Be on the lookout
.... For how other people set up.
Today, while out getting lunch, I happened to see a video crew set up in the corner of the food court. I walked past on my way to buy lunch and made a mental note of how they set up everything.
Now, as I actually had my camera with me, I set it up, aimed from the hip and took a snapshot as I walked past.
Forget the quality of this picture I wasn't aiming for that - I just wanted to try and get as much of their setup as possible.
The only bit I didn't quite get was their main light. You can just see part of it on the left hand side. It was a light behind a large 100cm Translucent white cloth - to diffuse it.
A single light, the reflector underneath in front, the Camera Operator, the Director, the Sound man and the Subject.
They were all set up in the corner of the mall. You can just make out the piece of paper on the reflector in front - I am guessing it was the script!
Now, what can we get from this that we could apply to regular still photography.
Firstly, they were using a single diffused light above and to one side of the Camera and a reflector to provide a bit of fill so the face would not have dark shadows.
Next, we get a real Idea as to the distances everything was set up. The Camera was around 1.8Metres away from the subject, the main light was approx 2.5 Metres high and about 1metre off to the side of the Camera. The reflector was positioned so it could relect the maximum amount of "fill light" and be just out of shot. The reflector was in fact almost touching the presenter.
The Area was fairly busy with people walking past literally 1 metre away from all of this while they were set up.
Just by observing how the Video crew setup and controlled the lighting it shows how you might be able to set up a simple portrait style shot.
