Help me set up my Lighting

Messages
9
Edit My Images
No
Hello all,

I am currently using an iPhone 8 plus to shoot my videos. In the future I am looking to upgrade to a Sony A6400 or something similar. Want to definitely shoot in 4K without crop. Before I upgrade my camera I would like to get my lighting in order. I am an audio professional and just getting into video. Based on the Youtube links below - Please advice on the kind of light you would recommend as well as how to position it. I would like to avoid huge soft box lights. I have a pair and they are ok but take forever to set up. I would like to have lights that can be attached to a tripod above the phone or on mic stand with a proper adapter. (I have a ton of mic stands)

Do I need one light above the iPhone or to lights positioned to the left and right of the phone?

My video wIth soft box lights:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfgfcbkL8uE&t=5s


Here is a couple without:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHHAm49tPJY


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohDJ8xHkDvg
 
A rechargeable LED array is what I've seen while out and about, though haven't used one myself. They're usually mounted with a microphone on a rack or a tripod/monopod. Here's an example.

Thats really good. Thank you! Do you think that one light is enough? I would especially like to get rid of the distortion you can see on the bass traps (acoustic panels) that you can see on the walls.
 
I don't use them myself as all of my photography and video is outdoors. If by distortion you mean colour noise, it would be barely noticeable to anyone watching the video as they're likely to be more interested in the subject than how it's shot.
 
When I used to shoot video, I had three of LED lights, two on tripods left & right of the subject and, the other on standby on a monopod, you can get much cheaper models than the one Garry linked to but, as with all things, you get what you pay for, if you do go down that route, make sure you get adjustable illumination.
 
Thank you all for your responses. So far I ordered this light: Neewer on Camera Video Light Photo Dimmable 176 LED

https://www.amazon.com/Neewer-Dimma...tv-20&linkId=03fcb9553e1c42242e0253fce62d9278

Its cheap and it will allow me to experiment with light placement and see if I need one or two more. It has a dimmer and 2 filters.

That way if/when I decide to invest in better lighting I will know exactly what I need and not spend a lot of money buying blind (at least I hope so). I will definitely try to aim it at the ceiling as well directly at me and see what gets me better results.

As far video quality - I shot at 1080/60 frames but did a bunch of panning and zooming which reduced the quality. Since I shot these videos, I have invested in a better tripod (so my phone won't get slightly tilted as I connect a monitor via thunderbolt to see what I am shooting. I had to rotate the videos 1.5 degrees in order to straighten them, then had to crop to get rid of edges that reduces the quality. In fact since than I found how to mirror my iPhone screen on my iPad wirelessly.

I have decided that going forward I will shoot at 4k 60frames as my iPhone 8 plus allows me to do so. I was hesitant to shoot at 4k before because I was afraid my computer (late 2013 MacBook Pro) would not be able to handle it but if worst comes to worst I will just convert to 1080 on import to final cut pro.

As far as I know shooting at 4k will allow me to retain more quality even when I do panning and zooming.

Is that correct?

Because I am performing I opt to go for a single live take whenever possible and then cut the video footage up and apply a lot of "Ken Burns" ( as it is called in final pro) to simulate a multi angle footage and add some movement to a static shot.

What youtube does mess up (only in the YouTube app though - internet browser is fine) is the sync between audio and video. I usefully export in H264. Is there anything else in the export settings I should be doing?
 
Last edited:
Do a test in final cut pro to see if your macbook can handle 4k, if it can, you would be better off not zooming during capture and, do any zooms you want in post, the results will still be more than acceptable, obliously not the case if you're shooting 1080.
 
So I shot 2 videos in 4K, with a new light. I was able to edit using proxy media in Final Cut Pro and still exported in 4K. Now in order to get the benefit of 4K, where I will not loose quality when I zoom and pan in post - do I edit in 4K and export in 1080 or export in 4K and then reconvert an exported file to 1080? Or upload a 4K file to YouTube and since most people will watch in 1080 it will resolve it self? Thanks!
 
Don't trust any video platform to do the conversion for you, most of the time it will not work out well.
Edit in 4k and export in your chosen format, never re-convert, each time you do you will be losing quality.
 
Thank you, I will export in 1080 from Final Cut.

I will post a video I recently shot on Monday. I would be very curious to see how I could further improve my lighting. I will say that the light I recently got made a huge difference.

I guess down the road I will be shooting with 2 cameras simultaneously. One with a zoom lens for close ups and the other one my regular frame shot. ( I say zoom lens because I don't want the close up camera in the shot of the regular frame ) I will also have to figure how to trigger the recording on both cameras on and of with the same remote if thats possible.
user_online.gif
 
Last edited:
Please advice on the kind of light you would recommend as well as how to position it. I would like to avoid huge soft box lights. I have a pair and they are ok but take forever to set up.

What you need to do is learn lighting. There is no such thing as 'a setup' and a specific place to put lights, there is a hundred factors which matter, how do you want it to look? What are you lighting? What shape / size is the room?

and why be so lazy about putting up softboxes?
 
I think you have that pretty much sorted, still shadows visible but, don't try to eliminate them totally, it will take away masssively from the production.
 
Back
Top