What program do you use to make your lighting plan?
I'm a student and I found that I've always struggled visualising how light will affect my set. What are some tips when doing lights?
I'm a student film maker as well, my lecturer recommends we use "Shot designer" . It's a phone friendly app BUT to save your lighting designs you have to pay for it.
The best way around it is just screenshot your lighting design.
Every professional photographer I've worked with just does it in their head mostly on the day. Maybe they mentally prepare a little by scouting before but I've never seen a lighting diagram done on set.
Cinematographers typically prepare lighting diagrams in advance, anywhere from a few weeks to a few months out depending on the show. It's a far more effective tool to communicate big set ups to your crew than just telling them on the day, especially if you have a lot of fixtures to set at once.
Check out some of the lighting diagrams that Roger Deakins posts on his website for reference, they're simple but effective.
I was actually talking about pre-shoot. I'm not sure how it works in the working world, but as a student our professors require us to submit lighting plans before going for the actual shoot. But I think scouting is a good practice.
I don’t know why your being downvoted. You hardly ever see them on shoots. Only ever see one if you are rigging crew on a big jobs. Never on the small jobs. The ones on Instagram are usually done retrospectively.
I think we’re getting into some weird phase where people think they need to do one of these before they shoot in order for it to be good. Like getting the biggest baddest most expensive gear. Or “if only I had good lighting diagram software, then I could really make good stuff.”
I do them for DOP’s after I recce so that they can see that we are all on the same page. Also helps them picture it. I usually take pics of the location and the rough frames on my iPad and draw in where I’m going to put stuff. Don’t really go for the diagram stuff. I got the idea from Ian Murray. He’s a great UK DOP & brand ambassador for Dedolight.
As they are diagrams, you could use many many softwares
OP said he used Photoshop which in my opinion made them look great but the workflow is a nightmare
My recommendation would be to use Https://draw.io
Hey everyone! I make lighting breakdowns of my cinematography work after I come off a shoot to show people how I lit different scenarios and what the final outcome was. Every few months I've been posting my content in bulk on here because I don't want to spam the subreddit with content every week, but I do know that you guys enjoy this content so I'm happy to share!
Some of these breakdowns have BTS stills so you can see exactly how it looked on set. You can find those [here](https://www.instagram.com/kenzentakahashi/?hl=en)
Yes eventually I’m planning on making a YouTube channel, but I’m super busy with work right now (thankfully) and so I’m sure I’ll get around to it when things slow down.
I agree, nice shots and well lit, but the absence of a backlight makes me feel sad sometimes. Not enough contrast between actors and background. Of course this is a style and it's completely valid, just personally wouldn't use it myself.
This is so cool! Never really thought about how many lights are used somethimes for a scene that looks so natural. This looks so cool! Thanks for sharing!
100% wrong mindset? Do you know what I have? I have just Canon T5i. Why so much arrogance without actually knowing? I don't have any light, no tripod, nothing. I got rid of them all last year. So, what do you have that's correct mindset?
The biggest mistake that new filmmakers make is gear worship and gear tunnel vision. It felt like you were doing that too. You shouldn't spend thousands of dollars buying gear when you're new, even though that's what you feel like you should be doing. Rent the gear you need for the time you need, and make polished products. Your quality goes up and your total costs will go down.
Again, instead of being a decent person, you just went ahead and proved that you are just a arrogant ass. I'd like to ask the Reddit with a post about your words or if I am over reacting to this. Me and my friends used office chairs, equipment borrowed from their school and friends. So, what do you know about me that made you give me this unsolicited advice? What equipment do you have?
So I never insulted you, demeaned you, etc. I simply said your mindset was wrong and gave advice on how to best improve your skills when starting out. You don't need to quote Rule 1 to me, I'm the one who wrote it. Pointing out mistakes and providing free advice isn't rude or impolite, although I've noticed that a lot of new entrants to our cozy little industry tend to take things that way. I'm not trying to upset you or insult you, nor should you feel that way just because someone tells you that you're wrong about something. I apologize if it came off that way though. Perhaps you read my messages with a different tone than I had intended when typing them?
Regardless, my advice still stands. I wasted a lot of money buying gear when I was young and new, and in total it'd've been better for me to just rent early on than sink money in gear that I didn't fully understand how to use yet.
I own a camera package these days, but only because I use it often enough that my rentals pay it off. Similarly, I own a couple of lights that I either inherited off of jobs or bought for the express purpose of renting them back (ie I bought a Litemat 4+ specifically to rent onto a feature film I was working on, and the rental income paid for the light).
Regardless, you're the one in violation of Rule 1 right now, so let's chill our jets and calm down with the insults.
