People despise restrictions, yet the proper ones may spark creative breakthroughs. We have discussed a few ways in which you can maintain your spark. This is inclusive of timely relaxation, personal hobbies, self-paced courses, reading, exercise, to surrounding yourself/engaging with optimistic people. For me its getting lost in film and understanding how cinematography works and how to emulate some of my favorite cinematic scenes.
I’d like to take this time to introduce you to lighting and perhaps some of these tips may help you with anything from zoom calls, taking pictures of friends, capturing vacation videos or helping you determine the lighting for your next shot list on a music video. Don’t worry this wont be overly technical, trust me. Breathe and laugh. To begin, understand the photography and videography is the process of capturing light and in certain cases the manipulation of such light.
Lets take a baby step with this approach. What are the basic elements of light?
Intensity – This often relates to the the brightness or “quantity” of light used. There are two originating sources, artificial (powered light sources/lamps) or ambient (naturally occurring, the best example is the Sun). Intensity can be control by altering the distance of a light source
Quality – This characteristic is more abstract. Soft light originates from a diffused source and appears non-directional. Soft light casts shadows that are not very well defined] . Hard light is directed, sharp, and produces strong shadows and intense highlights. Another way to soften light is to increase the size of the light and bring it closer to the subject.
Temperature – Is a term that describes how warm or cool the light is coming from a source. The temperature or color of light may has major impact on the mood of an environment or video scene. Warmer light (lower Kelvin values) creates a welcoming ambiance and tends to improve skin tones, whilst cooler light (higher Kelvin values) creates a crisp/invigorating atmospheres that promote alertness.
Direction – Direction gives form and texture to lighting. To be more specific, the width of the shadows are controlled by the direction of light. The contrast between the lit and darkened areas of the subject and its surrounds will be the source of the feelings that you will convey in your digital content. There a few core directions:
- Consider an XY Graph, Light can be placed in any angle around the subject. In some cases indirect lighting can be flattering (i.e. bounce off of a wall).
- Additionally light can be angled down or upwards. The options are infinite to create and array of moods.
Here is a simple setup that can improve the professional appearance of your next presentation on a Zoom or Microsoft Teams call. You will need some cheap items, some of which you may already have in your household:
- Laptop with a webcam
- A medium to large window with thin drapes (you can substitute drapes for a frost vinyl shower curtain from Walmart for about $7).
- 20 x 30 of Foam Core Board (you can substitute with a White T-Shirt on a hanger). These are about $3 at Walmart or Michaels.
Setup: This setup assumes that you have sufficient sunlight coming through your window, if not replace the window with a lap with a soft daylight bulb. If you choose the lamp option, be sure to point the light source at the wall so you are lit by the reflecting light. Close the drapes or thumbtack the vinyl shower curtain over the window to help soften the lighting. Set up the direction of your laptop and your body to be approximately 45 degrees away from your window. You should be relatively close to the window. Lean the foam core board against something on your desk so that it is parallel to you an bounces light back on the opposite side of your face to fill in some of the shadows. Adjust the board to your liking. Voila! The most simple setup to improve the quality of your video. I would love to see how this setup works for you. Send me a link to a screenshot from your call in the chat.
Creative Catalyst 