Video Lighting: Guerilla Lighting

For the past few months we have discussed various ways to approach lighting, from using reflectors and three-point scenarios to dramatic lighting techniques. We have talked about the placement of lighting equipment and how to get the best lighting for any given situation. But, what do you do if you are shooting video in a real-world situation and don't have the time to go get a video light? What if you just don't have the money to buy professional quality lights? The answer is guerrilla lighting. In this month's column we will look at various ways you can get professional-looking results using inexpensive materials. The only requirement you have to meet is that you approach every lighting situation with an open mind and a major dose of creativity.

Hit the Hardware Store

A quick visit to the hardware store will provide most of your guerrilla lighting needs. The clip-on lights with 12-inch reflectors commonly used in garages and basement hobby shops work well as inexpensive spotlights. With their soft rubber coated grips, you can clamp these lights to almost anything and they will provide enough light to highlight your talent in a medium close shot. You may also be able to find fairly inexpensive quartz worklights that provide great looking light when properly placed. If you decide to go in this direction, try to buy lights with the highest wattage bulbs available.

A bag of wooden spring-clamp clothespins will come in handy to clamp gels and other materials to your lights, but beware: these and other lamps can become very hot, so be sure not to clamp anything flammable to them. Also, do not use duct tape to attach materials to your lights. The glue from the tape is very hard to get off most surfaces and your lights will soon become a tacky, black mess.

A stop in the plumbing section will provide lightweight PVC pipe for reflectors and diffusers. A 4X5-foot frame will be large enough for most lighting situations and the frame can be taken apart for storage.

You can use a 4X4-foot sheet of flexible, flat black window screening for a variety of things, from controlling the intensity of reflectors to providing a neutral density filter through which you can shoot on bright days. If you shoot through the screening, make sure to place it close to the camcorder so that the lens will not focus on it.

Your local art store sells 3X4-foot sheets of white foamcore you can use as reflectors. You can also consider a couple of 3X4-foot sheets of posterboard, black on one side and white on the other, to use as flags to block light or as flexible soft reflectors to bounce it.

Household Treasures

Amazingly enough, your house is probably filled with lighting equipment and accessories. A thin, white bed sheet makes a wonderful reflector or diffusion filter. Bouncing a light off a sky-blue sheet works well to give your scene a soft, cool blue tint. White towels also make great reflectors.

If you dig deep into your closet, you may find an old Hula-Hoop, a perfect frame for a homemade reflector or diffuser. Just tack, hot glue or staple material to the plastic ring. And suspend it in front of your light source (but not so close as to create a fire hazard). The quality of light you can create with a few work lamps suspended behind this type of diffusion screen is amazing.

A trip to the kitchen will reveal a virtual treasure trove of lighting accessories. A box of aluminum foil is a must for those times when you need a hard reflective surface. You can use black garbage bags as flexible flags to control lighting and white garbage bags make great flexible soft reflectors or diffusion gels.