Lighting a speaker at a lectern??? at DVinfo.net

Chris Harding · October 7th, 2011, 06:39 AM

Hi Guys

At weddings most of the people who have to do a speech use the lectern supplied by the venue as it's mic goes thru the house PA system. Now, I usually position a main camera around 15' away from the lectern and then use a 2nd camera (with it's own light) for cutaway shots.

At the moment I'm positioning a light stand next to the camera with a big CFL softbox and have it around 10' off the floor. The soft lights (CFL) give me a nice image but often the people will complain about the bright light in their eyes. I also have a really heavy stand for the softbox so I was wondering whether it would be better to have the light close to the lectern (but out of shot) and really high (virtually touching the ceiling.).but with the softbox facing downwards so the subject is lit from above virtally the same as a standard room lighting setup??? That would certainly solve the "light in my eyes" situation but has anyone lit one person this way....TV studios light from above the newsreader?????

What would be best ??? directly over the lectern??? slightly in front ????

Any comments would be appreciated!!

Chris

Brett Sherman · October 7th, 2011, 07:53 AM

High lights are not very flattering. They create big shadows under the brow and nose. CFL is not focus able and at 15 feet much of the light will go to the audience, if that's not a big deal than it should work okay. For podiums I generally use a dedolight as they can focus down to a small spot with no spill anywhere else. Of course they are really hard on the eyes - much worse than the CFLs. For people who really complain about light in the eyes, I'll set up two lights further on each side, so it comes more from the side than the front. These would be focus-able tungsten lights - dedolights or the cheaper Lowel Pro-lights or Omni lights.

October 7th, 2011, 06:39 AM	#1
Chris Harding Inner Circle Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Perth, Western Australia Posts: 8,441	Lighting a speaker at a lectern??? Hi Guys At weddings most of the people who have to do a speech use the lectern supplied by the venue as it's mic goes thru the house PA system. Now, I usually position a main camera around 15' away from the lectern and then use a 2nd camera (with it's own light) for cutaway shots. At the moment I'm positioning a light stand next to the camera with a big CFL softbox and have it around 10' off the floor. The soft lights (CFL) give me a nice image but often the people will complain about the bright light in their eyes. I also have a really heavy stand for the softbox so I was wondering whether it would be better to have the light close to the lectern (but out of shot) and really high (virtually touching the ceiling.).but with the softbox facing downwards so the subject is lit from above virtally the same as a standard room lighting setup??? That would certainly solve the "light in my eyes" situation but has anyone lit one person this way....TV studios light from above the newsreader????? What would be best ??? directly over the lectern??? slightly in front ???? Any comments would be appreciated!! Chris

October 7th, 2011, 07:53 AM	#2
Brett Sherman Major Player Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Mount Rainier, MD Posts: 428	Re: Lighting a speaker at a lectern??? High lights are not very flattering. They create big shadows under the brow and nose. CFL is not focus able and at 15 feet much of the light will go to the audience, if that's not a big deal than it should work okay. For podiums I generally use a dedolight as they can focus down to a small spot with no spill anywhere else. Of course they are really hard on the eyes - much worse than the CFLs. For people who really complain about light in the eyes, I'll set up two lights further on each side, so it comes more from the side than the front. These would be focus-able tungsten lights - dedolights or the cheaper Lowel Pro-lights or Omni lights.