Real life lighting experiment and reflection

Sometimes at the end of the day, when there is still work to do, I dim the lights around my desk to aid focus. On one such occasion, I decided to experiment with the way the light would interact with a subject. I chose as a subject a soft sloth toy from Budapest Zoo.

 

There were three main light sources in this real-life lighting set-up. The most prominent in its effects was the overhead backlight. This was sourced from a desk lamp behind and above the sloth. To an observer in the room, this desk-lamp produced a warm light of a soft quality. However, the characteristics of the subject (fur) created through the camera a hard effect. The glowing veneer of light that wraps around the subject is a result of the intense backlighting. The intensity of this glow is heightened by the fact that a higher gain-sensitivity had to be used to get some exposure on the face of the subject. This resulted in some of the glow being blown-out completely.

The second light source was that of the computer monitor. Subtle in its effects; it created the glint in the sloth’s eye. Cinematically speaking this would be important for the audience to estimate the actor’s direction of gaze.  The third light source came from a distant, dim, diffused light at the opposite side of the room; that is to say, far in front of the subject. This very dim fill light allowed for there to be at least a small amount of detail on the front subject. It is only through this fill light that the subject is identifiable as a toy sloth. The overall effect this lighting gave is striking; it creates the effect of light emanating from the subject itself. On an intellectual level it imbues the subject with power almost of a mysterious nature. Accordingly, this technique could be utilised by me in a film scene in which I intend a character to possess such characteristics.

A subtle example of this technique of backlighting in a mainstream Hollywood film can be found in Sam Mendes’ 2012 film Skyfall. The shot below is of the main character: James Bond about to enter a high-risk operation at a mysterious location; an underworld casino in Macao. The gravity of the situation, along with the mystique of the characters amazing capabilities creates a fitting outcome for this lighting technique to accomplish.  In examination of both the above screenshots, it can be determiend that my set-up was far too brightly exposed and could have done without most of its fill light and benifited from a more dimmed backlight.