r

----.--..
7.2
LightIntensity,Lamps,
andColorMedia
Ik(orelearni ng10 doactuallightingin thestudioand.he
fic! ld,),ou JJ ecd tostudyafew more elementsabout light ,
hOI.,. tocontroland measureit, and how to producecol-
ored li ght. addsto thetechni caldetailsgiven
insection 7. L
.... LIGHT INTENSITY
Incidentcod,{'Reeled light meCJ'iUfed;f> roor-condleS and lux
.. CALCULATING LIGHT INTENSITY
rhe lumen ond (he squore law
.... OPERATI NG LIGHT LEVEl : 8ASHIGHT
Prowdmg the opllmaloperrning light level,or 0a5elig/11
.... TYPES OF LAMPS
The basI(' luminant5: ifJ(OnOe5l:efll,fluort1ct'nf, and HM/
.... (OLOR MEDIA
PitJl./K sheef. (gel,llhal (!lange the color oIlighl
LIGHT INTENSITY
Alt hough therearevideoC:lmerasIh(llcanproducepidures
in almost loraldarkness, most standard cameras m:ed
a certain amount oflight for opTimal performance. As
s(' II Sil iveas our MC, theycannotalways tell acc uratel y
just howmuch light.1n instrument produus,howmuch
light isactuaUyonthesetoronlocati on,how much light
150
anobjectact uallyrdlccts,andhowmuchliglH Ihecamera
lensactuall yreceives, Alight meter givesusamoreaccurate
readingoflight intensity.
FOOTCA.NDLES AND LUX
The standard units of measuring light intC'llSi ty ar!;! the
Americanfoot -caudle (felandthe Europe'lIl IrlX. Because
o rdinary tdc\'ision li ghting doesn' t r('(luir(' extremel y
prec ise units ofint ensity, you can simpl y figllf(' lux by
mult ipl ying foot-candles by a faClor of tell , or you can
figure foot -candlesby dividinghL" byten:
To find lux whengiven fOOl -ca ndIes, multipl y1' 001-
candlesbyten.
To find foot-candleswhen given lux, di videlux
bylen.
As an exampl e, I 00 foot-candles are about 1,000
lux( 100 x10),and 2,000 luxarc about 200 foot-candl es
(2,000+ 10). Ifyou wanl 10 bemoreaccurate.useafac tor
of 10.7S to cakulate fOOl -candies from lux, or lux from
foot-candl es.
Equipped wit h foot-ca ndl es or lux as the unil of
light inh: nsi ty, you can nov.' measure either ofIhl:; IwO
types of lighl inl t' nsity: incidelJt ligl1l and reflected Irght.
metefS
INCIDENT LIGHT
The re'ldingof irlcidellt light gives you someidea of how
much light reaches a specific St' l area. \.I,''hen measuring
incidenl li ght. you a re aClU311 y measuring the amount
ofli ght that fall sona subject ora performancearea but
not what isTcllecred byit. To me.lsureincident light.you
muststand in Ihelightedareaornext to (he subje<1and
poinllheincident-lightmetertOlwmf t}, ecamera lem. The
meterwill giveaquickreadingoftheoverall li ghtlevel that
reaches the particular set area, Thi s general light levd is
alsocalledlNl selight. Bul incid('ntlightcan(l/so refertoth '
lighl thatcomesto you from aspecific ins l.rument. I f you
want a readingofthe intensit yof the li ght coming from
particula r instruments,youshould poil111he foot- ca ndl e
(orlux) meier ;11/0 the lighl s. 5E1!7,44
Such measurCllll' llts may come in hOlndy, especiall y
when you need to duplicate the illumination for ascene
shotonIhesamesetoveraperiodof several days. Forsome
reason doplicilling t heexactliglu ing fromoneday 10 (he
next isdifficullto do, even whenyourcomputer-assisted
patchboa rdfaithfull yduplicat es thedimm('rsettingsofthe
previousday. Aninddenl-li ght(. heck,however,guarantet"s
idenlica lorfairlydose inl ensi lies.
