Dedolight Competition 2020: Lightstream tutorial

Oculus Film

29 Apr 202012:32

Summary

TLDRThis video tutorial introduces the innovative lighting technique using the Light Stream system, which relies on indirect and reflected light for enhanced control in challenging spaces. The presenters, Hem and Lena, demonstrate how to use near-parallel light sources and reflectors to create soft, natural lighting in a variety of scenes, including a living room and a small bathroom. With precise light shaping tools and clever setups, the tutorial highlights how to manipulate light creatively in confined spaces, offering an inspiring approach to lighting that complements traditional methods.

Takeaways

💡 The tutorial focuses on using the Lightstream system, a technique involving indirect lighting with reflectors.
🏠 The demonstration takes place in two different scenes: a living room and a bathroom, both with challenging lighting conditions.
🌞 The system relies on near-parallel light sources and reflectors to manipulate light, minimizing the need for direct light sources.
🔧 The Lightstream system consists of four different reflectors, each providing varying levels of diffusion (from mirror-like to soft).
📏 Using parallel beams and reflectors allows for better control over light fall-off, which is less affected by distance compared to soft sources.
🏠 In the living room setup, backlight is achieved by reflecting light through glass panes, simulating natural light from outside.
⚙️ Key light, backlight, and scratch light are created by carefully positioning reflectors and taking advantage of existing architectural features.
🛁 The bathroom scene showcases the ability to light confined spaces using indirect light without hard shadows or intrusive light placement.
🎥 The system offers flexibility in camera movement, as reflectors can be placed in out-of-view areas, avoiding unwanted reflections in mirrors or shiny surfaces.
🔄 The approach is presented as a complement to traditional lighting methods, offering more finesse and control, especially in smaller, challenging spaces.

Q & A

What is the main technique demonstrated in the tutorial?
-The tutorial demonstrates the use of indirect lighting with the Light Stream system, focusing on reflected and near-parallel light beams to illuminate a scene without direct light sources.
What are the two main locations used in the tutorial?
-The tutorial uses a living room and a bathroom to showcase the use of reflected light, with the bathroom scene highlighting the challenges of working in small, confined spaces.
What is the Light Stream system, and how does it work?
-The Light Stream system consists of a near-parallel light source and a set of reflectors that redirect and shape the light. It uses reflectors numbered 1 to 4, with each providing a different level of diffusion.
What is the purpose of using reflectors in the Light Stream system?
-Reflectors in the Light Stream system help redirect and shape the light, allowing for indirect lighting setups. The reflectors range from almost mirror-like surfaces (number 1) to softer bounces (number 4), giving the user flexibility in light diffusion and redirection.
How does the tutorial handle lighting in a scene with strong backlight from a large window?
-The tutorial recommends closing most of the curtains to block out strong backlight from the window and leaving only a small portion open. This helps control the lighting while still allowing some natural light to shape the scene.
What are the different light sources used in the living room scene?
-In the living room scene, three main light sources are used: a key light with a soft bounce from a number 4 reflector, a backlight from a parallel beam pointing upwards through a glass floor, and a scratch light provided by redirecting light with a number 3 reflector.
How is the bathroom scene lit given the limited space and reflective surfaces?
-The bathroom scene uses a Dedo 7 light with a parallel beam attachment placed on the floor to avoid reflections. Reflectors are used to bounce light off surfaces without creating direct reflections in the mirror or tiles, ensuring soft, even lighting.
Why is reflected light particularly effective in small spaces like the bathroom?
-Reflected light is effective in small spaces because it can be carefully directed and controlled without the need for large equipment or direct light sources, which might create harsh shadows or unwanted reflections in mirrors and other reflective surfaces.
How does the use of parallel light beams benefit the lighting setup?
-Parallel light beams reduce light dispersion, minimizing the effects of the inverse square law. This allows light to travel farther without significant falloff, making it useful for bouncing and reflecting light over long distances.
What are the advantages of using indirect lighting in film or photography scenes?
-Indirect lighting provides soft, even illumination, avoids harsh shadows, and can be controlled more precisely using reflectors. It allows for more natural and subtle lighting effects, especially in tight or complex environments.

