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Illuminate with minimal resources

With a little time, means and some ingenuity, we can manage to create the right atmosphere and a dignified image, from a photographic point of view.

When talking about a minimum lighting equipment, it is understood that there will be very few and small light sources available, with which we can support or complement the existing light in the places where we are going to record the images or testimonies required.

Only on exceptional occasions when we do not have any source of light, both natural and artificial, taking into account the minimum conditions of production, we will find ourselves in the need to create sufficient clarity from the total darkness to record the testimony or the image that is sought. But with a little time, means and some ingenuity, we can manage to create the right atmosphere and a dignified image, from a photographic point of view.

The most practical way to achieve this is to take advantage of the ambient light of the place. This can be natural, like sunlight, or artificial when it comes from sources powered by electric light or combustion. The natural light of a place is that which comes from the sun that enters through the openings of the space, windows and doors, and the ambient light is that which is found in the place that may well be natural, artificial, or the combination of both. These light sources that we often find in different places, are the ones that by practical logic we try to take advantage of, either as our main design light or as a fill light, or simply, as a complement to the light that we design during the creation of the image.

The idea is to take advantage of the best possible lighting that is given by the natural conditions of the place, by its architecture, as the basis of the light design, since the circumstances and forms of production that only allow us a minimum team of lights, are usually also accompanied by minimum human resources and little time to work. Documentary and reportage are the genres that by the very nature of their intention seek to capture reality with the least possible distortion, at least from the technical point of view, without altering it as fiction does, although in the case of documentary, it would deserve the same recognition as fiction and an adequate allocation of resources.

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When we talk about minimal, light and fast equipment, we refer to productions and conditions of realization where the elements and variables that we can control of the image are very few and the lighting problems that we can solve are within the reach of the equipment that we have at our disposal. The larger the space that must be illuminated, the more technical equipment we need, the more electricity consumption and the more time to do it.

 

The Kit

What we could consider as a minimum lighting kit is composed of three lights. This number allows the design and creation of the basic triangle of illumination that requires a main light, one fill and one for effect. With a basic team composed in this way we can design the lighting of a character and / or an environment in a small space with the participation of a single character. The main characteristics of this basic lighting equipment are its light weight and its low power measured in watts that represent very little electricity consumption; the weight characteristics of both the lights and tripods and accessories make such a set of lights can be packed in a small suitcase along with a couple of electric extensions. These elements offer the necessary conditions for lighting work with minimal resources.

Offers from light manufacturers include suitcases with three or four lights, some composed of six, with ranges that can range between 200 and 1000 watts. These sets of lights, in general, include lights of the open face type because they do not have a fresnel lens and their light is open, that is, without this element the light is freely blurred, oriented only by the concavity of the reflector that is located behind the bulb.

This light is more raw, or hard if you want, since it does not have lenses. The presence of the fresnel not only orients the light better but also gives it nuances that make it much softer. The ideal equipment must have at least one light source with low power fresnel to serve us during the design of the light on a face or to achieve some effect that requires a more controlled light. The disadvantages of the fresnel are its weight and fragility, since the refractory glass can suffer damage due to the conditions of mobilization and rudeness in which, frequently, the equipment is transported.

Low consumption

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Another reason why lighting equipment must be low consumption has to do with the electrical capacity of the places where the images for documentary or reportage are made. These places, for the most part, have electrical installations designed for the use of light bulbs, household appliances or low-consumption office equipment. These power lines allow a maximum consumption of 1500 watts with a voltage of 110, which is the one used in several Latin American countries, with the exception of Argentina which uses the right system at 220 volts. The power lines we frequently use in these locations have a capacity between 13 and 15 amps each. If we connected a 1000 watt light, we would cover two thirds of the capacity of the line, without counting that the appliances or equipment of the place may be consuming at least 200 or 300 watts of it. Therefore, the ability to connect another light would be reduced to 200 or 300 watts of consumption, without activating the automatic electrical switch (breaker) of the place.

Less light, more sensitivity

Another important consideration that we must take into account is related to the increasing sensitivity in the low light levels of digital cameras and photographic emulsions, which does not make it necessary to work with high power light sources, high electricity consumption, volume and weight, favoring the use of a minimum lighting equipment with low power sources.

From the point of view of light colorimetry, these lighting kits supply 3,200 K° tungsten incandescent light, which requires that when used in combination with other light sources of different color temperatures, the need to unify the color temperature must be taken into account, especially with the light on the faces so as not to have unpleasant surprises with the reproduction of the skin tone. There are also in the lighting market some lighting sources that offer a color temperature of 5,700 K ° called HMI (medium arc of mercury and iodine); they are discharge lights whose ratio of lighting intensity to electricity consumption is almost triple, with respect to incandescent lights and together with the color temperature, makes them ideal for working as a complement to sunlight. Although there are 200 and 575 watts (the small ones), the cost and weight of the ballast (device that regulates the discharge) does not make them very affordable as a minimum equipment for fast and low-budget productions, and in addition, they demand a flow of electricity with a constant hertz, which if not, would present problems of ignition and titilaje among others. However, it is a light that is worth considering when the conditions of production facilitate it and those of realization demand it.

No lights or sun

In situations where we cannot obtain electricity and sunlight is not available, we can resort to light by combustion emitted by the flame of a phosphor or a bonfire, for example, or by kerosene lamps or white gasoline that provide us with the necessary light to capture the images. For outdoor/day operations, the flexible screen commonly known as flexi is very useful, an element that allows us to reflect sunlight to use it in close-ups and medium shots as a source of fill light. The flexi, has two surfaces in metallic tones (gold, silver or mixture of the two) and white, which offers us two different intensities of light, in addition to allowing the use to create shadow on the face; for its circular design, and the manufacture in light and flexible material, allows it to be folded and left the size of a pizza, this is a necessary element that must be included as part of the minimum equipment.

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