Home Applications 3 Looks, 1 Location
class=attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail f-align-center alt=Garrett Sammons decoding=async data-lazy-srcset=https://www.litepanels.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/garrett_sammons-150x150.png 150w, https://www.litepanels.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/garrett_sammons-300x300.png 300w, https://www.litepanels.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/garrett_sammons-768x768.png 768w, https://www.litepanels.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/garrett_sammons-100x100.png 100w, https://www.litepanels.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/garrett_sammons-140x140.png 140w, https://www.litepanels.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/garrett_sammons-500x500.png 500w, https://www.litepanels.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/garrett_sammons-350x350.png 350w, https://www.litepanels.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/garrett_sammons-800x800.png 800w, https://www.litepanels.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/garrett_sammons-600x600.png 600w, https://www.litepanels.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/garrett_sammons.png 900w data-lazy-sizes=(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px data-lazy-src=https://www.litepanels.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/garrett_sammons-150x150.png />Garrett Sammons Garrett is the Creative Director at Nice Shirt Media and part-time film professor. With a primary focus on commercial cinematography, he also creates narrative and documentary films.
youtube
instagram
Written by Garrett Sammons
Lighting is one of the most crucial aspects of filmmaking. Although sometimes underestimated, lighting can change the entire look and feel of a location. It can also impact the depth of the story told. As such, cinematographers, gaffers, and directors of photography (DPs) need to understand how light works and behaves.
If we do our jobs well as cinematographers, gaffers, and DPs, we can use lighting to create a world that is completely believable and similar to reality. To demonstrate the impact of lighting, we filmed three short scenes using different setups. We used the same location, set design, and subject for each scene, changing only the lighting.
Look 1: Good Morning
There are two key things to keep in mind when discussing dawn light -temperature and harshness. Light is on a color and behavior spectrum, and morning light is particularly harsh. Therefore, we used the Gemini 1 1 Hard to emulate it.
Key light setup We put the 1 1 Hard light on the roof outside a window on the second story of the building. We tuned it to approximately 3200K. For the tight shots, we used a -stop scrim to slightly cut down the harshness. But for the wide shots, it was wide open.
Our key light in this scene was sunlight, which we got using the 1 1 Hard Gemini coming through the window. This created nice, hard, long shadows, which are similar to dawn light. Make sure you use extremely accurate and bright lights that can replicate color temperature well to achieve this look.
Book light setup On the other side, we created a book light that uses a bounce and diffusion combo to create a morning look. The booklight ensured a contrast balance between the sun coming from one side and the shadow on the other side of the room.
Our book light setup comprised of a Gemini 1 1 Soft at 20-25% put through a 4 4-foot Silk. This soft light bounced off a neutral white wall. Here, we were not trying to change the behavior of the light. Rather, the goal was to get enough light to subtly fill in the shadows so that we could alleviate that contrast ratio.
This fill is necessary, even when working with directional light sources, as it allows you to remove unwanted contrast or shadows. However, an indirect source is still preferable because you can spread the light out. Hence, we used white silk while filming this scene. Putting artificial silk on the other side diffuses the bounced light a second time, further scattering it.
Screens For the second shot, we put a -stop screen over the window to change the light intensity. Here, we did not use diffusion because we didn't want to lose the hard light nature. Diffusing too much in this shot would have made the lighting look super soft. As such, it wouldn't match the wider shot.
alt=Gemini lighting plot data-nectar-img-srcset=https://www.litepanels.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Morning-plot.png 1068w, https://www.litepanels.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Morning-plot-300x169.png 300w, https://www.litepanels.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Morning-plot-1024x578.png 1024w, https://www.litepanels.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Morning-plot-768x434.png 768w, https://www.litepanels.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Morning-plot-600x339.png 600w sizes=(max-width: 1068px) 100vw, 1068px title= />
You can also use screens to adjust lighting without changing behavior. The use of a -stop screen and a window here allowed us to stop that down while still maintaining the harshness.
We also used a slightly cooler color temperature for the fill. We had 3200K outside and approximately 4200K (mixed) for our diffused book light. This ensured that it wasn't quite daylight; it was cooler. So, our fill was a bit cooler than our key.
Look 2: Goodnight
Light behavior is very different from night to daytime. There are notable differences in both the color temperature and light behavior. Morning light is very direct, hard light. In contrast, night light goes into the difference between reality and creating a new reality.
With night lighting, the aim is to create a specific overall aesthetic, not to perfectly replicate the real world. The goal is to create a believable reality our audience lives in.
The behavior of light is directly related to the perceived surface area of a source to a subject. However, the moon is so far away that the surface area of that source is perceived to be very small. As such, this primary source of nightlight emits hard light.
Key light setup The night also do
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
07/08/2025
July 8 2025, 22:30 (PDT) Tata Motors & Dolby Bring Dolby Atmos to Harrier.ev, R...
11/07/2025
PARK CITY, UTAH, July 11, 2025 - The nonprofit Sundance Institute announced today the 11 producers chosen for its annual Producers Labs, returning to Ucross Fou...
11/07/2025
If you've ever wondered what might be playing in Clark Kent's headphones...
11/07/2025
L3Harris Technologies President of Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Jason Lambert and General Manager of L3Harris Waco facility Sean Ling held a ce...
11/07/2025
ARLINGTON, Va. WETA, the flagship public media station in the national capital area, has launched WETA+, a new streaming service tailored for the local Washingt...
11/07/2025
The Federal Communications Commission has emerged as one of the central players in the broadcast TV landscape in 2025, with its deregulatory policies sparking h...
11/07/2025
Calrec will introduce usability, customization and system enhancements across its entire range of Argo consoles during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Amsterda...
