4 Ways To Light Cinematically Without Any Lights

INTRO

I feel that the term ‘cinematic’ has become an overused one lately - particularly on YouTube. And hey, I’m guilty of overusing it too.

However, the idea of ‘cinematic lighting’, which refers to the qualities or characteristics of light used in films are linked by some common traits: contrast - the ratio between the lightest and darkest part of a frame, quality - whether the light is hard, soft, textured or clean and the shape - how the light is controlled or manipulated.

In this video I will go over four ways that cinematographers can control these factors without even using any film lights.  

WHY SHOULDN’T I USE LIGHTS?

‘Why shouldn’t I use lights’? you may ask. 

Well the most obvious reason is to save money. These techniques are useful when you’re asked to shoot that short film for a favour that has no budget for gear.

Another reason is personal preference and an appreciation for natural light. I’ve worked with some DPs who like using a ton of lights and others that prefer to sculpt the ambient light on set. 

Generally, manipulating illumination without lighting fixtures results in a more naturalistic looking image - which some DPs prefer.The choice to not use lights also comes with downsides. 

Lights provide a consistent source of illumination, so shooting without them means that lighting conditions and your exposure may change while shooting a scene if the sun goes behind a cloud or shifts its position.

Also, maintaining ultimate control over illumination without lights may require large amounts of textiles and a big crew of grips to rig them and be on standby to alter the rigging as the sun moves. Which may take up more time and then kind of defeats the purpose of saving money.  

NEGATIVE FILL

The easiest way to light without any lights is usually to reduce illumination.

One way to do this is with negative fill or ‘neg’. Rather than adding light on one side of the face to increase illumination and create contrast, negative fill creates contrast by removing light on the other side of the face, reducing illumination.

The colour black absorbs light and doesn’t reflect any colours on the light spectrum. So, bringing in a black textile close to one side of the face will remove light and create a shadow. Cinematographer can control light by placing a black surface wherever they don’t want light to be reflected.

“Generally my rule is any wall you don’t see put black on it. So, first thing I do when I go in a room, is I black the ceiling. That’s gonna give you better shape. It’s not always nice to have all this return on the face. I like stuff to have a little bit more attitude, even though it’s soft. And then if it’s blacking the floor or blacking a wall you don’t see to shape the light.” - Bradford Young 

Since lighting like this doesn’t require an artificial source, it creates contrast and shape in a really soft and natural way.

Some common tools to do this include: a frame with blackout (such as a 8x8, 12x12 or 20x20 frame), a 4x4 floppy, the black side of a polyboard, or pieces of duvetyne (a matte black material). While these methods are common in the industry, any DIY method will usually work just as well, such as: placing a character next to a black or darkly painted wall, using any piece of black cloth that you have or even black bin bags. 

Neg is a great way to create contrast on the cheap.    

It should be noted though that the larger the negative fill and the closer it is to the subject the greater effect it will have. Don’t expect to hold up a black bag 5 meters away from a subject and get a strong shadow.    

BOUNCE

While negative fill removes light, bounce adds light and works in an inverse way. For example, natural light from the sun can be bounced off a white or reflective surface to create a new light source. This light can be used to fill in shadows on the face or can be positioned as a key light. 

To position the angle of a bounced light, first you find where the light is being bounced by angling the bounce at the ground, and then follow that bounced light as you change the angle of it and move the light into the correct position. 

Usually a white surface is used for softer bounced light such as: from a frame with a white ultrabounce or muslin textile, a white polyboard, or foamcore.

“Then we just did bounce and tested 20x20 ultrabounce and 20x20 muslin, bleached and unbleached, and the muslin was the best one. Also because their costumes were made out of that similar material so it felt very organic…We just had three or four of those on set everyday, three 20x20s, four 20x20s, to control the contrast.” - Pawel Pogorzelski

For harder light with stronger shadows, reflective surfaces like a mirror can be used or a silver polyboard.

Bouncing can be a great way of softening and spreading the light source by using nature’s biggest, strongest, free light - the sun. The output of bounced light will however be lower than the direct source.

Again, it’s also possible to use homemade solutions to bounce light: from rigging up a bedsheet to using a handheld mirror. 

DIFFUSION

Another way to soften light without bouncing it is the common cinematic technique of using diffusion. This is where a translucent modifier is added in between the light source and the subject to soften the contrast and shadow falloff.

For example, a 12x12 frame with a half silk material could be placed overhead between the sun and the subject to soften the intensity of the sunlight and even out harsh shadows.

There are many different materials that can be used for diffusion: such as textiles like silks or grid cloth, 416 gels, or even the diffuser part of a 5-in-1 reflector. 

Again, DIY solutions are also possible, such as a bedsheet, paper or a shower curtain.

“We tend to use unbleached muslin which is lighter, thin canvas which light will travel through and diffuse much more...You can chop them up. You can put them on the floor. They’re much more versatile. You can wash them. Whereas with diffusion plastic you can’t. But in reality you can use whatever you want. You can go to Ikea and buy a shower curtain and use that.” -  Julian White, Gaffer

Placing diffusion in front of a large natural source, like the sun, is a cost effective way of achieving illumination which is more beautiful, soft and cinematic than straight sunlight.

SHAPING

“Look, I was in a hole for a while where I always wanted to light from 3 quarters or the side and then I realised that you get into situations in a scene sometimes where it’s going to have to take place where the camera is at the window and your subject is facing the light source. My answer to that is tons of grip and cutting the light, teasers and all these things.” -  Reed Morano

Shaping, or controlling, how light hits an object is an important aspect of creating cinematic illumination without any fixtures.

As Morano says, this can be done by placing lighting or grip tools such as flags in between the source of the light and the subject to affect the texture and shape of the illumination on surfaces.

Flags, black textiles mounted on various sizes of frames, can be used to block out certain portions of light. For example, so that light only hits a small area on an actor's face.

Some other shaping tools include nets, camo textiles, a cookie, or a dingle - a tree branch attached to a stand.

Production design items, such as curtains and blinds, are a basic way of naturally shaping light that comes in through a window. However, any household object can also be shifted in front of a source to shape the light.  

CONCLUSION

Although it is possible to shoot and work without any film lights by using some of the four techniques in the video, that doesn’t mean it’s always advisable. 

Most DPs use a combination of natural light and film lights along with negative fill, bounce, diffusion and shaping. 

Being able to light scenes without lights, using the techniques in this video, will better inform your cinematography. So that when you do have the budget to rent lights you’ll already know how to adjust its contrast, quality and shape.