Digital Video & Lighting - How and What Kind of to Use to Get the Best Results

The success of a digital video project is all about the way you use the different modes and source of lighting. This article will help you understand the different aspects of the lighting and how to use them in your digital video project to gain maximum result.

Understanding the Light

The simple definition of the light is that it is how we can see the world around us. When the light falls on to an object, it gets reflected back and when that reflected part of the light falls on to our eyes, our visual machinery gets sensitized. The end result, we get to see that object. But the meaning of lighting is somewhat deeper in the case of digital video, as here one has not only to show the things to the viewers but also to relate the visuals to the deep rooted emotions and real life experiences of the viewers. How beautifully you can use the lighting in your digital video can be the measure of your success.

What is Naturalism in a Digital Video?

Naturalism is nothing but the way of using the lighting in your digital video, so as to bring out the feeling of the natural light and not the artificial one. It is an art to make the viewers feel like what they are watching in a digital video is happening in the natural surrounding and not in some artificially created environment, despite them knowing in real that what they are watching through a digital video is all made up. In order to achieve this, you need to create a lighting atmosphere that is conducive to the natural lighting, like the angle of light, time of the day, position of the object under view respect to the light source, etc.

What is the Triangle Lighting?

It is a specific kind of lighting mainly invented for but not limited to the purpose of digital video interviewing. It can be used for several other kinds of digital videos too, as required. The triangle lighting involves focusing the light on three different sides of the object and hence, it is also termed as the 3-point lighting. The main light stream is directed towards the longer side of the face of the object (the person under interview), a weaker stream of light towards the other side and a distinct backlight directed towards the back of the shoulders and the head. This lighting system keeps the focus of the scene of the digital video, always on the interviewee.

What is Chiaro Scuro?

The literal meaning of the words 'Chiaro Scuro' is 'light and dark', which when used in the context of digital video indicates the way of using the lighting to produce the shadow-effect. In this type of lighting the intensity of shadow is kept very strong and closely attached to the object along with a fast fall off, in order to make the scene look more enticing. This lighting is usually applied when there is a need to create some intense and comparatively more energized digital video. A distinct subset of the 'Chiaro Scuro' is the 'Cameo' or the 'Hamlet' lighting, which is used to put the focus on an object by applying the dark shadows around it. This phenomenon is called 'black on black' in a digital video context. This can be understood by thinking that you want to create a floating head appearance, and then what you need to do here is to light the face fully and put the shadow on the rest of the body.

What is Flat Lighting?

Flat lighting is used where you want to keep the contrast level at its minimum. Its use is mainly felt in the digital videos of comedy programs, as there is no need to create any intensive scenery and it is tried to keep the things as light as possible. For creating some flat lighting, streams of bright light is made to fall on the objects only after funneling through some screens and foil reflectors. This provides a consistency in all parts of a digital video scene.

All the Control is in Your Hand Itself

So, you see there are various kinds of lighting effects, which you can use all at the same time or each one separately for separate digital projects. But, the bet way is to blend them all and produce a unique lighting style that can be your identity too. Each and every frame of a digital video has its own importance and you can manipulate it as you wish. The tool to achieve this is the lighting and the way you mend and bend it, to create the optimum effect according to your needs and the needs of your overall digital video project.

Sources:
http://www.techlearning.com/article/1162
http://www.videomaker.com/article/9851/