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Behind the Scenes: Lighting the Scene: Interview with Renee

Added 2018-11-23 17:56:14 +0000 UTC

Survey is still up! https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/QWSSYMZ

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Here's a small but major thing that I do when setting up the scenes.

The above image is just the bare most lighting used. Only the sun in the distance is making the light and unsurprisingly it's not doing it's job. However it's not irredeemable! The reflections off the table as well as the cups, to me, just looks incredibly comfy.

When we think of the way the world is lit, lighting feels static. When we sit at a restaurant, typically you have a lamp directly above, maybe other lightsources are close-by, and of course a major lightsource (the sun) is just outside window.

This will lead up to something similar to this image.

The lighting isn't bad, however there's little things that could be nit-picked. Such as how well lit the cups are, but now Renee's eyes are in shadow. It certainly gives a mysterious mood, but doesn't fit the intended time of a semi early morning randevu (think 9 or 10 a.m.). This would suffice if I were to create a late night diner meet-up, but not for this.

In photography, a three lighting set up is the most basic lighting set up to go for. You have a key light (strongest light source), a fill light (something to fill in the shadows), and a back light.

Using this technique brings up the following image.

While still trying to achieve a natural lighting look, the sun had to remain the key light. It's the brightest light off to the left and helps cast a shadow passing Renee's right hand. A fill light just behind our point of view helps lower the contrast. Most commercial restaurants and stores will try to have even distribution of light like this so I think that maybe it'll give more hint that we are at a restaurant or coffee shop. Finally multiple back lights help add a small halo effect around Renee's hair.

So to lift the veil further here's the scene with lighting sources.