One of the best ways to enhance the impact of your video
images is through the creative use of lighting. This, for
me, is the most important element in maximizing the image
quality you are capable of producing with any camera or
video format. Good lighting can make a VHS camcorder shine,
while poor lighting can make the most expensive professional
video camera look inferior. In more subtle ways, lighting
can have a tremendous impact on how the viewer perceives
your video. Through creative lighting you can establish a
mood or the time of day, enhance the illusion of three
dimensionality, reveal or obscure visual information, and
create an artificial reality.
Good lighting is not just the province of the boys and
girls in Hollywood. You don't need a big budget and lots of
expensive lighting equipment to do creative lighting. There
are lots of inexpensive tools and simple tricks that you can
use to enhance your lighting. But first, let's talk about
some of the basic principles of lighting for video.
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