Sec t ion 7.1 Light Intensity, Lamps . and Color Media
7.44 INCIDENT-LIGHT READING
To read Incident li ght, you point tl1e light meter ,n the camera
Of into the 1i9htS while st;lnding next to the lighted subject 0 1
performance Jrea.
To dis(Over possible holes in the lighting (unli ghted
or underlighted areas), walk J[ound Ihe set with the light
meter pointed at the major camera positions. Watch the
light meter : whenever the needle dips way down, it is ill -
dica ting a hole.
REFLECTED LIGHT
The readi ng of reflected light gi ves you an idea of how much
light is bounced off the vari ous objects. II is primaril,' used
to measu re wmmsr.
To measure retle((ed liglll , you must use a relk-eted-
light meter (mosl common photographic li ght meters
measure reflected lighl ). Poin t it closel y at Ihe righted
object-such as the performer's face or ,"hit e bla me or
the dark blue background curt ain-from the direction of
the camera (the back of the meter should face thc principal
camera position). SEE7.4:f Do lIot stand between Ihelight
source and Ihe subj ect , ... hell raking thi s reading or you will
measure your shadOI" inseead of the light ;'lctu;'llly refl ect-
iug off the subject. To measure contrast, point the meter
first at the light ed side of the object and then move il to
the shadow side. The difference benveen Ihe 11'10 readings
gives you the C()lIfrrul raflO. (Chapler 8 describes contrast
ratio and it s import ance in televisi on lighting. )
Do not be a slave 10 all these measureme.nlS and ra-
liDs, however. A quick check of the baselight is all thaI is
generall y needed for most li ghting si tuations. I n especially
critical situations, you may \"antto ,heck the rdlectance
of faces or exceptionall y bright objects. Some people
so invol vt: d in reading light meters and oscilloscopes Ihat
7.45 RmmW-lIGHT READING
To measure renected Iigl1t , you point tl1e renectedligl1t meter
(used in normil l sf,l! photogril phy) close to the 1I9hted subject
or obj ect.
visuallr display the light levds against carlH'r:t tol erances
that fhey forSt' t to look at the monitor 10 see whether (he
lighting looks the way il was int ended. [f you combine rOUT
k.nowledge ofhow the camera works with artislic sensilil'ity
3nd, common sense, you will llot 1ct the light
meter tell yOll how to light but rather use- it as a guide to
make your job more eflkient.
CALCULATING LIGHT INTENSITY
Light illlensilY measures holY much light strikes an. object.
One fOOl-candie is the amount of li ght of a single (a lldlt:
that falls on a I - by- I foot surface located I foot away from
Ihe candl e. One lux the light that falls on d surface of
I square meter (abo ut ) by 3 feet) generated hy iI singl\'
candle t hat burns at a distan<:eof I meter (rough.l y 3 feet).
The norm for the li ght intensit y of one candle is I lumen.
Li ghl int ensi ty is subject to the il/ycrst.' 5quare law. This
hnV" Stal es Ihal if a light so urce radi,Hes isol ropical/y (uni -
forml y in all dire(.ti ons), such a) a candle or a single light
bulb burning in tht! middle of a room, the light int ensit y
falls off (gets weaker) as IId
1
where d is the dista nt(' from
the so urce. For exampl e, if the intensity of " light I fc
al a distance of I foot from the source, it s intensity at a
dist,mce of 2 (ttt is 1/( fc. SElf7A6
The inverse square law al so applies to IIlX. [n this c.1se
the rigllt intensity is measured off a surface of I m1 locat ed
I meter ftOni the light of J lumen.
This 'o rmu!" tells you .hat light intensity decrea:.es
the farther away you move Ihe instrumenl from
151
152 Chap t er 7
powt'Iof roufte in
or lux
Intensity'"
distant!"
Intensity =1Ie at l' 'rom
the light source
(1 c.lndlt'"!lumPn)
K-+
..ll.
