Lighting for Cinematography: A Practical Guide to the Art and Craft of Lighting for the Moving Image

by David Landau

Overview

We can't shoot good pictures without good lighting, no matter how good the newest cameras are. Shooting under available light gives exposure, but lacks depth, contrast, contour, atmosphere and often separation. The story could be the greatest in the world, but if the lighting is poor viewers will assume it's amateurish and not take it seriously. Feature films and TV shows, commercials and industrial videos, reality TV and documentaries, even event and wedding videos tell stories. Good lighting can make them look real, while real lighting often makes them look fake.

Lighting for Cinematography, the first volume in the new CineTech Guides to the Film Crafts series, is the indispensable guide for film and video lighting. Written by veteran gaffer and cinematographer David Landau, the book helps the reader create lighting that supports the emotional moment of the scene, contributes to the atmosphere of the story and augments an artistic style. Structured to mimic a 14 week semester, the chapters cover such things as lighting for movement, working with windows, night lighting, lighting the three plains of action and non-fiction lighting. Every chapter includes stills, lighting diagrams and key advice from professionals in the field, as well as lighting exercises to help the reader put into practice what was covered.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781628926927
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	07/10/2014
Series:	The CineTech Guides to the Film Crafts
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	751,403
Product dimensions:	7.30(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

David Landau has over thirty years of professional lighting experience working on feature films, TV shows, sit-coms, game shows, commercials, documentaries, industrial films, music videos and direct-to-consumer DVDs. Landau teaches lighting and cinematography at Fairleigh Dickinson University, US, where he also created the Cinematography track of study, but continues to work in the lighting industry, shooting low budget features and corporate videos, designing lights for theatre and working as one of the gaffers on the TV series Project Runway. A five-time Telly Award winner for lighting and cinematography, Landau is a member of IATSE Local 52, the University Film & Video Association and Media Communications Association International.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction: No matter how good a camera, good lighting is what sells the picture

Chapter 1: The Magic of Light - What lighting does for the image and what light is.

Chapter 2: Who and What Makes Light- the lighting crew, lighting units, basic electricity

Chapter 3: Lighting the Subject - motivated and three point lighting

Chapter 4: Light the shot, not just the subject - three plains of lighting

Chapter 5: Common Practical Lighting Set-ups - cross key, chicken coop, china ball, bathrooms

Chapter 6: Lighting for Movement - subject & camera, ambient soft light

Chapter 7: Dealing with Daylight 1: Shooting Exteriors

Chapter 8: Dealing with Daylight 2: Working with windows

Chapter 9: Night Light- lighting night exteriors & interiors

Chapter 10: Working with Color - using color for mood, gels

Chapter 11: Light the scene, not just the shot - High Key, Low Key, contrast ratios, exposure choice, Chiaroscuro lighting, Rembrandt, Butterfly lighting

Chapter 12: Special Lighting Considerations & Effects- fire, water, rain, fog, lightening, poor man's process shot, green screen, product shots, etc

Chapter 13: Lighting Non-fiction - Interview, Corporate, News Magazine, Documentary, Reality

Chapter 14: Inspiration and Lighting Looks

Appendix 1: Tales from the Trade - interviews with professional gaffers, LDs & Cinematographers

Appendix 2: Resources - Apps, books, magazines, websites, etc.

Glossary

Index

Editorial Reviews

David Landau has produced an excellent text in Lighting for Cinematography which manages to cover the practicalities of production, the technical aspects of lighting and vitally the artistic importance of this work. Lighting for Cinematography is constructed to appeal and be of value to the practitioner at all levels; it is equally full of detail for careful consideration and quick hints and images for review before filming. Landau's book is helpfully crammed with instructional diagrams and the chosen images act as exemplars of technique. Lighting for Cinematography contains a series of production skills and helpful hints and exercises; these aspects are exceptionally helpful to the student of film wishing to improve their understanding and technique. I would highly recommend Lighting for Cinematography to those to wish to learn more about this field and to all those interested in the technique and process of film making.” —Robert Edgar, Senior Lecturer in Film and TV Production, York St John University, UK

“A master class in cinematography! David Landau's conversational tone mixed with 35 years of technical experience and aesthetic prowess results in a very accessible text that should be cherished by students and professionals alike. Whether he is describing the process of lighting through a window with a 1200 HMI Par with a double scrim, 250 diffusion and 1/2 CTO or describing his method of achieving a firelight effect with several 250W Inkies with a mixture of amber and orange gels and run through a flicker box, Landau's multiple accounts from his work in the field give this book a much appreciated practicality and voice of authority that is invaluable for the emerging cinematographer.” —Harlan Bosmajian, Assistant Professor of Cinematography, Emerson College, USA and Local 600 Director of Photography

“This unique approach has been needed for a long time and there is simply no other lighting book like this in print.” —Peter Stein, ASC, Student Filmmakers

From the Publisher