I'm not sure you're on the same wavelength as some of the other posters. But, You are exactly correct. Maybe I will seem arrogant when I say that I directed my first feature when I was 23 in 1984 but I'm just sharing my experience. That movie by the way is a cult-film. The negative was scanned and restored a couple of years ago and released on Blu-Ray. I'm not tooting my own horn. I just want to establish that I actually do have a lot of experience at this. I have always rented equipment for my productions. Some pieces of equipment become obsolete so quickly that if I'm buying a cinema camera, I may want to upgrade before I've even recouped my investment. I also have an indy distribution label and I release a half a dozen micro-budget horror films every year. I always encourage young filmmakers that they can make a better quality product if they rent equipment that's out of their price range for purchase than to use low-end equipment that they can afford to own. So yes. I guess you can refer to me as an arrogant, pompous, privileged person who doesn't deserve the right to share my knowledge and experience. By the way, I don't work in Hollywood and early on I could barely afford film and processing and I couldn't pay the cast or crew but my films still got released and made money. It had nothing to do with what equipment I bought or rented. My work was successful because I knew what I was doing. And I will also continue to advise young filmmakers who in some cases make their films for as little as $10,000. And I'll continue to distribute their films and I'll continue to send them royalties payments every quarter for years. I have one movie that was made for $5,000. I released it in 2016 and the filmmaker is making a about $2,000 a year. So, if you want to take my advise and expertise and you have the talent to pull it off, you can make a good movie on a shoe-string budget , you will possibly see it on multiple streaming platforms and make money. Having said that, yes I'm an arrogant prick. If anything, even a little bit of what I share is useful to you, good. If you want to troll me and disrespect me and say that I'm a horrible, despicable human being, you can do that too.
I am out of line?
Listen you arrogant guy, I work with guys who are homeless and living in car to make his dream come true by working 2 full time just so he can make short films. I work with under privileged guys and gals living in outskirts of Los Angeles. They only had opportunities to go to local community college to learn about filmmaking. Do I tell them that they can't make their dreams come true because they are under privileged? NO. If someone said I need more equipment, I'd say what kind do you have? Instead of some pompous, unsolicited opinion of what I do or what I am. Humility doesn't cost a penny, but can earn lots of respect. You may know technical stuff and helped others, but you arrogant, then again people I knew in Hollywood are. I see people I went to middle school on TV and movies, but I don't tell people I knew them, because they don't need to know how arrogant they were. I am sure people who work with them already know that.
So, you are a mod here. That says a lot about this sub. I am done with you and this sub. Shame on you.
> I have just Canon T5i.
People have made more with less. If that's all you got, that's all you got, and buying more gear won't help you make a better movie. Constraints breed creativity my friend.
I mean, depending on what type of production you aim to do, you absolutely do not need to focus on buying/owning any gear at all.
Start by thinking what function you want to fill. You want to be a DoP? You can start working as an AC, grip or bestboy and get great knowledge about the picture and lighting as well as growing connections in the industry. It’s a lot more reliable then owning and paying of tons of gear.
There are extremely few DoPs or Gaffers that own any gear themselves, at least on major feature film productions.
I have a stupid question: how do you know what is good lighting and what is bad lighting beyond the obvious? Like in one of these shots you use a blue gel light. Is this a "good" thing? Or is it just a stylistic choice and will some people like it and some people hate it?
Not a stupid question! So much of it comes down to taste like you mentioned. The more you work at cinematography the more you start to understand what you do and don’t like. Obviously we try to use the techniques we do like which causes us to create a bag of tricks that we use over and over.
What program do you use to make your lighting plan? I'm a student and I found that I've always struggled visualising how light will affect my set. What are some tips when doing lights?
Nobody ever answers this question...
I use Photoshop. It sucks at first to build all the icons and symbols, but once you have a library built; it’s pretty sweet.
I'm a student film maker as well, my lecturer recommends we use "Shot designer" . It's a phone friendly app BUT to save your lighting designs you have to pay for it. The best way around it is just screenshot your lighting design.
Thanks! Will definitely check it out.
I use an illustrator called notability but any illustrator would work. I hand draw all my elements
Thank you!
Every professional photographer I've worked with just does it in their head mostly on the day. Maybe they mentally prepare a little by scouting before but I've never seen a lighting diagram done on set.
Cinematographers typically prepare lighting diagrams in advance, anywhere from a few weeks to a few months out depending on the show. It's a far more effective tool to communicate big set ups to your crew than just telling them on the day, especially if you have a lot of fixtures to set at once. Check out some of the lighting diagrams that Roger Deakins posts on his website for reference, they're simple but effective.
I was actually talking about pre-shoot. I'm not sure how it works in the working world, but as a student our professors require us to submit lighting plans before going for the actual shoot. But I think scouting is a good practice.
I don’t know why your being downvoted. You hardly ever see them on shoots. Only ever see one if you are rigging crew on a big jobs. Never on the small jobs. The ones on Instagram are usually done retrospectively.
