Lighting objectives and methods

Lighting objectives and methods 5 Let’s put hardware aside for the moment and discuss the bigger question of what we want to accom-

plish with lighting and how we go about it. What considerations do the director of photography and

gaffer assess when making lighting decisions? To begin this discussion, we’ll first look at the larger

objectives of lighting. With these objectives in mind, we’ll look at lighting strategy-how we arrive

at the direction, color, and quality of the light for a given scene, and how we light actors’ faces. To

implement our lighting strategy, we’ll also need to understand the technical tasks integral to working

in a photographic media, including taking and interpreting light meter readings, using and controlling

contrast, and considering the various factors that affect the working lighting level for a scene.