Professional video lighting on a budget.

Setting up lighting for a one on one interviews can be both simple and cheap. Few things in life are seldom both (and worth keeping at that). How about using everyday materials and a lighting kit that runs less than $80?

Rather than bore you with drone and dribble, I'm going to make this a matter of fact experiment. So grab your mouse and scroll down to see how it's done.

First, we start with an empty room, and it doesn't have to be a studio, it can be spare bedroom or basement corner. With exception to windows, you don't have to be concerned with the existing lighting either, as were going to add all that is needed.

Here we are using a 20x20 foot room. With regards to camera to subject, and subject to background distance, we are going to the longest length of the room, corner to corner. That should provide adequate separation for background defocus, allow a longer lens length for compressing the image (to avoid unflattering barrel distortion), while keeping the talent comfortable.

Below we have the completed room:. I used a small square table and lamp (borrowed from a nearby waiting room), someone's cushy office chair, and plant found in the hall (raised off the floor so it would be in the cameras view).

I also used an old fabric backdrop with a bookcase image, (of course I could have dragged in a real bookcase). I then pinned a black muslin fabric to the wall to darken the backdrop to both provide subject separation and enhance the feel of depth.

For lighting I decided to use CFLs (Compact Flouresant Lamps), I found these NVisions at a local home depot, and they had three sizes or wattages, in three difference color temperatures. Interestingly they had a 100w in bright white or 5000K, the middle of spectrum.

Another important feature of CFLs is that they run very cool, and won't overheat the room or talent. Therefore, you can avoid the more expensive flame retardent materials needed for light modification.

To mount the lights I used some $5 utility light clamps.

Now we'll cover our setup. Below is the key light, as it's the bright source of light I used two 100watt 5000K lights, clamped on a utility stand level with the talents head height.

Here you can see the effect.

Next we added a single 40watt fill light, clamped to the cameras tripod, facing upward and light the right side of the talents face. Because these lights give off little heat, you can use cheaper colored papers, transparencies or fabrics as light modifiers without risk of fire.

Here is the added effect of the fill light.

Next we add an edge or hair light to bring out the subject more and provide some background separation. I used a 40watt lamp and red gel for some warmth. For barn doors you can use either black foam core, or cardboard and tape. Again, CFLs run very cool.

Here is the effect of the edge with fill, and key.

Finally, for added effect I used a table lamp and orange gel. The gel was optional as I wanted some color other than white.

Next I wanted to bring out the plant into the scene, and used a green gel to both cut down on the light, and keep it green. I also taped a small piece of black foam core to keep the light from spilling onto the background.

Here is the final effect. Now it looks like an evening shot in a warm den or study. Total setup time, about an hour.

Of course, you might consider more professional kits as they would be easier to both set and strike. However, my point is, you don't need pro tools to make a pro look. Much of what we do in this business is problem solving, and that comes with experience from hands on.