29 Ways to LIGHT a FACE

[@NickGapp]

The only way to "reduce" the blockiness of the gradient when uploading to KZbin is to add noise which helps disrupt the compression pattern. It still shows up on 1080p, but it'll be less noticeable on 4K resolution. Sometimes I would have to crank up the noise so much to combat the KZbin compression that it wasn't worth it, but it's an option worth trying.

[@RADYFofficial]

that's actually very good advice, youtube upload in 8bit only as far as i know, which will make these color bending effects in any gradient colors, as far as i understand it, grain will help to fill the gaps in the stratched areas in the 8bit footage, it make more sense when you look at 8 bit footage through waveform with and without grain, please correct me if i'm wrong.

[@mrshaheedmalik]

​@@RADYFofficialactually KZbin can upload in HDR.

[@robinbaldrian3352]

I love this channel and every video on it. Listen. You can not make me unsubscribe.

[@Russianfkr]

As a film student seeing these simple ways to set up something that would have taken me an extra minute is just mind blowing. I'll 100% be trying that setup you did at 4:40 hands down. SO SMART!

[@dinoscheidt]

1:19 Software Engineer here: Not possible 😌 the special h.295 / AV1 google codec does not favor the use of large plane color gradients. The only option you have is a large amount of dithering (film grain). But that might still not trick the compression array

[@EpicLightMedia]

Hey thanks!!!

[@JesseRogersGoogle]

​@@EpicLightMedia Totally agree. If I were doing an actual interview I would do a garbage matte around the subject and make either a more dramatic gradient to have many smaller blockies or change the background to a more solid single grey. whatever looks better..... or maybe after getting the matte you can duplicate and offset the background and make the ones on top somewhat transparent and animate them moving just a tad to break up the gradient lines.... easier than I'm making it sound. :)

[@robertper4102]

I just came here to make the same comment. Apparently adding film grain is a way to help.

[@jackbynum]

The banding comes from the 8bit codec that youtube compresses everything into, I've noticed it's worse whenever I export from premiere. I've gotten around this by capturing in 8bit and rendering a h.265 from davinci resolve.

[@jackbynum]

Resolves render engine is a lot cleaner, like I've exported grades at Prores 422 HQ from resolve and then imported them into premiere and re-rendered it out and didn't have banding. Premiere pro render engine is terrible lol

[@tom_k_d]

I export ProRes from DaVinci Resolve for YT uploads, too, and did not have banding issues yet - though I often use quite uniform, plain backgrounds.

[@IvanGarcia-vt4wx]

The idea of setting up a light attached to the bottom of the c stand and a bounce at the top was 100 IQ. Thank you for that

[@SimeonMihalkov]

adding grain saved my life, recently I worked on a music video which had a lot of the scenes in a dark or moody low light scenarios I did 26 exports and 17 uploads just to realise adding more stuff to the footage in my case (film grain) which I thought would create more banding and compression issues actually helped a lot and cleaned up the image.

[@markwiemels]

KZbin compression does this to blacks and darker parts of the image. Some KZbinrs use a high key look for just this reason. The best upload format, I have found, is prores proxy, but it probably won't overcome this issue.

[@ectoproductions]

My votes for favorites are actually the last three: the sliver wrap, the wall bounce, and the tent. I like when lighting isn't so soft that you lose shape and those 3 gave some good dimension to the face.

[@linaslang5476]

The 4x4 bounce and the silver cove were my favorites

[@josephfriedman614]

Really interesting video. I'm an experienced cinematographer and I must have shot 1500 - 2000 interviews or more over the course of my long career. As I watched you set up all that lighting in the middle or 2/3 into the piece, I was wondering where you got all the time to set up the lights. I often work by myself, carry minimal gear into a location, and have to be ready to shoot in under an hour, a bit longer if it's a two camera shoot. I make use of available window light when possible if only to light the background. My interviews are sometimes one light with a bounce card for fill, rarely more than two lights. Maybe 3. Your conclusion at the end was spot on. All that gear is exhausting to carry into and out of locations. Good lighting is simple. The challenge I am always thinking about is how to light backgrounds to make them look interesting.

[@EpicLightMedia]

Thanks! Yeah good point… minimal is nice but those backgrounds get tricky

[@michaelwhitlock6301]

The dual-key wrap around lighting just changed my world and blew my mind.

