Light is the most important element of any video or photo. It controls the mood of the video, direct the viewer towards the spot you want to highlight, and make your subject look beautiful or ugly as per your requirement; thereby influencing your final results in a big way. I have seen people making vídeos on awesome theme, mind-blowing dialogues, appreciable makeup but extremely poor presentation. This is because of improper use of their video lighting kit. Just flooding your subject with light will not help; you need to play smart with light so that your video looks well turned-out. Here are a few things that you must keep in mind while making videos:
Front lighting:
Although front lighting is very common, it is one of the least dramatic lighting techniques. Videographers often find it boring because this form of lighting hides the shadows and texture. It is a flat light that simply brightens your subject but to add a lot of drama, you would need shadows in your video. If you are shooting a glamorous video or even photo, you can use front lighting to hide the imperfection of the model but for a serious movie where you actually want to highlight the injured area of the subject, choose side lighting.
Side lighting:
Side video light is great for revealing the texture and other finer details of the foreground or background. For example; if you are shooting something in front of a brick mural and want to highlight it, light it from the sides. This will cast shadows in the small gaps of the mural and will highlight the brick texture. If you are shooting a person in a stressed mood, side lighting will spilt the subject in halves, thereby adding a lot of drama to your video. This lighting is not appropriate if you want to make your subject or object look beautiful.
Back lighting:
To reveal forms, you would need backlighting. For example, if you want to shoot the raindrops, back lighting will be the best way to make these small particles appear. A video on gangster war during night would need back lighting to create a white line tracing through the body of the subjects, thereby separating them from the background as well as creating a sensational mood.
Choose any of the technique depending on your video’s requirement; however makes sure you use the softbox lighting kit to diffuse the harsh direct light.
Front lighting:
Although front lighting is very common, it is one of the least dramatic lighting techniques. Videographers often find it boring because this form of lighting hides the shadows and texture. It is a flat light that simply brightens your subject but to add a lot of drama, you would need shadows in your video. If you are shooting a glamorous video or even photo, you can use front lighting to hide the imperfection of the model but for a serious movie where you actually want to highlight the injured area of the subject, choose side lighting.
Side lighting:
Side video light is great for revealing the texture and other finer details of the foreground or background. For example; if you are shooting something in front of a brick mural and want to highlight it, light it from the sides. This will cast shadows in the small gaps of the mural and will highlight the brick texture. If you are shooting a person in a stressed mood, side lighting will spilt the subject in halves, thereby adding a lot of drama to your video. This lighting is not appropriate if you want to make your subject or object look beautiful.
Back lighting:
To reveal forms, you would need backlighting. For example, if you want to shoot the raindrops, back lighting will be the best way to make these small particles appear. A video on gangster war during night would need back lighting to create a white line tracing through the body of the subjects, thereby separating them from the background as well as creating a sensational mood.
Choose any of the technique depending on your video’s requirement; however makes sure you use the softbox lighting kit to diffuse the harsh direct light.