Chapter 3. Guerilla Lighting

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Good lighting is absolutely essential to shooting good video. However, if you're like me, 90 percent of the time you shoot your video without separate lights, using the sun (outdoors) or available lighting (indoors) as best you can.

Fortunately, a lack of lighting equipment doesn't prevent you from producing great video. However, though it might sound paradoxical (if not downright Zen), you must know how to work with lighting equipment to understand how to do without it; this allows you to optimize results by positioning your subjects or the available light for maximum effect.

I'll start by examining the two most common lighting combinations used on location and in the studio today. Then I'll discuss some lighting fundamentals to help arrive at a definition of what "good lighting" is. After all, you can't hit a target unless you know what it is.

Once we have a target, I'll discuss the tools available to help produce good lighting. Interestingly, one lovely characteristic of all video cameras is an absolutely egalitarian approach to lighting. Your camera doesn't care whether you spent thousands of dollars on your lighting equipment, or a few hundred, so long as the light is adequate and appropriately positioned. Accordingly, for those with $100 or so to spend, I'll describe how to buy highly effective lighting equipment at a fraction of the price of professional gear.

Finally, with all this as background, I'll describe how to apply what we've learned so far to our three scenarios and other common shooting situations you'll likely encounter in the field.

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    DV 101. A Hands-On Guide for Business, Government & Educators
    DV 101: A Hands-On Guide for Business, Government and Educators
    ISBN: 0321348974
    EAN: 2147483647
    Year: 2005
    Pages: 110
    Authors: Jan Ozer

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