Lighting for Studio
Why is lighting so important?
To see anything at all
For a camera to form an image there needs to be a certain level of light or the light
sensitive chip in the camera cannot form an image.
To impart mood to a scene
Lighting in different ways can create entirely different moods in the same environment. We
could change the lighting in a room set and change the look to be a morning feel or an
evening feel. A person can be lit to make them appear friendly or threatening.
To highlight or conceal important elements
We can illuminate areas of the scene with more light than the other areas or we can dim
areas of the lighting and push those areas into the background.
To add depth to scene
By adding areas of contrasting lighting to the scene and utilising backlights we can make
an image appear to have more depth than it otherwise would have.
Lighting for multi camera and studio.
Whereas lighting for single camera allows detailed finesse of the lighting as viewed from a
single viewpoint to be continually assessed and adjusted lighting for multi camera shooting
requires the lighting director to light every subject in the studio so that it can be seen from
almost any angle and simultaneously with any other subject.
This requires a different approach to lighting for single camera in regards to the actual type
and positioning of lamps and often the number of lamps being used. In studios the use of
multiple camera setups has evolved other systems of lamp support and adjustment for
intensity, direction, degree of flood or spot and colour. It is rare in a studio environment to
see lamps on stands. Studios possess lighting grids which lamps can hang from and this
in turn keeps all of the power and control cables away from the studio floor which needs to
be as empty as possible for set and studio cameras.
Contrast and the differences between our vision and television
As humans we have an incredible visual sense, not only are our eyes amazing high quality
lenses that can rotate in order to look around and change focus between huge distances
instantly, they are then processed by the optical regions of our brain. This combination
allows us to wonder from one area of lighting into another and our brain and eyes will
compensate for the change.
Television cameras are not this clever.
Whereas the human eye has a contrast range of approximately 250:1 and film emulsion
has a range up to 125 :1 , video only has a contrast range of approximately 32 : 1.
Human eye contrast approx 250:1
Film dynamic range 125:1
TV dynamic range 32:1
2:1 – 1:1 is acceptable level for evenly lit TV
Knowing these facts is important for the lighting director as they are lighting for what the
camera sees and not what there own eyes are seeing.
The lighting team
Studio lighting teams vary in size depending on the organisation and size of production
that they are working on. Also the responsibilities of each member of the team are likely to
change from job to job. Thus the following are the guides to often demanded
responsibilities of the lighting team.
The lighting director:
Is responsible for the look and feel of the lighting plot and the final programme.
Lighting assistant:
The lighting assistant can vary in role from almost a lighting runner to multi skilled rigger
electrician and console operator.
Console/Desk Operator:
The lighting desk can be a very complicated beast and specialised knowledge and
experience of operation and programming of the desk is the operators responsibility.
Riggers :
The riggers are the brave men and women responsible for placing lighting supports and
lights in the correct place.
Electricians :
Look after the electrical demands of the lighting team.
Technical operators :
In some studio organisations the lighting team is composed of members of the technical
operations team who multi-skill across several areas including camera, lighting , sound
and VT.
Note also that roles in modern lighting teams are also being called after the areas of
lighting that members of the team are involved in i.e 'moving lights' for the operator
responsible for intelligent lighting.
Basic 3 point lighting
In order to illustrate several ways in which lighting works we will be looking at 3 point
lighting. This is jut one approach to lighting a subject but by understanding how lighting
works in this fashion
Key
Main source of light
Fill
Secondary source of light from opposite side to key and at lower luminance
‘fills’ the shadows created by the key
Back
Behind the subject
Quality of light
Hard
Very clean shadows
Light on a sunny cloudless day
the highly directional qualities of hard light make it very controllable and this in turn
has meant that hard light sources are the mos common sources at use in studio
environments.
Soft
Fuzzy if any shadows
Light on an overcast day
Soft lights lack of direction or multidirectionality makes it difficult to control
especially where spill on other lighting areas is concerned. This means that
normally soft lights are used as fill and base lights in studios.
Types of light
Incandescent
Incandescent lamps operate by applying a
voltage across a coil of wire. This heats the
wire up causing it to glow and produce light
in the process. The wire is held inside a glass
envelope filled with gases that enhance the
light output and lifetime of the filament
(wire). The usual wire in studio lamps is
tungsten and the gas is halogen so we often
refer to tungsten halogen lamps.
Fluorescent
Fluorescent lamps are complicated, mostly because they contain lots of
different components and rely on some chemistry and physics to fluoresce, or
give off light. The light consists of a sealed glass tube containing very little air,
a small amount of mercury, phosphorous white powder, and two electrodes
(one called a cathode, the other an anode) on each end of the tube. Outside
the tube there is a transformer that regulates the flow of electricity to the tube.
When the lamp is first turned on, the transformer starts a flow of electricity
through the tube. This flow will jump or “arc” from one electrode in the tube to
the other. The energy in the arcs vaporizes the mercury in the tube. The
mercury gas then ionizes, or becomes electrically charged. When this happens,
the gas begins to emit invisible ultraviolet rays. These rays strike the
phosphorous white powder, producing a glowing light.
Fluorescent lighting produces the same amount of light as incandescent lights
(light bulbs) at an energy savings of 75 percent. And since the light doesn’t
come from a single point but from a tube, the light is more dispersed and
softer.
Some people have a sensitivity to this type of lighting because the ultraviolet
arc continues to discharge at a constant rate of 120 times a second. This rate,
known as 120Hz (pronounced “hurts”) can trigger migraine headaches in those
that suffer from them. Most of us can’t see the arc when looking at a
fluorescent lamp straight on, but try peeking at one out of the corner of your
eye.
Arc
There are several variations of the exact type of arc lamp but the type most
commonly used is the HMI lamp. An arc lamp operates by enclosing to
separated poles within a glass envelope and applying an incredibly high
voltage across them causing an electrical arc to be created between the two
poles and thereby ionising the gases in the envelope providing a great deal of
light in the process.
Practical examples of types of lights and accessories
· Fresnels
· 300W – 20kW
· Lens
· Barn doors
· Moving reflector and lamp
· Spot flood control
· Focused beam with soft edges
· Softlights / Scoops
· Tungsten lamps
· hard case with asymmetric reflector
· rugged
· tilt and pan available on studio remote
· Fluorescents
· Singles
· Doubles
· Quads
· Internal or external ballast
· soft light quality
· very little heat
· Parcan
· fixed lamp with built in reflector
· simple aluminium 'can'
· very light
· very cheap
· Fluorescents
· Singles
· Doubles
· Quads
· Internal or external ballast
· Spun , frost other diffusion materials
· Attached to barn doors
· Attached to frame
· Reflectors
· silks
· flags
Power and safety
It is imperative that anyone using lighting equipment in a studio understands the
risks and safety precautions when using high voltages and current!
· Amps = Watts / Volts
· UK Supply = 240 V (single phase)
Colour temperature
Studios virtually always operate at 3200K and any other lamp temperatures need to
be colour corrected accordingly :unless the colour variation is being used for artistic
purposes.
· Indoors
· 3200K
· Outdoors
· 5000K – 8000K
· general accepted is 5600K
Lighting plots
· Basic Example
Note the plot above shows a 3 point lighting setup but is missing several of the features
normally present in a full lighting plot such as any set, the lighting grid and lamp notes (see
the altman cad symbols below). The plot below has added the grid (the horizontal and
vertical lines) and the chair.
· Typical symbols
