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Do the Light Thing

You want your videos to look professional? Great camera work and awesome sound alone won't make your video all you want it to be. You can take a lesson from Hollywood's book. A motion picture's lighting director spends hours trying to get the lighting just right, because they know how important it is to the final product. Shouldn't it be a priority for you as well? The quality of your production's lighting will stamp you as either a seasoned professional or a budding wanna-be.

Video lights are divided into two main categories: bare bulb or fresnel (pronounced "fruh-NEL"). The bare bulb light is pretty straightforward -- a light bulb surrounded by a reflector. Also referred to as open face, these lights use the reflector to focus the light's rays. All open face lights have uneven lighting, though higher-end versions mitigate the effect somewhat.

Fresnels, on the other hand, use a lens as the primary focus mechanism. They produce intense, focused light and usually have a longer reach than their open face cousins.

Your eye may perceive the light streaming in your window as similar to that of a Lowel DP, but to the video camera, all light sources are definitely not equal. The camera sees the distinction as a difference in light temperature. You measure light temperature using degrees Kelvin (i.e., 3200K). Lower numbers result in redder lights and higher numbers translate to bluer lights.

How does this apply to you? Many video lights are "warm" (3200K), and give off a reddish light. Daylight, on the other hand, is "cool" (5500K) and thus bluer. When you plan your lighting setup, you'll need to decide what the primary light source will be: daylight, tungsten or fluorescent. Then balance all the other lights to that temperature. You should avoid mixing light temperatures, unless that mixed light look is specifically called for!

Video lights are usually known by the types of bulbs they use, and there are quite a few different types, so be forewarned! Here's a quick rundown:

Incandescent: Most household lamps contain this type of bulb. The home variety is usually very warm (around 2900K), but you can purchase professional incandescent bulbs at cooler temperatures. These types of bulbs are known as photoflood. When you use these lights, your initial investment is very low, but unfortunately, they rarely last very long.

Tungsten-Halogen: These little bulbs are smaller and more efficient than incandescent, but they're also more expensive! Sometimes referred to as quartz bulbs, they're normally rated at 3200K. Lights in this category include Arri's Arrilite 600-Watt Focusing Flood or Smith-Victor's 600-Watt Open Faced Tungsten.

Fluorescent: Regular fluorescent bulbs, such as those found in an office, produce greenish light and are hard to match with daylight or tungsten. But professional fluorescents do exist. Kino Flo, Photogenic and others make daylight and tungsten balanced lights. These fluorescents are available in various configurations, including banks (an array of bulbs) and single bulb fixtures. Fluorescents have a very long life, produce soft light and generate virtually no heat.

HMI (Hydrargyrum Medium-arc Iodide): If you're willing to shell out some dough, these lights are daylight-balanced and extremely efficient. HMIs produce almost three times the amount of light as Tungsten-Halogen for the same amount of power. You can look at the 1.2K Fresnel by Altman or the 400-Watt soft light by Dedolight for examples of lower cost HMI lighting fixture options.

Carbon Arc Lamps: You might best recognize these lights by their marketing application -- spotlights outside a car dealership making light circles in the sky! Large productions often use them for simulating daylight or for lighting large areas. But inexperienced users need not apply! Carbon Arc lamps have unique power requirements and a trained electrician is usually required for operation.