Location Lighting for Television Dedicated to the memory of my grandson, Adam Location Lighting for Television Alan Bermingham Focal Press An imprint of Elsevier Linacre House, Jordan Hill, Oxford OX2 8DP 200 Wheeler Road, Burlington MA 01803 First published 2003 Copyright ã 2003, Alan Bermingham. All rights reserved The right of Alan Bermingham to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright holder except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London, England W1T 4LP. Applications for the copyright holder's written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the publisher Permissions may be sought directly from Elsevier's Science and Technology Rights Department in Oxford, UK: phone: ( 44) (0) 1865 843830; fax: ( 44) (0) 1865 853333; e-mail:
[email protected] You may also complete your request on-line via the Elsevier homepage (www.elsevier.com), by selecting `Customer Support' and then `Obtaining Permissions' British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Bermingham, Alan Location lighting for television. 1. Television ± Lighting ± Handbooks, manuals, etc. recording ± Lighting ± Handbooks, manuals, etc. I. Title 778.50 343 2. Video Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data Bermingham, Alan. Location lighting for television / Alan Bermingham. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0 240 51937 X (alk. paper) 1. Cinematography ± Lighting. 2. Television ± Lighting. TR891.B47 2003 778.590 2±dc21 I. 2003048750 ISBN 0 240 51937 X For information on all Focal Press publications visit our website at: www.focalpress.com Typeset by Integra Software Services Pvt. Ltd, Pondicherry, India www.integra-india.com Printed and bound in Great Britain Title. Contents 1 2 Acknowledgements xi Introduction 1 1.1 1.2 2 4 Lighting basics 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 3 4 Overview The need for lighting on location Psychology of perception Light units Inverse square law ± Nature's law Cosine law ± or you don't get something for nothing! Reflection of light ± direct/diffuse Reflection of light ± glare reflection 6 6 11 16 18 20 23 Television camera basics 25 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 25 27 31 34 37 The television signal Tonal reproduction and gamma Tonal reproduction, dynamic ra