Lighting criticism is needed

[Osman F Arslan]

Hello everybody. I was practicing lighting and I'm not happy with the image I got. I have a few explanation for myself but I'd appreciate any criticism from well trained eyes and knowledgable people. I didn't light the scene with any story or intention behind. I just wanted to create something different than the normal look of the house. That's one of the reason I guess it doesn't look good. I didn't have subject to light so I just lit it and at the end I had my daughters sit in the key area. The mood doesn't match to the subjects I think, especially when there is no story behind the lighting. I'd appreciate any comments. Please don't be hard I'm trying to learn and practice thank you very much. Please ignore the decor and the unnecessary stuff create the messy environment.

 

[Cleon Arrey]

Maybe try and motivate the area lighting a bit more? It has the dinner table look to it for sure, and honestly its not a bad setup as is, I like it! But yes, maybe the idea could have been to try a few different tones/atmospheres within that space. You could "turn off" the overhead light and have the candles be a motivation, lighting the subjects with spots as opposed to lighting the area. Opening up your aperture help with fire/candle motivated scenes too. .

Maybe the scene would make more sense lit the way it is without the candles being in frame? I'd assume Id get some bit of 2700k glow on their faces with candles.. haha its the damn candles!!

Just my take, Im curious to hear how other minds process this; great post!

 

[Osman F Arslan]

Hi Cleon. Thank you for your reply. Exactly! those candles are in the way as they are. After analyzing it I thought maybe I should've lit it for the candles. I think it'd blend more with the rest of the scene. If I took the candles and that plate of food out of the way maybe it'd make more sense. Or like you said if they are there maybe I should've lit for them. Yeah let's see what other thinks. I'm looking at it and one moment I say it's ok, it's not too bad, another moment I say it sucks

 

[Osman F Arslan]

Another thing came to my mind is that I could've diffused the overhead light one more layer maybe. It would look more blended with the rest of the scene maybe?

 

[Osman F Arslan]

What do you think about the moonlight coming through the blinds effect in the background? There wasn't any window there and the space was very small. I didn't throw any light for ambient moonlight. Does it look believable? I wish the moonlight hit the wall right behind the girl on the right side so it would give a little more seperation. Am I correct? The wall behind her feels left out dark a bit. It was mainly because of the ladder and the very limited space and lack of grip equipment.

 

[Cleon Arrey]

I really like the moonlight, keeps the separation pretty cool, warm at the table, cold in the background.

 

[David Mullen ASC]

I think the lighting is fine but it may have been better to knock down the intensity of the overhead so that it felt dimmer and the candles read more brightly in comparison.

 

[Osman F Arslan]

Thanks for the reply. Yes, that's how I feel too. But I'm not sure if I should've taken it down by diffusing or just the intensity? The overhead was at f4 and the background shade was at 2.8 so only 1 stop difference. If those candles weren't there would the current intensity of the overhead be fine? Thanks again everybody for taking time and for caring to reply.

 

[Curtis boggs]

can you describe the lighting set?
what was the overhead and diffusion?

cheers,

curtis

 

[Osman F Arslan]

Overhead was a kino flo 4 bank with 2 bulbs turned on, no diffusion. Moonlight was a 1K arri fresnel with a double CTB gel on it. I put black fabric on the 2 short sides of the Kino Flo and dropped them down a bit.