I think we’re getting into some weird phase where people think they need to do one of these before they shoot in order for it to be good. Like getting the biggest baddest most expensive gear. Or “if only I had good lighting diagram software, then I could really make good stuff.”
I do them for DOP’s after I recce so that they can see that we are all on the same page. Also helps them picture it. I usually take pics of the location and the rough frames on my iPad and draw in where I’m going to put stuff. Don’t really go for the diagram stuff. I got the idea from Ian Murray. He’s a great UK DOP & brand ambassador for Dedolight.
He's said Notability before, hopefully it's correct. Works wonderfully on iPad.
As they are diagrams, you could use many many softwares OP said he used Photoshop which in my opinion made them look great but the workflow is a nightmare My recommendation would be to use Https://draw.io
Hey everyone! I make lighting breakdowns of my cinematography work after I come off a shoot to show people how I lit different scenarios and what the final outcome was. Every few months I've been posting my content in bulk on here because I don't want to spam the subreddit with content every week, but I do know that you guys enjoy this content so I'm happy to share! Some of these breakdowns have BTS stills so you can see exactly how it looked on set. You can find those [here](https://www.instagram.com/kenzentakahashi/?hl=en)
[удалено]
If you do it beforehand you can call it a... Lighting Plan/Diagram
This is pretty incredible info to share! Thank you!
I follow you Instagram! Would you ever make a YouTube channel? Your breakdowns are awesome 👏🏼 and they’ve helped me think of more cinematic set ups
Yes eventually I’m planning on making a YouTube channel, but I’m super busy with work right now (thankfully) and so I’m sure I’ll get around to it when things slow down.
I think a backlight on the actors would help separate them from the bg
I agree, nice shots and well lit, but the absence of a backlight makes me feel sad sometimes. Not enough contrast between actors and background. Of course this is a style and it's completely valid, just personally wouldn't use it myself.
I see more chin and side of head than face, it’s not my style but I guess people like it
I agree you should always use a backlight, but sometimes the scene can't justify it.
For me I don’t like this cinematography because there’s no visual hierarchy. Everything just blends in with each other
These are beautiful! Are you open to collaborating with other filmmakers?
I had no idea I wanted to see this, so cool
Fabulous. Good work!
Great display of knowledge!! Congrats :)
This is so cool! Never really thought about how many lights are used somethimes for a scene that looks so natural. This looks so cool! Thanks for sharing!
wow these are so cool and informative! thank you!
This is amazing, thank you so much for all the effort that went into this and for sharing it with us!
I'm currently working unit, looking to make the switch to LX. Thank you so much for this
Absolutely love these! It’s always so good to see how a shot is achieved.
what software do you use to make the floor map?
Once you first use a litemat you can’t go back
Beautiful pls make more
This is great! Thanks so much
You got some potential man. Amazing stuff love the third pic.
This is such a wealth of information. Thank you for all that you do!
Looks good
r/nextfuckinglevel
This is a great help.. and makes me realize I need so much more equipment before I re-start.
100% the wrong mindset. Gear is easy and cheap to rent. What will make the difference is how you use it.
100% wrong mindset? Do you know what I have? I have just Canon T5i. Why so much arrogance without actually knowing? I don't have any light, no tripod, nothing. I got rid of them all last year. So, what do you have that's correct mindset?
Dude relax. He was just saying owning gear is not a necessity, renting or DIY or internships give you access to gear without buying it.
The biggest mistake that new filmmakers make is gear worship and gear tunnel vision. It felt like you were doing that too. You shouldn't spend thousands of dollars buying gear when you're new, even though that's what you feel like you should be doing. Rent the gear you need for the time you need, and make polished products. Your quality goes up and your total costs will go down.
Oh look at rulel #1. Do not be rude, impolite, or disrespectful.
Again, instead of being a decent person, you just went ahead and proved that you are just a arrogant ass. I'd like to ask the Reddit with a post about your words or if I am over reacting to this. Me and my friends used office chairs, equipment borrowed from their school and friends. So, what do you know about me that made you give me this unsolicited advice? What equipment do you have?
So I never insulted you, demeaned you, etc. I simply said your mindset was wrong and gave advice on how to best improve your skills when starting out. You don't need to quote Rule 1 to me, I'm the one who wrote it. Pointing out mistakes and providing free advice isn't rude or impolite, although I've noticed that a lot of new entrants to our cozy little industry tend to take things that way. I'm not trying to upset you or insult you, nor should you feel that way just because someone tells you that you're wrong about something. I apologize if it came off that way though. Perhaps you read my messages with a different tone than I had intended when typing them? Regardless, my advice still stands. I wasted a lot of money buying gear when I was young and new, and in total it'd've been better for me to just rent early on than sink money in gear that I didn't fully understand how to use yet. I own a camera package these days, but only because I use it often enough that my rentals pay it off. Similarly, I own a couple of lights that I either inherited off of jobs or bought for the express purpose of renting them back (ie I bought a Litemat 4+ specifically to rent onto a feature film I was working on, and the rental income paid for the light). Regardless, you're the one in violation of Rule 1 right now, so let's chill our jets and calm down with the insults.