11/07/2025
LONDON Encompass Digital Media said it will support live and on-demand viewing of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup across multiple global regions for sports enterta...
11/07/2025
Two-thirds of broadcast engineers reaped the benefits of a pay raise within the last year....
11/07/2025
CARY, N.C. SmallHD has launched the Quantum 27, a new 26.5-inch Quantum-Dot OLED monitor designed to deliver postproduction image quality in a compact, set-frie...
11/07/2025
The Federal Communications Commission's Enforcement Bureau and Tegna have entered into a consent decree that will settle an investigation into the accidenta...
11/07/2025
WASHINGTON Following news in early July that Paramount had settled President Donald Trump's lawsuit, Sens. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Ben Ray Luj n (D-N...
11/07/2025
Model/Actriz Performs Lead Single Cinderella on The Late Show with Stephen Colbe...
11/07/2025
Behind the Mic: Amazon Prime Preps for First Season of NBA Action; MSG Networks ...
11/07/2025
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Suite Studios' Craig Hering on Adapting to Client...
11/07/2025
2025 SVG Content Management Forum Breaks Down AI's Impact, Continued Transit...
11/07/2025
A Journey HOME: University of Nebraska's HuskerVision Goes IP Leaders from the HuskerVision and Lawo share their IP learnings By SVG Staff
Friday, July 1...
11/07/2025
CMSI, Remote Picture Labs, Ace ESPN's Cloud-Based Editing Efforts for Wimble...
11/07/2025
Netflix Enters the Live-Boxing-Production Ring for Round 2 With Historic Taylor-...
11/07/2025
Back to All News
Too Hot to Handle: Italy Is Coming on July 18 Only on Netflix
Entertainment
11 July 2025
GlobalItaly
Link copied to clipboard
July 11, 20...
11/07/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Will Release Death Inc. Seasons 1, 2 and 3
Entertainment
11 July 2025
GlobalSpain
Link copied to clipboard
Season 1
Season 2
Se...
11/07/2025
AI and Multimedia Authenticity Standards Collaboration launches two papers to guide the future of AI integration, today at the AI for Good Global Summit
The...
11/07/2025
Ceramics - the humble mix of earth, fire and artistry - have been part of a global conversation for millennia.
From Tang Dynasty trade routes to Renaissance pa...
10/07/2025
The current holder of the prestigious Thomson Foundation Young Journalist of the Year Award has been forced to stop reporting over fears for her safety in Afgha...
10/07/2025
Spotify is turning up the volume on Australian music with a multipronged initiative designed to highlight the dominance of Australian artists on the global stag...
10/07/2025
This is not a drill: Oasis is back on the road-marking its first live performanc...
10/07/2025
The music industry depends on fresh ideas, bold voices, and emerging talent. Yet across the U.K., too many young musicians lack the space to develop their craft...
10/07/2025
NEW YORK - July 10, 2025 - Nielsen, the global leader in audience measurement, data and analytics, today announced that it appointed Richard Pacheco as head of ...
10/07/2025
Local newscasts don't exist in a vacuum. News directors and station management constantly evaluate what's working, what isn't and perhaps most impor...
10/07/2025
Lawo has announced that Stuttgart Media University (Hochschule der Medien, HdM) has comprehensively modernized its central recording studio after selecting an I...
10/07/2025
The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) has opened early-bird registration for the Media Technology Summit, which will take place in a ne...
10/07/2025
NASHVILLE, Tenn. TNDV Television has launched Aspiration 35, a new version of its 40-foot Aspiration truck reimagined for cinematic multicamera productions....
10/07/2025
BURBANK, Calif. Key Code Education, a provider of instructor-led postproduction training, is growing its curriculum with new programs for beginner and intermedi...
10/07/2025
HACKENSACK, N.J. Actus Digital will demonstrate how broadcasters can transform compliance monitoring from a necessary expense into a strategic revenue driver at...
10/07/2025
The Federal Register has published a summary of the Federal Communications Commission's Public Notice seeking comments on its ownership rules that lists a d...
10/07/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Presents the Official Trailer for SuperestarPlay Video
Play Video
Entertainment
10 July 2025
GlobalSpain
Link copied to clipboard...
10/07/2025
In the race to understand our planet's changing climate, speed and accuracy are everything. But today's most widely used climate simulators often strugg...
10/07/2025
As one of the world's largest emerging markets, Indonesia is making strides toward its Golden 2045 Vision - an initiative tapping digital technologies and...
10/07/2025
10 Jul 2025
VEON and Cohen Circle Secure Investor Commitments for Kyivstar Listing Kyiv, New York, Dubai, and Philadelphia - July 10, 2025 - VEON Ltd. (Nasdaq:...
10/07/2025
5G for all? What the DFL's use of Easy5G and RefCam could mean for events in...
10/07/2025
Save the Date: PGA TOUR Studios Welcomes SVG Remote Production Summit on Oct 14-...
10/07/2025
Cloud on the Road: How Remote-Production-Service Providers Are Adapting to a New...
10/07/2025
Seattle Kraken's Ryan Schaber on the NHL Team Taking Live Game Productions I...
10/07/2025
FOX Sports Reboots Small Control Room in Los Angeles as Hub for Vertical-First P...
10/07/2025
SVG Sit-Down: MSE's Zach Leonsis, ViewLift's Rick Allen Go Deep on Joint...
10/07/2025
Thursday 10 July 2025
The Very Small Creatures
Jaime's Treetop Tales
Emerald
BooSnoo! Christmas Mashup
Pip & Posy's Spooktacular Party
The Very Sm...
10/07/2025
Thursday 10 July 2025
Brand new rewards are coming to Sky customers, with free ...
Home Applications 3 Looks, 1 Location