Intensity=Y. Ie al l' from
........
the light WUI(P
7.46 INVERSE SQUARE LAW
NOl e that the inverse square law applies ooly to light !.OUfces
thaI radiate iXllropically (uniformly in all dile( tions). This law
appliesequal lytol u:(,
the object, and increases ifyou move the li ghl closer.
Otherl\'ise, the formula little to make television light -
ing more accu rate. The beams of a searchlight , a l1ashli ght ,
car head lights, and a Fresnel or an ellipsoidal spolli ght
do not light isolTOpicall y but are collimated (the
tight rays are made to fun parallel as much 3S possible)
'lIld, therefore, do not obey the inverse squa re law. Even
iloodli ght s radi ale their light more in the direCiion of the
reflect or opening than its back. The more coUimat l' d the
light- that is, the more focused ilS beam-the slower its
intensity decreases wit h di stance. Tbis is why we "focus" a
spotlight wben we want more liglu on an object and " flood "
ils tx-arn when we wa nt less li ght , wirhout changing the
distanc.: betwee n the lighting instrument and the object.
An exampl e of an ex tremel)' well -collimat ed ligbl is d laser
beam, I"hieh, as you know, maintains ils intcnsit y over a
great dista nce.
OPERATING LIGHT LEVEl: BASElIGHT
To m<lke the camcrJ "see w<.'ll" so that the pictures are
re lati vely frc(- of video Iloiu (ar tifacts in the picture, or
"snow" ), you must cstabli sh a mi nimum operating light
LIG HTING
kVI:'I , cillh.'d basdight or /Jost'. As )'OU fCG\ll, basdight is Ihe
general , o\'erallli ght level on a scene.
BASE-LIGHT LEVELS
Many an ilrgUl1lellt has becn r<lised concerning adequate
minimum baseliglH lcvels for various cameras. The prob-
lem is that baselightlevels do not represent absolute val ues
bUI are dependent on other product ion factors, such ,15
the sensitivity of the camera, the desired light ing wntrast,
the g(' ncral reflectance of the scenery, and, of cours(', the
aperture of the lens (f-stop). When shoot ing ollidoors on
an ENG assignment, rou do not have much control ove r
base light lcvds; yo u must accep t light there is.
But even there YOll lll ight be able to use sunl ight refl ectors
to light en up shadow areas, or additi onal li ghting inSfru-
ments to boost avail:lb1e li ght. Most often the problem is
ina(k'qu<lte b<lst'light. But there lire also situations in which
you struggle with controlling too much li gh!.
Not _"ough baselight Although you often hear that
consumer can operate in light level s as 10....' as
0. 1 fc or el'en 0.02 fc ( 10 or even 2 lux),the li ght levels for
opt imal camera performance arc much higher. Professional
ENG/ EFP and cameras normally need about 150 fc.
or approximatel y 1,500 lux, for opti mal l'lcture quality at
an apertures('tl ing of f/5.6 10 { 18.0. These f-slopsproduce
the highest-resolution images. You will probabl y read cam-
era specifi cations Ih3t use 200 fc (2,000 lux) as the standard
iJi\llllil\lI li OI1 and Ihc:' 11 give the highest / -stop, such as//l l ,
at \,'hk h the camera st ill delivers optinHl1 pictures.
Most video ca meras can work at baselighr levels tha t
are considerably lower, without noticeable loss of picture
quali l )'. Uy switd ling 10 a low gain setting ( which, as yo u
ree--Ill, will electronically boost Ihe video si gnal ), you may
geT an accepuble image even in low-ligh t condi tions. De-
spi te manufacturers' claims 10 the conlrary, high gaill c.m
cause increased video noise and occasional color di stor-
t ion. For home video or even ENG, video qualit y 1I1,l Y be
Si'co ndary to picture COll1e nl , but it is of major concern
for EFP and studio shows that musl tolerate many co).'ks
and pic ture mani plliations in postproduction editing. In
general, digital cameras (Olerate higher gain InaJI do analog
cameras, without noticeable picture deterioration.
