Today we are joined by the talented expert on DSLR storytelling, Ronald E. Hole, all the way from Norway. He is going to walk us through the basics of how to light your subject when filming an interview. Let’s say you want to video a family history, beginning with your mother-in-law.
Photography and video – the bottom line is light. Technical, anyway. Where it comes from, or how strong or weak it is.
Do not push that buy-button on the internet and order your fullfledged light-kit. I hope I have some tips that makes lighting your shots easy and nice. And free.
I use natural light as often as I can in my professional job. Below is an example, where half of the interviews are done with outdoor light falling in a window. Can you guess which? Answer is at the end of the article.
Before I start, I have one wish. When you are going to talk to or interview a friend or family-member for recording on video, put the camera as close as you can beside yourself. So we see the subjects face, but they’re looking a bit to the left or right, where you are sitting. Why? This is very logical. When you have a discussion with a friend, they never look away from you. Hopefully they see into your eyes, and listen or say something. Same with video. You trust and believe people whom you can see the face of, when they are telling something.
Okay, on to the fun stuff.
Direct and indirect lights
In my example, I use indirect light. Its the big spotlight outdoors, which makes a lot of light. Often called the sun. I do not put my subjects in direct sunlight, that will make them squint. And the sun casts sharp shadows, which may hide the eyes and make shadows pop out.
If the sun isn’t shining straight through the window (or even better, it is a cloudy day. Nice, big sunfilter), I put my subjects in front of the window. I then get (as you can see) a nice, soft light on them, and the background will be darker. That will make your mother-in-law come out of the picture.
Note:
Try to swing your subject around, as my top-right picture. I turned him away from the outdoor windowlight. Then you will get a “shadow-grade” on the right side of the face, and not a so flat light. We are all made in 3D, in the real world.
Hard and direct sunlight
Okay, the sunlight coming through the window, no clouds, and the light is really sharp. Check the surroundings in the room. Is the light hitting a white wall? Put the subject in front of the wall, and use the light reflecting from this.
Or even more fun, put the subject with the back to the direct sunlight, and use 4 (or 6) letter-sized white papers taped together, put it in front of the subject, and use the reflected light to get a nice soft light on them. And you will probably get a nice halo for your mother-in-law. But please be careful with strong sun-light.
Just experiment where to put the home-made reflector. As mentioned before, I like to have a face with a nice, soft shadow.
Note:
If you use the automatic settings on the camera, it probably will compensate and make your subject dark, sitting in front of a window. Improvise, and move your camera around til you are satisfied.
And please be nice with your mother-in-law, its hot in the sunlight.
No sun. And its dark. Like evening.
Now you don´t have any natural light to play with. Then you have to try to do with what you have in the household. If you have an lamp you can move around, put it a bit to the right or left of your subject. If your lamp has an lampshade, it hopefully makes the light softer.
Important rule: The subjects face should look towards the light source.
Lamps in the ceiling give nasty shadows, try to avoid using them.
The illustration below (Ill.2) gives you an idea where to put the lamp to get fewest shadows and maybe get some illumination in the eyes.
Here in this picture (ill.3), I only used an ordinary house lamp. The lamp is hanging from the ceiling, but to the right of the subject. The light goes through the lampshade, and that softens it a bit on his face. But it reflected down on a white table, which gives me a nice, soft light on this guy.
Summary
- Eye contact with the subject
- Use outdoor light, put your subjects against a windows
- Do not put them in direct sunlight. Squinting and ugly shadows. And hot.
- Build your own reflector with white paper, 4-6 letter sized tape together
-Avoid lamps in the ceiling
-Lampshades soften the light a bit
-Experiment, experiment, experiment. Have fun.
Did you guess correctly?
About Ronald
This kid has been in the television and film production for 20 years. He’s probably done anything you can do here, from making coffee and running errands to editing documentaries. But he loves taking pictures, meeting new people, and learning new stories. And sharing those. Some of his love for storytelling with moving images you can find at www.storytell.in, where he tries to share the tricks of the trade from directors, photographers, producers and the like from the web with you. If you have any questions or would like to contact Ronald, you can do so at ronald@storytell.in
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