Lighting Cheat Sheet (Page 2 of 3) in pdf

Lighting Cheat Sheet Page 2

Lights commonly used

Tungsten Sources:

We use an Arri Kit in these classes, which come in varying strengths:

300W, 650W, 1K, 2K and upwards

Fresnel lenses have concentric lenses that focus the beams of

light and create a concentrated, very direct-able pool of light.

There are also open face lights like the open face 2K – this is a 2K lamp in a

housing that has no lens in front of it – the bulb is exposed. The lamp comes out

with very little direction. So, it’s not great for a directed source that should have

a specific aim. It tends to be used with a bounce board. The bounce board will

then essentially be the new source of light.

China balls are very widely used in location lighting, which

are household bulbs hooked into a socket with a long

extension cord. The bulb is hung inside a china ball, a paper

globe on a wire frame. China balls provide soft light that is

directionless. Skirts made out of duvetyne can be used to

block some of the light.

These are popular because the parts are cheap, they don’t

take much room and they are very easy to use.

Daylight sources:

HMI’s (1200 and 575) are rated to appear like average daylight. These get used a lot

even in daytime interiors to create a steady sun source instead of relying on the sun,

which moves and goes behind clouds and is generally unreliable. Of course, for

daytime exteriors there’s no substitute for the sun.

HMI’s tend to be placed in carefully decided positions (high for mid-day, low for late

day; and also considering the horizontal angle as far as determining how the sun will

enter the room) outside the windows of a room. They are powerful and very energy-

efficient. They also burn a little cooler than tungsten lights.

Lighting Cheat Sheet Page 2