If you wor k Wi lh sets or costumes " 'hose colors and
textuTo.:s absorb l\ great amo unt of li ght , yo u obviously
need higher baselight levels than with a set whose brightl y
painted sllrface reflects a moderate amo unt of light.
Another problem with in ill adequatl' base-
light is the resulting shaI101" dep th of field. In low-li ght
Section 1. } Light In t en si t y.
conditions, the iris must be fairl )' wide open (low I -stop
number) to allow as much IiglH as possi ble to strike the
camera pickup device. BUI, as ),ou re(aU, " lens whose iri s
is sel at its maxim um aperture gives a fairly shal10w depth
of field. Consequently, rocusing becomes a problem. and,
irthere is a great deal of object .Indlor camera IUt>vement ,
yo u may experience 111$ (smear that follows the
moving object).
Here is the rule of thumb: in general, a camera has
less trouble producing hi gh-quality, crisp pictures \"IJ('11
the light level is fairl y high and the contrast limited than
under very low levels with hi gh-contrast lighting.
Too much bas.light Despite the validi ty of thi s general
rule for ba.<.dight and piclUl'e qU3Ii ..y, there will be instances
when there is simpl y too much light for the Cll nera to
operate properly. You Can cope with too mll ch light by
reduci ng the lens aperture. which translates into setting
the I-s tuI' to a higher number, such as f l22, or usi ng.1Il
ND filter thn! is part of Ihe fill er wheel inside the camera.
Much li ke a small apeTlure, neufral densit), (ND) filfers
reduce the amount of li ght falling on a scene or en tering
the beam spliner in the camera without changi ng the color
teml>erat ure of the ligh t. (Color tempera! ure is explai nl'd
In detilil in chapter 8.) Such NO fihers wil! <l Isa help you
control the extrl'llle conlTast between li ght and shadows
when shooling outdoors on a day. mI)l IGHTS-+
Me3surement -+ baselight
TYPES OF LAMPS
Light ing inst rument.'> are dassifi ed not onl y by function
(spotlight or fl oodlight) but al$O by the lamp (bul b) they
When classi fyi ng inslrlllnenlS by Iy]>e of lamp, we
call refer to the power rating, such as 12V or 30Y for bat -
tery-powered lamps or IkW 01' 2kW O ,OOOW o r 2.000\\' )
I'l mps for 51 udio li ghting, or to a specific way of generating
a light output-the /ul/Jillatll. Obviously, you should not
use a 12V lamp wi th a JOV battery or put a 2k\V la mp in
an instr ument thaI is rated fo ronlya JkW.
Television lighti ng genl."rally three basic types
of ium;nnnt s; (I ) incnndescent. (2) fluorescenl , and
(3) HML
INCANDESCENT
The jncandescent lamp operates on Ihe same principle
as the ordi nary household light bulb. It generates li ght
by heat ing up a fil ament with electricity. The incandes-
lam ps ust::d III tdo?vision resemhle the ones in your
Lamps , and Color Medi a
hOllle !i\1ttreS except th at they usually ha"e more \ ...attage
<II1d therefore produce hi gher-intensity ligh t. They also
incl ude the smnller but hotter quartz lamps. The major
disadv.mlage$ of regular U1candescrnt lam ps are thnt the
hi gher-\'lau age lamps are quite large, the color temperature
be-comes progressivel y lower (more reddish) as the lamp
ages, and they have (l relatively short lire.
Quartz The qllartz lamp Ius a filament Ihat is enc;;lsed
in a quart z bulb filled wi th halogen The advantages
of a quartz lamp over regular incandescent systems are
that il i.s smaller and maintains its color temperature
over ils enti nlife. The di sadvantage is that it burns at an
extremely hot temperature. IV1!ell ch<Hlging qllartz lighl i,
do HOI rO/lch Ihe lamp willi your fingen. The old lamp may
sti11 be hot enough 10 burn your skill , and your fi nger-
printS \ ... ill cause the new one to have a much shon er lilt>
span. Always USe gloves, a papt'Tlowel. (Jf a clean rag when
handling [,nnps .
