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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

water wave lighting technique

My guess would be to use two mirrors. One inside a pan with water where you would aim a light at, and the other used to aim that bouncing light back onto the subject. And just have someone gently rock the pan back and forth to produce the ripples. Find a table or set up a stand so you can adjust the height of the pan.

The contours of light flowed with the contours of the subject in this video. It would be tough and over complicated to try and use VFX.
 
Get a tub of water, place it at the feet of the talent, and shine a light into it. The reflected light will reflect onto your talent. Just have someone gently rock the tub.
 
Andy Jarosz said:
Get a tub of water, place it at the feet of the talent, and shine a light into it. The reflected light will reflect onto your talent. Just have someone gently rock the tub.
Click to expand...

But here the talent is lit from above. My best guess, they have a large acrylic basin rigged above the talent and closer to camera, they lit him directly through the water, introduced waves for effect.

Rock the boat, Don't tip the boat over.

CB
 
I think Christopher nailed it. Using an acrylic or glass container above the talent likely is what produced the organic nature of the effect.

Like others have said, I pretty much do this with either water, mirrors, or a projector. I used a Rosco X24 projector with two "water discs" as a key light for a shoot earlier this year and matched it with a mirror setup using two sheets of flexible mylar and having one of my assistants produce subtle movements. Wasn't as distinct as the video above though.
 
How about filming the waves, and using a light projector to play it back on the talent.
 
For all kinds of safety reasons as well as the subject himself, they will not put water in a basin over his head. It's most certainly a projector or a vfx shot. It's not a soft light, but beauty has done some skin work in post to give that appearance. Look at the shadow under his nose and chin for an idea of the quality of light. The key itself is constant so my guess is it's a vfx shot as in an overlay.
 
Jon Carr said:
Easy, there using and I have a American DJ H2O light projector for stuff like this, it's a dead give away cause you see it repeating the waves.
Click to expand...

This is indeed the simplest approach... and most likely, the answer is usually simple.
 
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