Cinematography : Lighting without lights by Andrew Finn Burhoe

Andrew Finn Burhoe

Lighting without lights

Do you know who said it? Do you know what he means?

Mark Souza

I know nothing about lighting, but it seems to me that might be referring to making use of natural or ambient light, and setting up your scene to make the best use of it.

Andrew Finn Burhoe

Lighting without light is partial natural. Look up Christopher Doyle. When he said it to the interviewer the guy went blank. Think of it as living and being instead of doing.

Andrew Sobkovich

Using the light that is available in any location to shoot with. Not adding any more lights. This is not to say that you do not shape the light. Adding flags, sillks or reflectors in order to take what is there and make it pleasing to the eye so that the scene looks like people think it looks as opposed to what it actually looks like. Cubicle world in office buildings is a great example. Most people have the perception that it is even, flat and fully illuminated. In reality, it is pools of top light coming straight down doing a great job of illuminating papers on a desk. Faces do not look good in top tight, nose shadows and dark eye sockets are not a great look for most actors or scenes. Yet there is enough light to shoot. appropriately exposed footage. I call this "unavailable light" because it does not look good. The light needs to be shaped into what the story needs while considering how the actors look before I would ever roll the camera.

Hayward Crawford

Very interesting article from everyone's favorite TV thriller Breaking Bad, it shows how much light plays a key factor in many scenes of this incredible show. I picked up several pointers & techniques you can use toward any production. http://blogs.indiewire.com/criticwire/in-confessions-breaking-bads-chara...

Other topics in Cinematography:

register for stage 32 Register / Log In