FLUORESCENT
Fill orescent tubes generate light by aClh'<ll ing a gas-filled
tub..: 10 give ofC ultraviolet radiation. This radiation in turn
lights up the phosphorous coating inside the lubes, similar
to Iheway Ihe electron beam lights up the television screen.
Despite improved fluorescent lamps that produce a (a lrly
even white ligh t. many fluoresce nt tubes have a lendenC)'
to give off a slightly light or, nl best, a color tem -
pt'I' alu re that makes il difficult 10 bieud \vi th other indoor
or outdoor lighl sources.
HMI
HMI (which for hydragyrwn medium arc-length
iodide) lamps generate li ght by rno ... ill g eI..ct ricilY Ihrough
various types of gases. This creates a $On of lightning inside
the bul b. whi ch is rhe di scharge Ihat creates light. To
create the lightning inside the lamp, you need a ballast- a
fairly heavy transfor mer. HMI bmps produce li ght with a
color temprrature of 5.600K, the outdoor standard. (See
section i, l for the advantages nod disadvantages of the
HM I when in product ion.) Ai; wit h quaTlZ bulbs, do
not lauch liM! lamps with your hands: your fingerprints
\>.' ili we"ken the quartl housing and cause the lamp to burn
Olll in a relatively short time.
COLOR MEDIA
You can produce a greal va riel}' of colored light simpl y
by puuing different colof media. or gels. in front of the
153
154 ChOp ref 1 LIGHTING
7 .47 COLOR MEDIA
Color media, or gels, are
colored filt ers that are put in
front of lighting .nsuuments
to produce colored light.
light ing imlnlment. (Gei i1> short for geinlil1, whi ch \\'as the
color medium used bt-fort' the mort' heal - and mui..s ture-
resistant plastic was developed.) Color medi a are sheets of
highly heat- resistant plastic that act color filt ers. They
are used eXltnsi ve\y 10 , olor-lint scenic backgrounds or
to create color special effects, such a$ in dance programs,
rock CO nce rt s, or some mystery or outer-space advent ure
shows. 5((7.41
H.OW TO USE COLOR MEDIA
You (an cul l he color media sheet to fit the fr il me of rhe
gcl holder of the lighti ng inst rumen\. You then slip the
gel holder inlO brackets in front of the lens of the li ghting
instrument. If the colored lighting does not havt: to be 100
precise, you C.i n use \vooden clot hespins {plastic ones melt )
to hang tne color sheets from t he barn doors li ke laundry
on a The advantages of this method are thai it
s.1\'es you from having to cut the e.-.: pensivc gels and they are
farther av-' ay from the heat generated by the lamp. Highl y
focused instruments generalc so mueh heat that they may
burn oul the center of even the most heal -resist ant gel s.
Yo u "Ill avoid ,ueh burns by put t ing the instrument into
more of il fl ood positi on (by moving the lamp-refleclor
unit toward the lens) , thereby dissipating somewhat the
heat of the beam.
MIXING COLOR GELS
When using gels the colors can mix addit ivdy or wblrac-
!i vely. For example, if you pur a rl.'d gd in one instrument
and a green gel in the ol her aud then parti ally overl ap
t heir you get yell ow in the overlap. Because you
added one light on lOp of the other, is addl/jlle I/Ii."(-
illg. If, hO\>lever, yOll were to put both gels-thc red and
the green- in front of the same instrument , you would
get no light from the instrument. Thi s is becau.<;e the red
gel bl ocks (subtracts) all the green light, and the grecn gd
negates all the red li ght.
A problem occurs if you shine colored li ghls on
colored objects. We see an apple as red beca use the color
fil ters ill the apple absorb all wlors of white light except red,
which is ((fleeted back 10 our eyes. A green appl e absorbs
all colors except green, whi ch is refl eCled back and makes
the apple look grecll. What would happen if yuu shined a
red light on a green apple? Would it turn yellow? No, the
apple would look dark brown or black. Why? Uecause the
,)0
red light that shines on (he gretn apple contains no green.