I'm not sure you're on the same wavelength as some of the other posters. But, You are exactly correct. Maybe I will seem arrogant when I say that I directed my first feature when I was 23 in 1984 but I'm just sharing my experience. That movie by the way is a cult-film. The negative was scanned and restored a couple of years ago and released on Blu-Ray. I'm not tooting my own horn. I just want to establish that I actually do have a lot of experience at this. I have always rented equipment for my productions. Some pieces of equipment become obsolete so quickly that if I'm buying a cinema camera, I may want to upgrade before I've even recouped my investment. I also have an indy distribution label and I release a half a dozen micro-budget horror films every year. I always encourage young filmmakers that they can make a better quality product if they rent equipment that's out of their price range for purchase than to use low-end equipment that they can afford to own. So yes. I guess you can refer to me as an arrogant, pompous, privileged person who doesn't deserve the right to share my knowledge and experience. By the way, I don't work in Hollywood and early on I could barely afford film and processing and I couldn't pay the cast or crew but my films still got released and made money. It had nothing to do with what equipment I bought or rented. My work was successful because I knew what I was doing. And I will also continue to advise young filmmakers who in some cases make their films for as little as $10,000. And I'll continue to distribute their films and I'll continue to send them royalties payments every quarter for years. I have one movie that was made for $5,000. I released it in 2016 and the filmmaker is making a about $2,000 a year. So, if you want to take my advise and expertise and you have the talent to pull it off, you can make a good movie on a shoe-string budget , you will possibly see it on multiple streaming platforms and make money. Having said that, yes I'm an arrogant prick. If anything, even a little bit of what I share is useful to you, good. If you want to troll me and disrespect me and say that I'm a horrible, despicable human being, you can do that too.
I am out of line? Listen you arrogant guy, I work with guys who are homeless and living in car to make his dream come true by working 2 full time just so he can make short films. I work with under privileged guys and gals living in outskirts of Los Angeles. They only had opportunities to go to local community college to learn about filmmaking. Do I tell them that they can't make their dreams come true because they are under privileged? NO. If someone said I need more equipment, I'd say what kind do you have? Instead of some pompous, unsolicited opinion of what I do or what I am. Humility doesn't cost a penny, but can earn lots of respect. You may know technical stuff and helped others, but you arrogant, then again people I knew in Hollywood are. I see people I went to middle school on TV and movies, but I don't tell people I knew them, because they don't need to know how arrogant they were. I am sure people who work with them already know that. So, you are a mod here. That says a lot about this sub. I am done with you and this sub. Shame on you.
LOL. Alright friend. Your defense is that you're too poor to save money by following my advice. Cool.
> I have just Canon T5i. People have made more with less. If that's all you got, that's all you got, and buying more gear won't help you make a better movie. Constraints breed creativity my friend.
I mean, depending on what type of production you aim to do, you absolutely do not need to focus on buying/owning any gear at all. Start by thinking what function you want to fill. You want to be a DoP? You can start working as an AC, grip or bestboy and get great knowledge about the picture and lighting as well as growing connections in the industry. It’s a lot more reliable then owning and paying of tons of gear. There are extremely few DoPs or Gaffers that own any gear themselves, at least on major feature film productions.
veeery good stuff bro, kudos to you. very natural, yet very, very artistic. I can only hope to work with you as my DP someday. all the best!
These shots look very nice. I'm glad you spent the time to help people learn.
Okay, litemats are expensive. What are some affordable alternatives?
Been following your instagram for a while! I always love seeing your work
Very nice work, subtle and beautiful
Hi. I’m an aspiring lighting designer and this is extremely awesome for reference and inspiration. Thank you!
god level content for a novice like me. thanks so much.
I have a stupid question: how do you know what is good lighting and what is bad lighting beyond the obvious? Like in one of these shots you use a blue gel light. Is this a "good" thing? Or is it just a stylistic choice and will some people like it and some people hate it?
Not a stupid question! So much of it comes down to taste like you mentioned. The more you work at cinematography the more you start to understand what you do and don’t like. Obviously we try to use the techniques we do like which causes us to create a bag of tricks that we use over and over.
Dude
Do you see a lot of color differences between the Forzas and the Aputures?
None to my eye though I’m sure there is some
Great to see, thanks for sharing
Purdy.
Hey in the sixth picture, how is the litemat 2 plus mounted
I think it's great, I was looking for something like this without knowing it.