Using supplemental lights can often take a video production from the realm of amateur to that of professional. Technically, a video picture is nothing BUT light, so the better your lighting, the nicer your shot.

There are two reasons for using supplemental lights.

• Bring the overall luminosity of the shot up to preferable technical specifications
• Create a mood artistically

Let’s begin by talking about the first reason. For a video shot to look decent, it has to have a certain amount of light. Today’s video cameras do well in low light, but you’ll also notice that dark video can look grainy. Dark video lacks details and nice color.
Next time you’re watching TV of a nighttime scene, look closely. Even a shot meant to depict the dead of night will have some bright areas that are fully exposed. The entire shot is not dark, even though a passive viewer will interpret it that way.
The lesson from that is that well-lit shots look best.

Using natural lighting is a favorite technique of mine, but I usually do that mostly for reasons of expediency and saving money. There’s no doubt that going to the trouble of using supplemental lights has many advantages if you can go to the time and trouble.
If you are going to use supplemental lights, they don’t have to be fancy. Go down to Home Depot and buy some shop lights on a stand. These are incredibly similar to professional photographic lights at a fraction of the cost. (It’s always infuriated me that video production supply companies charge more than something is really worth simply because they know they can get it!)

Shop lights from home depot will do the job. Look for a fixture that can handle at least 250 watts. If accessories like barn doors are available, grab them too.

The light should come with a safety screen or something similar that would both protect the bulb and contain the glass should the bulb explode. (Don’t worry, that’s not a likely event. I’ve never once had a lamp explode on me although plenty of stands have been knocked over and the bulb will break.)

When you put the lamp (bulb) in the fixture, make sure not to touch the glass with your hands. Use tissue or cloth. Oils off your fingers damage the glass and decrease the bulb’s longevity.

The preferred bulb format for TV production is tungsten halogen. Tungsten-halogen lamps provide lots of illumination at 3200 degrees on the Kelvin color temperature scale. (If you don’t already know what color temperature is, my advice is to not worry about it. With today’s modern video camcorders, color temp is virtually irrelevant.)

When you set a shop light from home depot, point the light toward the ceiling. This bounces the beam and creates a nice, diffused light.

If you’re video production area is small, say a standard sized living room, using just one two-hundred and fifty watt shop light bounced off the ceiling will greatly enhance the quality of your video picture.

With today’s light sensitive cameras, adding even 100 watts makes a difference in the quality of your video picture. You can achieve that with a standard lamp that’s probably already sitting in your living room.

Now, if you want to buy a professional light kit like the one pictured here, please do!

Professional light kit

I can hardly wait until my budget allows me to get one. Professional lighting includes so many fun and wonderful contraptions that provide absolutely gorgeous results. So let’s talk a little about what the light kit pictured above actually contains and how it all works.
First, what the heck are those two big square things that make the lights look huge? Well, I’ve heard them called a dozen different names but we’ll call them soft boxes. Soft boxes are cloth “boxes” that your light fixture sits inside of. The sides of the soft box are black, the front is white and the interior is shiny silver. The shiny silver interior intensifies your light, the black sides keep the light focused to the front and the white panel allows the light to come through as soft, diffused light, which is perfect for flattering faces.

The light kit above has a total of four lights, two with soft boxes, one with an umbrella and one with barn doors. The wattages for four lights should be:

• One 1,000 watt
• Two 500 watt
• One 250 watt

Notice the extension pole on the stand of the tallest soft box. Those come in mighty handy for tight corners.

Other components of a well-stocked lighting kit for medium sized video production include:

• Photographic foils
• Photographic color gels
• Extension cords
• Two-pronged adapters
• Extra clips. (I use wooden clothes pins. Cheap)
• Gloves for touching hot lights
• Knife
• Electrical Tape
• Duct Tape
• Ceiling adapters

Pack all that fun stuff up into a good, sturdy case and go light the world on fire!

Don't Miss Out On Free Video Production Tips! Subscribe to Video Production Tips so you don't miss out on free video tips from Lorraine Grula! Thanks for visiting!