task. However, by devoting a little
time to understanding how these factors affect your studio, you'll be able to build a studio
that saves you time and improve your shots as well.