Wide shots look cool and all, but they can be challenging to light 😵💫
As I’ve discussed in previous posts, there are a number of tricks you can use to get lights into the right place for the wide shot. You do the best you can to establish the vibe of the location, but there is really only so much that can be done!
I love moving in for mediums and close ups. There’s so much more room for shaping the light and really crafting a beautiful image.
Most people don’t realize this, but the setup can change a lot between wide and close up shots. As long as the light is coming from same general direction, no one will ever notice that the quality of light might be softer than in the wide shot. So go ahead and bring in the diffusion frames and negative fill to shape the light on your talent! I promise it will look great and no one will find any “inconsistencies” in the final piece.
For this image we started with a gentle Baja Blast™️ from a 1200D with 1/4 straw through the window for sunlight. Rigged up some Titan Tubes to the ceiling for a natural feeling ambient fill (zip ties ftw!) Keyed with a 600D bouncing off foam core covered in bleached mus and diffused with a frame of 216. 300X bounced off 4x4 bead board for a little shadow side fill. A Litemat 2L with Snapgrid behind talent for a soft edge, and a B7C practical in the lamp.
Production @human___design
Director @micahdudash
DP @joelwolt
Key Grip @trevortietjen
Tyler Kaschke is a freelance gaffer with a grip truck based in Lafayette, Colorado serving Boulder, Denver, Golden, Fort Collins, Colorado Springs and the Rocky Mountain region at large.