Tinfoil reflectors as a lighting tool

[Josef Heks]

baking paper. - Thats ingenious!! But will it affect the colour..im gonna try it now!

So assuming its good, how does this sound as a set-up for my home film. (Im shooting with a gs400):
Key Light - 500watt halogen worklight diffused with cooking paper
Fill Light - 500watt halogen worklight bounced of crumpled foil boogie-board
Back light (kicker??!) - 150watt spotlight held up by a mic stand

Wow, now thats guerilla! It will probably be terrible though :(

[Josef Heks]

oh, another question i have to is, because im going to be shooting my movie in my house, generally during the day, is it best to turn off all the existing house lights and just use my special movie lights? And what about sun light through windows - should I fill a room with natural sunlight as well as my movie lights or generally close the curtains. (I know its not good to mix light temperatures, but it doesnt seem to have much negative effect to me?! Im a total novice though :) )

thanks

Josef

[Richard Alvarez]

Try and pick one color temperature and stay with it. IF you have a huge window light as one source, try using a little bounce from a card or bedsheet for fill. When you start mixing daylight and tungsten, your shadows will have stranged colors, and your people will have a blue tint on one side, and an orange tint on the other. If you can draw the drapes and shoot with just tungsten, then do that. If it's unavoidable, and you have to mix, try not to mix the sources ON your subjects face.

Sunlight is much more powerfull than you think. Try bouncing it around the room before you add tungsten. And remember. "Where is the light coming from?" Unless you are setting up a portrait style interview shot, try and keep your light sources motivated. (This is a general stylistic approach, not an iron rule.) You don't have to flood a scene with "LIGHT!!!!". Shadows are tools too.

(BTW... "Baking paper" is also known as "Cooking Parchment". And yes, it makes a nice diffuser.)

[Glenn Chan]

Key Light - 500watt halogen worklight diffused with cooking paper
Fill Light - 500watt halogen worklight bounced of crumpled foil boogie-board
Back light (kicker??!) - 150watt spotlight held up by a mic stand

Other approaches:
1- Gel the lights to about daylight color. Then you can use the daylight coming in too. Some color temperature mixing is ok, but big differences in color temp will stand out. Watch movies and stuff... you'll notice that they do mix color temperatures in some situations.

2- You can light a shot without any real lights at all. Just bounce the sun or sky light into the talent's face with the reflector. The crinkled tinfoil has more "throw" than just white foamcore, so it does more on wider shots.

3- Another approach is to close the curtains and use existing house lighting. In some cases that light may be good.

[Greg Boston]

Also remember that even though these worklights typically come with a 500watt lamp, there are lower wattages available. Buy a 250 watt and use it for a key even though you might still need to diffuse it. Less heat, longer lamp life are other benefits to this approach.

-gb-