Sunny days are overrated. When it comes to filming videos or taking photos using natural light, sunny days can be quite challenging. We are here to tell you why and more importantly, how to fix it.

I know what you’re thinking. It’s winter day eleventy billionth, London is at its bleakest and all we can think is bring on the sunny days. After all, we need that perfect brilliant sunshine to film all those videos we’ve been meaning to publish. Right?

Wrong!

We can all agree that there’s no light source as bright as the sun, but a lot of light can translate into a lot of problems. All that light will cause super bright hot spots and deep dark shadows.

Add to this the general unpredictability of an outdoor shoot. As the day goes by, passing clouds will play tricks on you, constantly varying the amount of light and shadows on your subject, effectively making it seem as if your composition flickers.

The key to making your filming session a success is to be in control of your shooting environment. When filming outdoors, the one element that will cause the most trouble is ambient light.

Somewhat surprisingly, with natural light being the one element that can cause the most trouble during outdoor shoots, one solution is to film on overcast days. A cover of clouds will soften the effects of harsh sunlight effectively making shadows disappear altogether and giving a more uniform overall lighting effect.

However, this is not always possible, so this is why we always recommend to our clients a real game-changer when it comes to lighting. A diffuser, you can find our preferred option via our shop, it’s actually a 5-in-1 kit of diffusers and reflectors you can place between the light source and the subject, to soften the amount of light.

Bear in mind that using a diffuser will probably mean you’ll need an extra pair of hands, but as we always say: great videos are the result of team effort. Alternatively, you can invest in a stand, or our absolute favourite, Manfrotto’s Magic Arm.

As ever, if you have any questions at all about video, just give us a shout! We love a chat, especially if it’s a “video chat”! (See what we did there?).

When you’re watching a video it is really easy to take lighting for granted. That is if the lighting technique used has been successful.

Just as we often bang on and on about sound, lighting too should never-ever be overlooked. Even if your budget is tight we would always advise carefully considering your light set up.

Natural light is great, yes, but extra support lights can make or break your video.

Consider today for example. It was dull, wet, rainy (British summer eh!). Definitely, you would need extra light on a day like today, particularly if you are filming indoors.

Hold on, how about a sunny spells kind of day? Well, lighting then will be ever changing with clouds constantly blocking the sun and changing the light temperature and intensity.

Funnily enough, overcast weather makes for easier filming conditions than a super bright day.

Remember:

Lighting can help determine mood. Think thrillers and horror flicks. Those shadows playing mind tricks are everything, right?
Poor lighting will make for more expensive post production, more time in the editing suite. More importantly, imagine you have to suddenly go back out and film everything again. Now, that would be expensive!
At a professional level, one of the most popular lighting techniques is called the Three Point Lighting technique:

You have a key light/main light, placed to the side of the camera and lights the main subject.
A fill light or secondary light is placed opposite to the main light to help fill shadows cast by the key light.
Back Light: It is placed behind the main subject to add some space between the background of the scene and the subject and give a more 3D look on camera.
In our beginner’s workshops, we always discuss many alternatives to take advantage of available light when filming.

Get in touch if you would like to learn more.

This video gives a basic explanation of ISO in digital photography and video. It explains why a higher ISO results in more noise.

Bennet, D. 2012, A Simple Explanation of ISO for Digital Photography and Video [online], Youtube, 1, Available from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEApLA-YNko [Accessed: 21.4.2012].

This video explains the f-stop scale used in photography and video. It explains what f-stop actually is and why the f-stop numbers are what they are. It also gives an easy trick to remember the entire f-stop scale.

Bennet, D. 2012, Vídeo explicativo (y realmente útil) sobre los números F [online]
Available from: http://altfoto.com/2012/04/video-explicativo-y-realmente-util-sobre-los-numeros-f

[Accessed: 19.4.2012].