Lighting
January 25, 2024
In this episode we show you how to use a spotlight as the key light in your lighting designs! Yes, there is a way to change these traditionally hard light sources into soft lights that are great for illuminating the faces of your talent. And, an added bonus is that you can position the light much farther away than you would typically position a soft key light. In this video we’ll walk you through the technique and break down the design we used so you can recreate it in the studio or at home. Let’s take a closer look!
If you’d like to learn how to make great dialogue audio for your film and video projects, please have a look at my courses including processing dialogue audio in Adobe Audition and DaVinci Resolve/Fairlight, recording sound, how to use the Zoom F4, F6, F8, and F8n, and how to get the most from the Sound Devices MixPre series of recorders. Our latest courses cover Sound for Live Streaming with the ATEM Mini and an Intro to Izotope RX. See https://school.learnlightandsound.com for more info!
Support my work creating videos by donating at Ko-Fi.com: http://ko-fi.com/curtisjudd
Gear used or mentioned in this episode. The links below are Amazon.com, B&H Photo, Sweetwater, or other affiliate links. As an affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases:
- Aputure Spotlight Max — Aputure, B&H https://geni.us/1A9aK
- Aputure LightStorm 600c Pro LED COB Light — Aputure, B&H, Amazon https://geni.us/dSGd4J6
- Aputure Light Dome III Circular Quick-Fold Softbox — Aputure, B&H https://geni.us/AVHU1p
- Aputure LightStorm 600x Pro LED Light — Aputure, B&H, Amazon https://geni.us/EreRQa
- Aputure LightStorm 600d Pro LED Light — Aputure, B&H, Amazon https://geni.us/3fj3g0g
Some of my other gear used in this episode:
- Sennheiser MKH50 microphone — B&H, Sweetwater, Amazon https://geni.us/iYb065
- Sound Devices MixPre audio recorder — B&H, Sweetwater, Amazon https://geni.us/O8e0
- Impact Turtle-Base C-Stands — B&H, Amazon https://geni.us/8a8tt
- Aputure LS 600x Pro Bicolor LED Light — Aputure, B&H, Amazon https://geni.us/EreRQa
- Aputure Light Dome III Softbox — Aputure, B&H https://geni.us/AVHU1p
- Amaran 300c RGBWW Single-Point LED Light — https://geni.us/uGkDX
- Amaran Spotlight SE — Aputure, B&H, Amazon https://geni.us/4DuyTz
- Rosco Prismatic Glass Gobo in Cool Lavender — B&H https://geni.us/GWKt
- Canon C70 Cinema Camera — B&H https://geni.us/ABYB
- Canon RF 24-70 f/2.8 lens — B&H, Amazon https://geni.us/qwsEs
- Panasonic GH5 camera — B&H, Amazon https://geni.us/InspOl
- Panasonic 12-35mm f/2.8 II lens — B&H, Amazon https://geni.us/gr47
The intro and outro music for this episode is from Musicbed - “Dynamo” by Virgil Arles. Take your films to the next level with music from Musicbed. Sign up for a free account to listen for yourself: https://geni.us/G7by
Copyright 2024, Curtis Judd
Most people getting into video obsess more over cameras than lighting, when lighting often deserves more attention — especially when working in small or awkwardly shaped spaces (a common reality doing corporate video in cramped offices or long, narrow conference rooms), where there's little room to position lights and modifiers exactly where you'd want them.
One underused solution borrowed from stage and higher-end commercial/film lighting: an ellipsoidal spotlight mount. In this setup, the key light is actually an Aputure 600C fitted with a Spotlight Max ellipsoidal lens, positioned about 11 feet away, concentrating its output into a 36-degree beam that's bounced off a white sound blanket to create a large, very soft light source — without needing a softbox positioned right next to the subject. This lets the fixture (and its fan noise) sit much farther away while the spotlight's throw distance compensates, versus a plain reflector, which would spread light more diffusely and from a less favorable angle, producing a harder, less flattering result at that same distance. Because the light comes from enough of an oblique angle, it also avoids creating glare on glasses.
This technique is well suited to oddly shaped rooms — for example, bouncing a spotlight through a glass conference-room wall from an adjacent space when there's no room for a light fixture nearby. If you don't have a large sound blanket to bounce off of, hanging one on a C-stand works as an improvised soft source, creating a big, soft, natural-looking light circle.
Note that a spotlight alone is a hard light with sharp-edged falloff — aimed directly at a subject it would blow out one side of the face and leave harsh shadow on the other; bouncing it off a diffusing surface is what softens it into a usable key.
The full lighting design shown: the bounced 600C/Spotlight Max as key; a second ellipsoidal (an Amaran Spotlight SE with a gobo) creating a subtly patterned purple wash on the background wall; a 1x1 Litepanels Gemini adding blue fill on the opposite side; and a Dracast LED panel providing rim/separation light around the edge of the face. This spotlight-bounce technique solved a previous limitation of not being able to put a key light on a particular side of the face due to lack of physical space there. Hope that was helpful — get out there, make some great lighting designs, and we'll talk to you again soon.