Outlines

00:00

💡 Lighting Tutorial Overview

The video introduces a lighting tutorial using the Data Light Light Stream system. It features a simple scene with a model performing various activities, all lit with indirect light. No direct light sources or flags were used to control the lighting. The presenters, Hem Co and Lena, aim to demonstrate how to light a scene using reflected and near-parallel light beams, with examples from both a living room and a bathroom.

05:03

🔍 The Light Stream System Explained

This section explains the components of the Light Stream system, which uses a near-parallel light source and different types of reflectors. The data lights used are highly precise and can be enhanced with a parallel beam adapter for minimal light dispersion. This reduces the impact of the inverse square law, allowing for better control and redirection of light. The four reflectors in the system vary by the level of diffusion they provide, ranging from mirror-like to soft bounce, and are part of a modular system that allows for easy adjustments and customization.

10:03

🏠 Lighting Setup in a Wooden House

The presenters describe the filming location—a wooden house with large southwest-facing windows. The weather, being stormy and cloudy, creates diffused lighting conditions, which they manipulate further by closing curtains and blinds to control the amount of light entering the room. They explain how strategic curtain placement and using natural backlight from the windows help balance the exposure, especially in rooms with challenging light conditions.

✨ Creating Key and Backlights with Reflectors

This part focuses on how the key light and backlight were set up using a Data Light 7 and a number 4 reflector. The key light, though small, produces a soft and beautiful light, especially on the model's cheeks. The backlight is created using a light placed four meters away from the model, cleverly hidden beneath the glass pane of the floor to create a natural-looking effect. The reflectors are strategically positioned to create additional contour and depth, with a number 2 reflector providing a scratch light for subtle contouring.

🛁 Lighting in a Small Bathroom

The tutorial transitions to a small bathroom, showing how to achieve soft, flattering lighting in confined spaces. With minimal room to maneuver, a parallel beam light is placed on the floor to provide general fill, and reflectors are used to control the light. A number 4 reflector serves as a backlight, while a more reflective number 1 reflector bounces light without causing unwanted reflections. The setup avoids harsh shadows and allows for flexible camera movement, even in the tight bathroom space.

📸 Enhancing a Beauty Scene with Reflectors

In this final section, the presenters show how a number 3 reflector is used for soft but focused lighting in a bathroom beauty scene. The reflective surfaces and mirrors in the bathroom pose a challenge, but careful placement of reflectors ensures that light bounces effectively without creating unwanted reflections in the camera lens. The setup allows the camera to move freely, capturing the model while keeping the lighting equipment hidden. The tutorial encourages viewers to rethink their approach to lighting, highlighting the versatility and finesse of using reflectors in small, difficult spaces.

Mindmap

Keywords

💡Light Stream System

The Light Stream System is a specialized lighting setup used to create indirect lighting effects. It consists of a near-parallel light source and various reflectors that can be adjusted to control the light's direction and intensity. This system is central to the video, as it allows for precise lighting without direct light sources, which enhances the aesthetic quality of the scenes shown.

💡Indirect Light

Indirect light refers to light that reaches a subject without being directly emitted from a source. Instead, it is reflected off surfaces before illuminating the subject. In the video, all the light hitting the model is indirect, which creates a softer and more natural look without the need for additional tools like flags to shape the light.

💡Reflectors

Reflectors are surfaces used to bounce and redirect light in a controlled manner. The Light Stream System uses different reflectors, numbered 1 to 4, each varying in the amount of diffusion they provide. Reflector 1 is nearly mirror-like, used for precise light redirection, while Reflector 4 offers a soft bounce effect. These are crucial for manipulating light in challenging spaces like the bathroom scene described in the video.

