Lighting and filters for filming

At one time a photographer didn’t have to worry about colour, but the lighting had to be good. This is evident when looking at well-made black and white. films, mainly up to the Fifties. Although Technicolor arrived over 50 years ago, black and white films overlapped the use of colour for a number of years. Many especially good black and white movies were made during the war years. It is well worth studying these and some of the classics made in the Thirties.

If you are planning to shoot in artificial light, it is quite a good idea to create an experimental lighting set up indoors with perhaps a model sitting. First set up the lighting levels with the video camera connected to a TV monitor. This is better than using the viewfinder because it allows you to adjust the lights whilst

 Lightning a movie set

looking directly at the resulting picture. Then adjust the camera white balance or use gels on the lights to get the colour balance you require. The rules are fairly straightforward and you may think it is too simple to need spelling out. But it requires practice, care and observation to get consistently good results. Those who are already experts will forgive me, I hope, for stating the basic rules.

The larger the set the more lights will be needed. Light is the one thing you cannot do without, no matter what impressively-low light levels the camera makers may claim for their products. Low lux lighting will give grainy pictures with poor contrast and subdued colour - altogether an uninteresting result in normal circumstances.

Jon Woolmer