Two Person Interview, One LED light – Best set up?

[John Sharaf]

Beau,

The light you describe is really meant for use as an on-camera light for news style reportage and to illuminate a reporter “standup”, not for portraiture like the oral history interviews you describe.

You have the right idea by doing them inside, away from the harsh light and heat outside, not to mention extraneous noise. Your best bet would be to stage the seats and the camera in such a way as to take advantage of some nice diffused window light; either north light or through white curtain, while keeping the background darker, or at least devoid of other windows.

If you are forced to use artificial light, because of the layout of the interior or night-like conditions inside, you should consider a twofoot fourbank kino or a quarts light inside a small chimera. These make excellent keylights for portraiture. A typical portrait kit would also include a backlight for separation from the background and perhaps a fill light, although with a soft source this is not always necessary, or can be accomplished with a white card. In addition, a splash of light or color from a source four or similar unit on the background often is a nice touch.

It does not seem however that you’ll have access to this type of equipment, so really your best shot is to get creative with the available light, which means staging the action to take advantage of the light that naturally exists. This can often be very successful, especially when dealing with “non-professional” talent who might otherwise be intimidated by having a bright light in their eyes.

Good luck,

JS

[Beau Brotherton]

JS,

Thank you for your response. I did buy the light for the use of an on camera light, weddings and such. I don’t have the budget from more lighting equipment, and these jobs won’t allow me to rent either. But I was thinking that I could use the light in some way. I saw these videos that showed an interview setup. They look OK, fine for the interview that I would be doing at first.

https://vidled.com/vidleds3.wmv

Is this possible to get the result that this person got, even though I would be interviewing two people?

Thanks again.

Beau

[Bob Cole]

I looked at the sample video. The key seems quite harsh, especially for an elderly person. You’d be much better off following the advice of John Sharaf. If you can’t get enough equipment to light two people, film them one at a time, which is more manageable for the camera anyway.

Just because you own a vidled doesn’t mean you use it. I went to a shoot once with a very talented cinematographer, who had a truck load of equipment. He took one look at the setting (with a nice big window), pulled out a reflector, and shot an absolutely gorgeous interview with window light.

Another technique for soft light when you don’t have access to Chimeras/Kinos is a shower curtain — position any powerful light behind it and blast away. Home Depot lights?

— Bob C