[@creatancremanova7097]

really like your creative and playful touch you add to the videos. Makes me more eager to learn as well. Wish all the teachers at school are/were like that.

[@hugovioli]

For the banding in the background, try to add film grain on your footage, the grain creates tiny moving elements that forces the compression software to re-analyse every frame. I would recommend starting with the 400 iso preset in DaVinci, and to not forget that a 4K project will need more grain than an HD project for your eye to notice it.

[@olivertruswell]

You missed the bit where they said they already tried that.

[@dinhtuananhvnu]

Thank you. The way you teach is very easy to understand and interesting!

[@jamesmcintoshjr]

the easy-up human-sized product photography-esque lightbox is BRILLIANT.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

I LOVVEEE this video so much. Your enthusiasm for lighting really comes through. I forgot all about butterfly lighting and will experiment in my talking head videos. I still haven't found the exact look for my talking head videos yet, I am having a lot of fun playing with the angles of the key light though (have an Amaran 100d with a light dome SE).

[@baileyolivas]

Clam Shell, Horizontal Clam Shell for the winnn 🔥 great model for this

[@baileyolivas]

tell me why soft/hard split and backlight & bounce is growing on me

[@Supercon57]

Something that helps with the 8bit banding is to add dithering (noise or grain) to the video to mask those steps Gotta love 8bit

[@ShashiPuri]

That bit with the two tone lighting was awesome

[@mitchlazorko]

My vote for favorite lighting setup is the 200d with the 4x4 bounce and 4x4 magic cloth

[@SSQAR]

Love the silver cove looks!!

[@sambowks]

I liked the 1200d off the wall and the strip light above his head

[@syedarmaghanhassan4652]

9:50 one of the best ones!

[@voizeguy]

1:54 lol very funny seeing this after finishing school. The reason that happened is because heat makes ferro magnetic materials not magnetic anymore. This is a very simple way to explain this. Soo if you want use a metal that magnets can stick to: be sure the metal is actually ferro magnetic and, if it is, be sure heat wasn't applied at some moment to it. I believe most cooking utensils that are used during cooking will won't be ferro magnetic.

[@bruce-le-smith]

great video, love your straight forward presentation style

[@AlejandroGarciaActor]

Thanks! You definitely are the best teaching lighting techniques, very useful for me, I´m fan of you.

[@EpicLightMedia]

Hey thank you very much!!!!

[@mingfungwong]

last one is the one for sure

[@jakob_cine]

The silver cove was the best! I thought that it would've given more of hard light but it gave a nice soft light for some reason

[@lluisxromero]

Loved the easy up tent but my votes go to butterfly sandwitch and wall bounce because of the good result with not much effort.

[@luismonterrubiocineasta]

Excellent video!!!

[@ConnerFoxx]

I liked this video! It's an important reminder that there isn't some magic always-correct way to light a face. A very amateurish way I used to light films as a beginner was the overuse of "rembrant" on actors, as if it were the ideal way to light a face for all shots. The reality is that this actually made my lighting feel MORE inconsistent, because my lighting would become either more, or less frontal in-camera... depending on how the actor was oriented. If you really want a consistent feel in your film, I find it more valuable to decide how aggressive the "Shadow side" of your images should be by default, and adhere to that decision pretty well (the exceptions being any shots that demand/suit a different look). As an example, in my opinion, beautiful general purpose depth-conveyance comes easily from "wrapping" soft light around one side of the subject. Starting with a brighter backlight, moving into a nice medium side light, and finally a bit of dim fill towards the front if needed. The Roger Deakins cove light comes to mind as one way to achieve this. The crucial part though, is orienting these lights relative to the /camera/ angle, NOT the actor. Unless you have some story-motivated lighting in mind, forget about exactly which way the actor is turned. The "look" of your image is not created just by the strength/intensity of the shadows, but by their DIRECTION. If the shadows are falling rather towards the lens in one shot, then more off to the right in the next... those shots are going to have a subtle difference in feel. Not the end of the world, but if you're going to let that difference happen, you need to have a REASON. Because when the amount of shadow in your frame leans consistent from shot to shot, it all adds up into a film with a more distinct mood and aesthetic quality. Perfect adherence isn't required (or possible, or good...), but the frequent consistency becomes a glue holding together the look of your film that much more. You're probably going to enjoy the results on more of those shots that you didn't have some grand creative idea for, because they at least fit some initial decision you made about the look of your movie. Motivation for lighting is everything in cinematography -- We know that it's good to imply where the light in your scene is coming from within the environment. But you should also have a good default directionality to your lighting, and only break that when you can think of a reason to do so. Don't let your key repeatedly change orientation to the camera for no reason at all! That's just not the same thing as a creative or motivated lighting decisions. Anyway, that was just a bit of a ramble on things I've learned, it all sprang to mind whilst watching the video.

