Lighting large spaces is always a challenge.
The goal is to create depth with layers of light - and sometimes you can use highlights to do more of the heavy lifting for you. One of my favorite tricks to make a big room feel full is to lean into the bokeh created from light reflecting on surfaces in the deep background.
Those little out of focus circles add a lot of visual interest without being too distracting. Bokeh is just part of the world we created. That extra little twankle often feels more balanced and natural than a separate unit lighting the same area. When it’s a wide frame, you have to get creative with hiding units in the shot. We used a lot of table lamps as practicals so our sources could be seen and still achieve the effect we were after.
Starting with the foreground, the subject was keyed with an @aputure.lighting 600C through @chimeralighting OctaPlus6. Shaped with a bottomer to keep light off the bottom half of our guy. A @litegear LiteMat Spectrum 8 with @dopchoice Snapgrid was our big beautiful edge light. An Infinibar PB6 into ultrabounce floppy was on the fill side and a 2x2 beadboard lifted shadows under the chin.
In the background, two Infinibar PB12s were on either side of the frame, skipping light off the floor and creating bokeh on the tables and chairs. Lamps on all of the tables peppered in some accents. Two @electronictheatrecontrols Source Four Lekos and two @nanlite_global 60Cs pushed light from either side for those beams-o-glory™️ and more bokeh. And in the deep background we used two @fiilexled Q5s uplighting the back wall and several practicals over the bar dimmed way down. Haze helped lift the shadows and create even more depth. All controlled wirelessly through @blackoutlightingconsole and a @ratpaccontrols AKS+
Many thanks to our excellent production crew from Denver who travelled into Colorado Springs to help light this large space and make it look great!
Production @hiddenwoodsfilmco
Director @aidan.sean
Gaffer @colorado_gaffer
Dolly Grip @n.d.m_photography
Swing @thekidbsmith
HMU @liftedlillian
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Tyler Kaschke is a gaffer / chief lighting technician with 2 ton G&E grip truck and sprinter van rentals serving Denver, Boulder, Golden, Fort Collins, Colorado Springs, and the Rocky Mountain Region at large.
For more information about grip and lighting tips and shooting video production commercials in Colorado, follow me on Instagram @colorado_gaffer
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