No light source can replace the talent of a good photographer. Although anyone with a minimum of training can produce images that respect the traditional values of contrast, volume and depth, it takes years of experience and a good dose of academia to learn how to create memorable images. But this heartfelt homage to the art of photography conflicts with our everyday reality.
The truth is that image experts have become a luxury item to which only the most select productions have access. And most of the material we put 'in the air' is illuminated quite precariously, (sorry) summarily. To achieve their to-do lists most production teams must turn to our old friend, flat light In this age of fluorescent lights and LED panels it is very easy to flood a set with light in a few minutes. The accents, contrast and drama are left in the hands of Mother Nature, and if there is good luck the image will look reasonably good.
But competition is creating pressure to change TV lighting practices. A good framing and an image rich in subtle variations of light are always going to be valuable, but we may have to attend a large volume of productions for chroma key, or we may have to experiment with colored lights to get closer to the look of the time. And most importantly: Sooner or later we will be forced to use the new toys. Our tungsten lights are not eternal, and we are going to have to start replacing them with devices with more attractive operating costs and that we must learn to handle as tools both to do our usual work and that of the future.
Like any technological change, migration to alternative light sources should be a gradual process. In this case, however, we are talking about an important cultural change, because the devices based on LED technology that the industry proposes to us generally have a very different behavior from that of conventional luminaires. Let's review this point.
