Lighting a spoke person in a conf room

[Mark Suszko]

I usually try to eliminate all daylight from the room, kill the (usually fluorescent) room lights, and light exclusively with my tungsten kit. You don’t generally want to mix 2 or more color temps in the shots.

Another way to go is to match the daylight with an HMI light, but HMI’s are expensive, hot, and pull a lot of power. Tungstens or LED’s can be gelled to daylight color temp but this drastically reduces their overall range and effectiveness.

At the very least, shade the windows in the half of the room where the speaker will be. Then add fill lighting from the side opposite the windows. one trick you might ty is to shoot a strong light into the ceiling as a bounce which will raise the overall level without casting shadows.

Right about now, 600 dollars for an HMI or advanced light kit sounds pretty good, doesn’t it…. 🙂

[Olivier Prudhomme]

Thanks a lot!

Great info.
I need to read it a few times to digest it.
I might be able to get a pict of the room actually

[Olivier Prudhomme]

Hey Mark

I won’t be able to kill all daylight coming into the room.
I think my best option is what you suggested: blocking the portion of the windows near the speaker.

I found a place to rent: what do you think of this and which one would you pick, considering that I worked on shoots but I never actually set up lights myself. (I won’t have time to rehearse and I don’t want to look as an amateur if the set up is to complicated or unsafe)

Thanks!

[Mark Suszko]

Um… pictures/

[Olivier Prudhomme]

not sure if it worked…..
And thanks for helping!

[Olivier Prudhomme]

[Mark Suszko]

Suggestions:

1. Have the meeting at night.

2. Pray for an overcast day.

That is a terrible room – are you sure there’s no better alternative?

Hopefully, you’re shooting from the spot where we see that tripod, so the TV is not behind the main speaker? What does the opposite, unseen side of the room look like?

What time is the meeting, and what will the sun position be at that time? If those windows are facing west, an early- morning meeting might not be that bad. Conversely, if they are East windows, have the meeting after 1 PM.

You will be fighting that sunlight quite a bit, and if the meeting is long, you’re fighting the changing angle of the light as well. The sun, blasting in like that, is going to over-light the side of the speaker’s face, and the camera will under-expose the opposite side to try to compensate.

If the budget is low, I would use a milky, translucent vinyl, like shower curtain material, or translucent paper, applied to the glass with clear tape near the ceiling, to diffuse the light. If you only did that one thing, the diffused light would light the entire room and bounce around enough that most shadows would be eliminated. Failing that, I might place a reflecting board on the side of the speaker opposite the window, to balance-out the daylight and add fill.

If you can’t treat the windows at all, either by curtaining them off or diffusing them. then you need an instrument to fill in on the non-sunlit side, and it needs to match the color temperature of the daylight blasting in. A portable whiteboard or an easel with a white fox core board might help, in a pinch.

So, what gear is available to you from the rental shop?

[Olivier Prudhomme]

Hey Mark thanks a lot for taking the time to help. I can tell by your answers that you know what you are talking about.

“1. Have the meeting at night” I have no control over the schedule

That is a terrible room – are you sure there’s no better alternative?Good idea. Exploring

Hopefully, you’re shooting from the spot where we see that tripod, so the TV is not behind the main speaker? Actually I’ll be shooting from where the picture was taken, so TV right behind the speaker…. What issue do you forsee?

What time is the meeting, and what will the sun position be at that time? If those windows are facing west, an early- morning meeting might not be that bad. facing west…. bad….

if the meeting is long, 1-5pm

The sun, blasting in like that, is going to over-light the side of the speaker’s face, and the camera will under-expose the opposite side to try to compensate. yeah…. been thinking about this a lot….

If the budget is low, Right again!! 🙂
I would use a milky, translucent vinyl, I actually had thought about using kitchen wax paper since I can’t find diffuser sheets/rolls… I like the shower curtain idea but I’m afraid it’ll look “cheap”.

Failing that, I might place a reflecting board on the side of the speaker opposite the window, to balance-out the daylight and add fill. I was actually thinking of diffusing the light like mentioned above AND bounce what comes in from the other side… But now that you wrote this I understand there might not be much to bounce if I diffuse the natural light…
I was also thinking of adding a light: so the diffuse window light would serve as a fill and on the other side i’d have the key light….
What do you think?

If you can’t treat the windows at all, either by curtaining them off or diffusing them. then you need an instrument to fill in on the non-sunlit side, and it needs to match the color temperature of the daylight blasting in. A portable whiteboard or an easel with a white fox core board might help, in a pinch.

I have a deflector that i’ll try to use as well…

So based on what you said, my plan is to diffuse the light coming from the window and use a key light on the other side with either an artificial light or with a bouncer….

So, what gear is available to you from the rental shop? Rental shops overwhelm me becasue they pretty much have whatever i need… except that I don’t know what to ask for other than…. “lights”….

[Mark Suszko]

The TV screen and table behind the speaker are distracting visual “junk”. Moreover, the TV is a reflective surface that can add distracting glares or reflections. Again, what is the other end of the room like? Give me a picture or a sketch.

As to diffusion on the windows looking”cheap”, well, it may, to people in the room. But if your camera shot is tight on just the speaker, without getting those windows in the shot, that shot is all that really “matters”. Many times in my career, I have had clients come on the “set” looking very skeptical, especially when some of the grip gear looks thrown-together… until I show them what the camera actually “sees” thru a monitor. Then they all light up with recognition. Results matter.

So, ask yourself: who do I have to impress, here? the viewer and the boss. Whatever is framed-out, ceases to exist int he world inside the lens. Make the boss look good on camera, and everything else doesn’t matter.

Be honest now and tell me what your available budget is for renting any extra gear. And, do you have a good lavaliere microphone to pin on the Big Guy, or were you going to put a “stick” mic or boundary mic on the table top in front of him? Because a shotgun mic on the camera is a non-starter for this. Tell me what you can afford, and I’ll suggest whatI would rent.

The sunlight thru the window is you “key light”: it’s too strong to be anything else. So you’re looking for a bounce or dedicated instrument to apply a “fill” light to the side of the face and body, opposite of the window side.

As to the diffusion material, check the vinyl section in any large cloth/sewing supplies store. If vinyl isn’t there, look at the cost for some white organza, by the yard.

[Olivier Prudhomme]

I got what you’re saying about the “look” of some equipment…
As for the TV I’ve asked if it could be moved.
Regarding the budget, here’s my “dilemma”.
I am positive that they will hire me again for other jobs so renting “bothers” me for a few reasons:
1- I’d rather spend money to own the kit
2- I need to “rehearse”: I don’t want to show up on set having never used the lights.
3- I’d like to be able to practice in my home studio with lighting.
The question is: do you think $200 lighting kits I find on amazon do a decent job at lighting?
https://www.amazon.com/Fancierstudio-Digital-Continuous-Softbox-Lighting/dp/B0050K3DW2/?ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top
https://www.amazon.com/CowboyStudio-Photography-Portrait-Continuous-Umbrellas/dp/B003WLY24O/?ref=pd_cp_p_2

Or if you have any recommendations that’d be great.

As far as budget if it’s too rent I have $150 or so for 2 days….
BUt that’s eating away my profit since I’ve been investing a lot on this shoot.
Hence the reason why I’d like to own vs. renting.

I can’t get a picture of the other side of the room since I won’t be there until Friday for a location scout type of visit.
But I know they won’t let me switch around since the TV is used to show PP presentations. (which I will get from the speaker to add in my edits).

Audio wise I hired a sound guy: lav. mic and boom. I didn’t want to have to worry about this since audio is the Most important thing to me in this type of shoot or any with audio for that matter.