The Value of Lighting

Overview

Lighting determines not only brightness and darkness, but also tone, mood and the atmosphere; therefore, it is necessary to control and manipulate light correctly in order to get the best texture, vibrancy and luminosity on the subject. Cameras do not “see” light the same way that humans do, so light is often considered to be the single most important tool when capturing images in both film and photography.

Lighting is fundamental to both film and photography because it creates a visual mood, atmosphere, and sense of meaning for the audience. When it comes to working on set, every step of the creative process affects the lighting setup, and vice-versa. Simply put, lighting tells the audience where to look and can help them understand how to feel.

Working with light

Studio lighting can give us consistency and control in the production, but it’s not as easy just turning on every light in the room and calling it done. Before we’re on set, we account for every scenario that we will be capturing - if there’s movement, if it’s stationary, how many people are involved, if it’s indoors or outdoors, how we want the scene to look and feel. Then, we use various sources of light to configure the scene to fit the initial plan and goals for the project.

In studio settings, we have consistent light sources that we can manipulate any way we want; however, shooting outdoors is a bit different. When working outside, the light source is usually the sun, which we can only be manipulated in limited ways. Some of these strategies include adjusting camera settings, but for the most part, we’ll be working with tools to adjust the lighting as much as we can. If you’re on an outdoor set with us, you may see us using large diffusion sheets or filters on our cameras.

Benefits of lighting

Without good lighting, an image can be grainy, dark or seem blurred and if the frame includes a person, their skin tones may not be accurate and their skin may not look very appealing. Lighting brings out the best in every scene - that’s exactly why we never work on a shoot without thinking about how lighting will come in to play. Lighting gives scenes depth, a certain mood, and a path for the viewer’s eyes to follow when looking at the frame.