Lighting for Digital Video

with Professional Lighting Cameraman Eric Huyton

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Please note that this DVD is multi-region and in the PAL television standard format. If you are in a country other than the UK it is up to you to check that your TV and DVD player can replay this UK standard, as refunds will not be given due to global television standards compatibility issues.

Filmed late in 2004 “Lighting for Digital Video” has just been released for the very first time in January 2005 so the techniques and equipment are bang up-to-date. It is aimed at professional production companies, video producers, digital filmmakers, videographers, keen camcorder hobbyists and just about anyone else who wishes to bring their video lighting techniques up to a professional level. What's more, this DVD was shot for the UK market where we speak PAL.

Lighting for Digital Video is an educational training DVD presented by professional lighting cameraman Eric Huyton. Eric is an authority on all things lighting and has over 20 years experience in television. Eric has worked extensively on all formats from 35mm film to DVCAM. His TV commercial credits include Volvo, Mitsubishi, British Gas, Nickelodeon and Prudential Insurance. He has shot and lit numerous television programmes including Horizon, Grand Designs, Bill Oddie Goes Wild, Journey to the Centre of the Earth and many more for the National Geographic and Discovery Channels, the BBC, and Channel 4.

The following pictures are screen grabs taken from the Lighting for Digital Video DVD.

The advent of the latest digital camcorders with their extremely low light sensitivity due to the latest CCD chips has drastically changed the way in which we light a scene. Take the Redhead for example; this light was designed over 20 years ago when camcorders had very poor low light shooting capabilities, these days adding a soft-box to a Redhead will improve the quality and softness of the light 100%. Modern lights such as the Dedolite for example also give a far superior quality of light via it's unique focusable lens.

Eric demonstrates modern lighting techniques as used by the television broadcast industry with DV formats. Eric uses Redheads, Blondes, Dedolites and various reflectors, diffusers, flags, soft-boxes, backgrounds, greenscreens and other pieces of equipment.

Lighting for Digital Video will take you step-by-step through all the most common lighting eventualities you will encounter, starting with just a single Redhead and reflector, building up to more complex drama style lighting set-ups with key, fill, back, background and kicker lights with coloured gels, flags and soft-boxes, covering colour temperature correction and colour effects gels and white balance along the way.

We guarantee after watching this training DVD your knowledge of light and how it works with DV will lead to your productions taken on a much more professional look.

"Without light there is nothing. Light is by far the most important element of any digital video production. The very word "Photography" comes from the Latin words "Photos" and "Graphia" which means "Light" and "Draw" hence Drawing with Light"

The above statement is just as important (if not more so) in videography and filmmaking. Many beginners to videography and camera techniques generally ignore lighting and concentrate more on the camcorder side of things, while this is also a very important learning curve to the newcomer, it is not nearly as important as getting the fundamentals of lighting techniques right. Lighting for Digital Video teaches you these fundamentals as well as some of the more advanced lighting techniques.

“I have personally seen footage shot on Digibeta that simply looked ridiculous, flat, grainy, de-saturated and generally lifeless, simply because the equipment was in the hands of an inexperienced Lighting Cameraman. On the other hand, I viewed somebody's showreel that they sent me in the year 2000, which was shot on a Canon XL1 Mini DV camcorder; the quality of the footage was simply stunning. The cameraman responsible for the footage on is a good friend of mine. He has since upgraded his shooting kit and now works full time for the BBC as a freelance Lighting Cameraman. My point is that when I first viewed his showreel I was convinced that it was shot on Digibeta, D9 or some other high-end format and I was amazed when he told me it was shot on a prosumer Canon camcorder. He achieved these great results simply because he is what I call "a master of light", he can manipulate light in the studio in the most creative way which gives his footage depth, contrast, sharpness, definition, saturation and most importantly 3-dimentionality” Nigel Cooper – Founder/Editor DVuser

So you can see how very important lighting techniques are. You would be amazed at how some lighting cameramen underestimate the effects of their bad lighting habits. Skilful lighting techniques are often very underrated. If your lighting doesn’t conform to a strict set of rules you might as well be shooting on VHS.

Read what the press is saying about "Lighting for Digital Video" click here

DVD Chapters:

1. Your Eyes vs the CCD
2. Monitor Calibration
3. White Balance
4. Redheads & Blondes
5. Hard Light & Soft Light
6. The Softbox
7. Controlling Light
8. Using Barn Doors
9. Using Flags
10. Using Gelatine Filters
11. 3-Point Lighting
12. Fill Light
13. Back Light
14. Key Light & Softbox
15. Background Lighting
16. Lighting 2 People
17. Drama Lighting
18. Green Screen
19. Safety

To view a short 50 second (1.3 MB) intro to Lighting for Digital Video click here

The pixel blocking during the transitions is due to web compression and is not evident on the actual broadcast quality DVD.