[@KaurH]

To help with KZbin compression issues, try adding different levels of (film) grain. That tends to help.

[@prottentogo]

adding grain may help with the gradients

[@careywest]

Its blocky because its dark. KZbin compression prioritizes highlights. The combination of darkness, and the fact that its a gradient means you're guaranteed to get blocky banding. Adding grain is going to make the compression artifacting worse. The more small moving things on screen you have, the more difficult it is for youtube to compress in a clean way. Maybe try uploading in rec2020 as an HDR video next time. It wont eliminate it, but it might lessen it a little.

[@roadcrewfilms]

Loved it!!!!!!

[@ReportsOnChina]

Silver cove!

[@bseng]

Great video! I love a good bounce light.

[@hhankx]

amazing video!!!! i really needed this! thank you

[@seekinsfit]

This is amazing

[@vincentr-fr]

I have already thought of using an easy-up tent for outside on a sunny day, and adding a black sheet on the half where I want the contrast. I have not yet had the opportunity to test but if it works it will be much easier to install the butterfly frames

[@AlecGalicia]

Add dithering or grain to get rid of gradients! Change your timeline to 8-bit to see what difference it makes

[@vegardpedersen]

You are amazing with light, and so inspirational. I wanna go out and test my lights now, but I have spent the whole day cutting foam for my Pelican Case. I actually like the ones where you were more creative, the most, like the tent, and all the bounce types. I would use the softbox for easy lighting on a job, but for my short films, these more creative ways, look more cinematic (to me, at least). When watching the set-ups, I was like "Oh I love this" then when the next set-up came, I liked that one more, and it just kept on going :-)

[@piranhabiz]

Adding film grain/ noise will help A LOT for the banding. The more the better. If you are compositing you can add it only to the most offending elements. You just have to break up the gradient with something high frequency before the compression algorithm.

[@colborlight]

I got 29 feelings!

[@MichaelWuerth]

Amazing video! Instant subscriber here. Excited to continue learning from yall!

[@EpicLightMedia]

Hey thanks!!!! Good to have you here!!

[@cnlicnli]

5:40 The *“Soft/Hard Split”* look is my favorite. Are you exposing for the face and letting the lower, hard split area to go ½- to one -stop over the face exposure?

[@hotsauce7124]

Thank you

[@galinswigart]

Silver Cove looks best to me!

[@formfactormediaLLC]

To reduce the blocky nature of those darker pixels, add noise to the image. That way the the program isn’t guessing with its compression on how to group pixels together.

[@sharkerio]

I’ll take the vertical clam and silver cove

[@khameisproduction]

KZbin compression make the footage 8 bit , and this is the result of that ,, you fix it a little in coloring but you can not remove it unless you put some lights into it, that is happening because there is alot less gray-scale areas in 8 bit footage than in 10 bit footage

[@Mr_Kenneth]

SOLID GOLD VIDEO. AMAZING 👏 GUYS

[@EpicLightMedia]

Hey thanks!!!!

[@jake2eproductions]

Free film school. You guys are the best out there!

[@EpicLightMedia]

Hey thanks!!!!!

[@tarmaccio]

This video is so useful i downloaded it with a youtube converter like in 2010 just so i'm not stuck should you ever decide to delete it

[@theflowowl]

Legend has it that if you add grain to your video that should help getting rid of that banding issue. Give it a try.

[@EpicLightMedia]

I mentioned we tried that but it made it worse

[@theflowowl]

@@EpicLightMedia in that case I am out of ideas :)

[@quantumimagesQC]

1:38 the joys of 8bits lol. With 256x256x256 colors, you are super limited with gradients in low light. That's why we need 10bits (1024x1024x1024 colors) on KZbin ASAP (without needing to grade and export in HDR).

[@aov_james]

I would say 1200d + tent tarp was the one

[@FrancescoMucciFilmmaker]

The easiest way to at least mitigate the infamous blockiness is to upload h265 files (or prores, 10 bit is the way) and to add a certain amount of film grain (or noise as someone said in the comments). Anyway don't get too worried about it, youtube compression will always mess up your videos, it's a metter of compression.

