Hi,

I have to shoot a live band this weekend. Its in a pub that is pretty dark, all wood paneling, but has overhead tungsten lighting. I will only be allowed to bring 1 (exactly, 1) light in with me. I have 1k soft lites, 1k floods, 650w spot/floods.

What would you suggest? Bring the flood and aim it at the floor? Or the soft lite and shine it at an angle straight on to the band? I am afraid that whatever I do, its going to cause shadows.

Thanks,

David

Aim directly at the roof! Now your one-point lighting looks like three-point, I even do this with multiple points sometimes in tight spaces.

While bouncing off the ceiling may give an ambient bounce, ceilings in bars are typically not white which definitely cuts down incredibly on the net light output. If the ceiling is wood paneling or planks too, that bounce will be probably a not so nice shade of ruddy orange. In addition, that sort of bounce is not very characteristic of many bar stages and may look out-of-place.

Very often pub stages have a couple par cans gelled with color, and then one left white for the singer (or whomever). If you can only bring one light, I'd consider trying to make that one light look more like a typical bar stage lighting setup (except it'll have the benefit of being brighter). That means probably gelling it a relatively saturated color (blue, red, green).

I wouldn't worry about shadows so much as just giving the band some light that's appropriate for the setting (meaning color).

Its not a pub stage, its just a pub. They clear aware part of the floor and setup there.

There is a banner that is mostly white that they (the band) hang behind them. I could shine a spot on that and try to bounce some light into them from behind. The ceiling is red wood.. so are the walls.

Thanks for the help,.

David

Mm, In my opinion I can say pretty safely that a bounce from behind will look pretty dookie.

The bulk of the light will only be heating up their backs, and the bounce itself will be a blazing nuclear hotspot wreaking havoc with your exposure.

Bouncing into the red wood will make things ugly too.

I'd seriously look into just a 3/4 front direct light that's gelled appropriately for a music show.

Like this? http://versatilemediasolutions.com/assets/video/AllyX.wmv

Just set a white balance and then go. The light changes will wash it out anyway in all likelihood if they bring or setup colored lights.

I just went with a front facing light with a diffuser. Did a wb and adjusted on camera for the color. It turned out nicely though there were some shadows. Wasn't bad at all.

Thanks,

David