How I will light my Vid/PodCast

One of the things that I have seen either make or break a video podcast is lighting...if I am going to watch something I want it to look good. I suppose we are all spoiled these days... I watched a lot of TV on an old black and white with a fair amount of static :)

So after a couple of returned purchases of video lighting gear I settled on a solution that I think works well in a confined space and does a fantastic job of providing even natural light.

The first thing I needed to figure out was where to put the lights without totally rearranging my office. Initially I was going to use Softboxes but they were so big and were difficult to setup and tear down and really no practical place to put the stands...
Attachment 188

So I came across these very cool things that will allow me to mount the lights on my wall permanently. The fold up and down and move side to side...

http://imageshack.us/a/img191/2940/ha26.th.jpg

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc..._Boom_Arm.html

I went with LED lights which I can either leave on the wall mounts or remove. They run on either a rechargeable battery or AC. They're not cheap but these were not bad considering the alternatives. I went with the ring lights because I saw some tests that were done comparing the standard rectangular LED lights to these...same brand actually. The results were that the ring light gave a more even spread of light across the subject and the reflections in the eyes were much more pleasing and natural.

http://www.fvlighting.com/118150010201.html


http://imageshack.us/a/img69/862/kmru.th.png


Now I just need to determine exactly where to mount them. I have three lights... Two that will be mounted on the wall and one that will be on a stand off to an angle behind me ... classic three point lighting style. I just hope my vision of how this will look is close to reality...

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Originally Posted by AlBurr

So after a couple of returned purchases of video lighting gear I settled on a solution that I think works well in a confined space.

The first thing I needed to figure out was where to put the lights without totally rearranging my office. Initially I was going to use Softboxes but they were so big and were difficult to setup and tear down.
Attachment 188

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I would recommend soft boxes actually or leds. The diffused light makes everyone look good. I have seen these lights used on movie sets and tv studios.

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Originally Posted by MovieBuff

I would recommend soft boxes actually or leds. The diffused light makes everyone look good. I have seen these lights used on movie sets and tv studios.

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I accidentally posted before finishing the post. As you can see I did end up with LEDs...

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Originally Posted by AlBurr

I accidentally posted before finishing the post. As you can see I did end up with LEDs...

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Very nice! Can't wait to see your tests or show(s). :D

Hey Al thanks for posting this. I know many people struggle with getting the lighting right. I think im going to hire someone to come in and redo our lighting.

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Originally Posted by andrewzarian

Hey Al thanks for posting this. I know many people struggle with getting the lighting right. I think im going to hire someone to come in and redo our lighting.

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No need. Your lighting is excellent.

Thanks Al,
It's great that you post stuff like this because I now know your taste actually mimics that of my own. You seem to be several steps ahead of me so I appreciate the R&D.

Personally I just went to home depot and got some shop lights. I put some parchment paper over them and its perfect

Podnutter I agree and in fact I looked at doing exactly that with LED shop lights...but in the end my practical brain lost.

instead of replacing lighting, if you have any, you might try adding filters. For warm tones use filters on your lighting fixtures at 3300 degrees Kelvin. For more evenly matched colors go with filters at 5500 degrees Kelvin, which simulates the sun's color spectrum at 12:00 noon.

True Doc...the lights I purchased operate at 5600K and come with 2 filters...one diffusion and one tungsten filter 3200K. I also purchased what they refer to as a "milk" filter that further softens the leds so that the individual bulbs don't show up in reflections.

A common issue I have heard is that the leds create multiple shadows. Now for what we are doing in lighting a Podcast I can't imagine it being a big deal...but in professional photography or video shoots I can see someone being that particular...oh and I think the parchment paper does exactly the same thing so perfect application...although I prefer using parchment paper for making awesome cookies :)

Thought I'd share a few pictures of the mounted lights with some illustrations on how I did it. The first thing I did was remove the black metal mounting plate from the lights and attach them to wood back plates that I created. I did this because the four corners would not line up with the wall studs and I just felt like cutting some wood :) I could have simply secured everything with the (8) center holes but I like to over engineer stuff for no reason. I then painted the whole thing flat black to match the original paint. Then I used ~3" long cabinet wood screws to secure them to studs using the (8) holes in the center of the metal back plates, reattached the lights to the back plates and voila...



All in all I think it looks pretty good. I only mount two of the three lights I purchased (fill and key). The back light will be on a stand. However I may end up getting one more the wall mounts for the heck of it.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800x600q90/11/b4x7.png
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...0/713/5b3q.jpg

Dang Al, that's one heck-of-a nice looking studio!

Thanks Dan....As they say... "It's better to look good than to podcast well" or something like that...

Im actually looking to hire someone for one day to redo my lighting...

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Originally Posted by AlBurr

Thanks Dan....As they say... "It's better to look good than to podcast well" or something like that...

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Looks amazing Al. There is another saying, "It's better to look good than feel good."

There's even another saying... 'No matter where you go, there you are'. :cool:

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Originally Posted by Dan Ortego

There's even another saying... 'No matter where you go, there you are'. :cool:

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lol classic.