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HMIs? Lighting a Penthouse and Bathrooms/Vanities – Need Advice
Hi Everybody,
I usually only work on reality shows and the shows I have worked on have not required any complicated lighting. Usually, I’m bouncing Arri 650s and using an Arri kit for interviews. Also filling in with 1X1 Litepanels and occasionally use a couple of Divas.
Got a call to shoot an in-house promotional video where I’ll be shooting a few penthouses and interviews but focusing on the bathrooms and fancy vanities within.
Here are a few examples of what they want…
I could be wrong but it doesn’t look like they’re using much for the penthouses and interview and maybe a little fill on the vanities. What do you see and what lights would you bring with you for this shoot? We’re renting from a local place.
HMIs to help brighten up the Penthouses? I haven’t used HMIs yet for any shoots so any specifics would be appreciated.
Thank you for any and all advice.
Joe
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8 Replies
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What cameras are you shooting with? If they’re not particularly sensitive, the challenge in small spaces is to raise the overall level without hot spots.
One trick I’ve used in heavily decorated spaces where the ceilings are as likely to be painted or at least “off color” as not, is to bring some medium size sheets of white foam core and “stand fly” them as a false ceiling off of which you can bounce light to bring up the overall level without creating nasty highlights.
Those pop up reflectors can do the same thing and you can bring a few in various sizes along with the clamp arms that let you rig them quickly.
Generally, I try not to point lights at anything other than overhead in a space that small. Way too hard to control.
Oh, and I’d skip the HMIs. Way overkill in small spaces for my money.
Good luck.
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Thanks, Bill!
We’re shooting on a Canon 5D. Hoping it’s a Mark 3.
That main room in the penthouse is something you consider a small space?
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Penthouse? All I see in the attached videos is small spaces, primarily bathrooms or closet spaces. Did you post other images somewhere?
If you do have soaring spaces, then HMI’s are an option, but if it’s a large volume of space, unless you bring in LOTS of power and more than one HMI, It’s iffy that you can get the interior space bright enough to bring the window views into exposure limits. Even in large soft boxes, powerful HMI’s pointed directly at talent is something I’d only do with professional talent that are conditioned to working with really bright lights.
YMMV.
Know someone who teaches video editing in elementary school, high school or college? Tell them to check out http://www.StartEditingNow.com – video editing curriculum complete with licensed practice content.
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This video link is in my first post. I think it was hidden a bit. Shows the main rooms and interview.
Appreciate what you’ve been sharing so far. It helps.
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Ok, found it. Yes, an HMI (or two!) with bags would help. The shot after the first night windows shot exposes (hah!) the problem as it completely loses the room in favor of the views. Nothing less than a pretty strong HMI wash will bring the room level up to compete with all that glass. Even a small HMI unit like a Joker Bug won’t have the punch for this. You’d need at least something well over a 2k and that puts you into the realm of worrying about power.
At the price of these places, they need to budget for an LD and a gaffer. Either that or shoot the rooms as stills with flash and post composite them – then do the moves in post.
But with that much glass, you’ll be fighting exposure issues every step of the way unless you work with your back to the views constantly.
Good luck.
Know someone who teaches video editing in elementary school, high school or college? Tell them to check out http://www.StartEditingNow.com – video editing curriculum complete with licensed practice content.
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Thanks again, Bill!
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HMIs would definitely be helpful in the penthouse setting… you wouldn’t have to have them, but that’s what I’d use.
I’d get one or two 1200w PAR or fresnel HMIs (my personal preference is for fresnels although seems like most people prefer PARS). You could actually benefit from bigger instruments if you have tons of walls of windows to fight, especially if it is bright out… but a 1200w is the biggest that you can be comfortably guaranteed to get adequate power for in a residential setting.
How to light with them exactly, I couldn’t say without knowing exactly what you are going to shoot, and how you want it to look. But you’d probably benefit from having some white 4×4 bounce cards and maybe some 4×4 Hollywood frames with silks for the HMIs.
If you have a similar setup to your sample video, I would also try to avoid shooting at midday if possible… a location like that would be great for either magic hour or actual sunset shooting.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Thank you, Terry. That helps, too.
We’re shooting three different locations and all in one day. So I probably won’t have much choice on the time of day.
They want something similar to what is on the videos I linked to. Most of the footage will be the vanities in the bathrooms.
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