💡Parallel Beam Adapter

A Parallel Beam Adapter is an accessory that focuses light into a near-parallel beam, reducing light dispersion. This focused beam is less affected by the inverse square law, meaning it maintains intensity over longer distances. The adapter is used in conjunction with the Light Stream System to create controlled, high-quality lighting without hard fall-off, as demonstrated in the tutorial.

💡Inverse Square Law

The inverse square law describes how light intensity diminishes as the distance from the source increases. In the context of the video, using a parallel beam minimizes this effect, allowing light to travel longer distances without losing significant intensity. This principle is applied in the tutorial to create consistent lighting in various scenes, such as the model's backlighting.

💡Key Light

The key light is the main light source used to illuminate the subject in a scene. In the video, a regular DLH7 light with a reflector is used as the key light to create soft, natural lighting on the model. The gradual fall-off on the model's cheeks is highlighted as a desirable quality of this setup.

💡Backlight

A backlight is positioned behind the subject to create separation from the background, adding depth to the scene. The video demonstrates using a backlight positioned outside the room, shooting through a glass pane to illuminate the model. This technique mimics natural light and enhances the scene's visual appeal.

💡Scratch Light

A scratch light is a focused light used to create a subtle highlight or contour on a subject, enhancing its three-dimensional appearance. In the tutorial, the scratch light is generated using a reflector close to the ground, redirecting a small amount of light to accentuate the model's features, particularly around the face.

💡Confined Spaces

Confined spaces refer to small, restricted areas where traditional lighting setups are challenging to use. The video showcases how reflected light is particularly effective in such environments, like the bathroom scene, where direct lighting would be impractical due to limited space and reflective surfaces.

💡Reflective Surfaces

Reflective surfaces, such as mirrors or glossy tiles, can cause unwanted reflections and glare in a scene, revealing lighting setups or disrupting the visual aesthetic. In the bathroom scene, the team strategically uses reflectors to avoid such issues while still achieving the desired lighting effects without intrusive light placement.

Highlights

Introduction of the lighting technique using the Data Light Lightstream system to create indirect light without using flags for control.

Use of reflected light and near-parallel light beams to light scenes in confined spaces, such as living rooms and bathrooms.

Description of the Lightstream system, which uses a near-parallel light source and reflectors, focusing the light for minimal dispersion and control over fall-off.

Explanation of the four types of reflectors (numbered 1-4) in the Lightstream system, each with different levels of diffusion, from mirror-like (1) to soft bounce (4).

Demonstration of using a small opening in the curtains to regulate strong backlight from a large southwest-facing window, creating a diffused texture for the scene.

Step-by-step breakdown of how to build up lighting, starting with a key light, followed by a backlight, and then a subtle scratch light for contouring.

Use of the Data Light 7 light fixture with a parallel beam attachment to create natural-looking backlight from a long distance (4-7 meters).

Creative use of architectural features, such as a glass-paneled floor, to position and hide lighting fixtures while still providing effective backlighting.

Utilization of reflector number 2 to create a soft backlight and reflector number 3 for a scratch light, redirecting small portions of the light for precise effects.

Challenges of lighting in a small, reflective bathroom space, including avoiding reflections in tiles and mirrors while maintaining soft, flattering light.

Strategic placement of a Data Light 7 fixture on the bathroom floor, pointing straight up to provide soft fill lighting and a controlled bounce.

Use of reflector number 4 for soft backlighting and reflector number 1 for bouncing light into confined areas, such as the bathroom stall.

Effective use of rigging with a mini Carleen clamp and gobo head to position reflectors in tight spaces without obstructing camera movement.

Discussion on how the lighting approach with reflectors and indirect light allows for more flexibility in camera movement, enabling dynamic shots even in small spaces.

Encouragement to rethink traditional lighting techniques and consider using the Lightstream system as an additional method for finesse and subtle effects.