The apple, which absorbs aU or most of the red light, has no
or very lillie red to reflect back. In the same way, you may
have a problem using )'t' llow objects under bl ue "nigh\"
iIIuminalion: the blue light co ntajns no yeUow, and the:
object:. therefore have no yellow to refl ect, so Ihey turn
dark grR}' or black.
Mosr li ghting expert s ackise against usin!; colored
lights to illumin:\!e tal ent and performance areas urness,
of course, for special eifect, such as the greenish tint
on crime shows or t he multicolored lights on a rock music
scene. If colors are a ili cal, tr y 10 keep the colored light
away from the faces.
You may have heard about the ledious but important
job of color correction in postproduCl ion edit ing (exvlored
in depth in chapter 13). Although th is has nothing to do
with using color medi i'l in studio lighting, it nevertheless
is based on electronicall y remixing the RGB quantities
and qualities of the RGB light primaries. This procedure
is J sp(cial ski ll , however, and ils tech niques far exceed the
scope of Ihis handbook.
Section 7.2 Light Int ensi ty, Lomps, and Colo r Media 155
i "I . :. . _
Ughtintensityis measuredinfoot-candles(fc) or lux.To
findluxwhengil{1!n foot-candles.multiplyfoot-candlesby
ten.Tofind whengivenlux.dividelu)[ byten.
AlthoughthegeneralconverSfon factoroffoot-candlesinto
lux is 10.themore accurateconversionfaclOr is 10.75;thus.
IIe :0 10.75Iu)('(l nd 10.75Iu)[ ""- Ift.
Tomeasml!incidentlight(theli ghtthat fans onthescene).
pointtheli9hl meterawayfromIhelightedscene!award
thecameraorintothelightsIhatoreiIIuminolingthe
subject.
To measmerefie(1edlightusea,eflected(Slandard)light
meterandpointit closelyatvariousareasofthelighted
subJe<torobj ect. Refle<ted-hghtreadi ngsmeasur eprimar-
ilycontrast .
Theinversesquore in iliuminil\ionappliesonlyifthe
li ghtsourceradi atesiiOtropically(uniformlyin direc-
tions),suchasabarelightbulboracandle.Becausemost
televisionlight ingins{(umem$collimatethelight((ocus
thelight r(lYS) .theinver$(>squarelawdoesnota pplytothe
samedegree.Thegeneral principle,howeve r,st ili holds
true:Ihefarther awaytheright sOUlce15from theobject,
theless;menS!! thelight;theck>si!r thelighllstotheob-
}ectthemar",intensethelight
8<tselightistheoverall li ghtlevelonascene.Cameras
requireaminimumbaseUgotlevelfOI optimalope!'ation
l ampsareratedby thevoltagetheyneedtooperat e-their
powerrating.TheyalealsolabeledbyIhetypeofluminant:
(1)incandescent ,includingqual\Z,(2)fluor escent,and(3)
lampsincluderegula,householdbulbs
andthemOleefficientquartzlamps.Fluorescentlamps
produceultraviolet raysthatlightuptilepho.phorous
layer Insidethetube.TheHMl lampgene rat eslightby
dischargingel ectricitythroughvaflousgases.
Colormedia,normallycalledgels,arecoloreclpl asticfilter>
thaI,whenputinfrontofthelensofaUghlillginstrumenl,
givethe lightbeamthecolorofthegel.
Coloredlightbeamsmilladdilively, botoverlayingfll tets
millsubt ractivel),.
F.................!.:,
Foryourreferfoce,Of totrackYOUI work,eachVideo-
Lobprogramcuein thischapt erislistedherewithits
corresponding pagenumber.
mD lIGHTS-+ Instruments.... sludioIfield 131
EED De$ign-t silhouette 133
B'!ZD lIGHTS-t Instruments.... field 139
ll!J!) LIGHTS .... beamcontrol 145
fED LI GHTS.... Field.... useof reflectors 146
B!ZI) UGHTS-t Inst rument s-tfi eld 146
mD lIGHTS-tMea surement.... meters 150
m!> LIGHTS.... Measurement.... basehght
'"