LET THERE BE LIGHT!
(I figured that's a fairly relevant quote to open this one off with. Plus God said it, so that alone should get me some points, right?)
Light was the first creation of God.
I mean, that's saying something.
Obviously, if that's what He created first, it must have been necessary for the rest of creation to operate. So why wouldn't that be an initial consideration when I am making my own creation?
Our sight is based on light. Without it, that entire sense is eliminated. So, for an art or media where visual elements are the primary components, light is essential. Badda bing, badda boom... that's the bottom line I got from this reading. Light: ya gotta have it when ya film, and ya gotta do it right.
Ronald J. Compesi, lighting extraordinaire. His writing is very straightforward, a basic manual to follow, and many of the sections discussed items that I had already known or we just practiced in class. There are several pieces of the lighting puzzle, however, that he pointed out which I hadn't before realized. They are as follows:
1 - There are physical factors and aesthetic factors of lighting. [You don't just need the right equipment to do the right things, you need to know how to use this equipment in order to achieve the best quality shot.]
2 - Three point lighting = best case scenario. Use it, and use it well for a (mostly) trouble-free shoot.
3 - If you're not attaining the lighting you want, there's a lot you can do to change it, while working with the same lamps/lighting equipment. Making the lamps play dress up with gels, veils, or cloth can dramatically affect the shot, along with the position/location of the lights, and additional props, like reflectors.
4 - It's probably best to look into power requirements before you plug in a lamp and blow it/you/a fuse up.
I also thought that the table of Common Lighting Problems on p. 192 looks promising. A good go-to guide during set-up (while I'm still a total amateur, you see).
Overall, I'd say the read, while pretty dry, was fairly enlightening.
I think you've got a pretty good handle on at least where to begin with lighting. The key is to achieve a good image. Whether you use a whole studio full of lights, a lot of natural light and strategically placed camera and subject (perhaps some reflectors), or some combination of the two, you'll find that as long as it looks good to you, the audience isn't going to notice how you did it. Getting it to look good though, is sometimes easier said than done. That's why understanding the fundamentals is so important.
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