[@DaddyBmusic]

4:47 Model checks Grindr.

[@GarryReyom]

Fix for blocking: Convert the video project to Wide Color Gamut, export in H.265/ HEVC in HLG color space. The project causing this is H.264 SDR is 8 bit, with only 16 million colors. Each color only has 255 shades. HEVC or 10 bit can have 1024 shades plus luminance, resulting in over 1 billion unique colors.

[@jeancaceres7670]

Do you mean that it is possible to import an 8 bit video and export in H.265/HEVC in HLG Color Space, so that the 8 bit video can look like 10 bit? And by doing this you can get rid of the color banding issue? And by the way is HLG Color Space the same thing as Wide Color Gamut? Asking because I have the same issue with my camera.

[@das_tattooatelier_freistadt]

Thanks for the video, that really helps! But, an input: "10 ways to illuminate a face with glasses" would also be a hot topic, glasses are often the worst case. Thanks, greets from Austria!

[@Sloththeseth]

Watching these videos makes me want to buy C-Stands and new lights

[@Isaypreach]

Wait! How'd you do the horizontal clamshell again? I liked how it made his face pop

[@brandonmbugua]

Hey guys I’d love to hear your thoughts on this tip I learned on editing that definitely changed my outlook on the edit: kzbin.info/www/bejne/l53IkICgbMycm68

[@EpicLightMedia]

Great video!! Also good idea! I remember hearing this years ago and I used to edit in BW for a while but then I forgot about this. I’ll try it again.

[@brandonmbugua]

@@EpicLightMedia Thank you!!

[@RenderMeTV]

this is great, you should do a similar video, with budget lights, like ring lights, or homemade tools, if you do not do that, i will subscribe to this channel and hit like button, you've warned.

[@TheMediaPlugs]

render out a a bitrate youtube uses so it doesnt compress it (50mbps) max i think gotta test more but thats what i was taught

[@thomasfransson]

Try adding a little grain

[@michaborski7383]

sliver cove !

[@isaacburke2370]

this was great

[@gen0987]

damn that tent was lit, great video! will not subscribe

[@NewWebDesign]

gopro cine i think its called something like that or go pro cinaform fixes everything and youtube takes it - try that

[@Isaypreach]

I like horizontal clamshell the best

[@EpicLightMedia]

Me too!!!!

[@BOXmediaTV]

@epicmedia as always awesome content I had a the same issue a few weeks back with the background pixellating, someone told me it macro-blocking compressions 🙃 not saying they’re wrong… advice to fix it… I was told light the background brighter and lower in post when grading. Generally on gradients, I always layer on film grain… that fixes 98% of most issues I’ll download footage and have a look… did you shoot BRAW? What res? What compression?

[@redfacilities]

Love this - can I ask what clamp/head you use to hold your tube lights on the stand?

[@EpicLightMedia]

🗜️ Matthews Matthellini Clamp 6" End Jaw → geni.us/Snr5GBv

[@rishabhcdb]

Unfortunately there's no way escape that blocky pixelated background other than adding some grain to your footage in post (that will also not get rid of it completely). Basically whenever there is this sort of dark gradient in the background(in this case grey to black), this sort of thing happens, and to get rid of it at most you can just have a solid background and make sure its lit nicely and evenly (this doesn't mean it has to be boring though :) even the likes of peter mckinnon and MKBHD and other quality striving creators face this and you can observe on their channel how they setup their background to escape this.

[@Atsche]

export h.265 8k export setting in premiere. than adjust just the size of the video. ;) looks great at youtube

[@TokyoXtreme]

There will come a day in the near future in which people will upload videos explaining how to get that “vintage KZbin banding effect”.

[@Tensor_7]

Is it possible to just put the video into a 10bit codec and upload it as an HDR file? Even though it is just a 8bit one.

[@BillStreeter]

That blockiness is due to the conversion from 10 bit color to 8 bit color AND the compression algorithm that KZbin uses. You're just always going to get it on gradient colors like that.

[@juddahcuenca5265]

upload or upscale in 8k for youtube

[@rechertz8445]

Why not try deband ofx in Resolve? or Use Depth Map OFX to key mask and blur it.

[@actionjacksonpromos]

Did you try adding a tiny bit of grain effect in post? I think Matti said that helps with banding.

[@originalgamester3088]

I had this problem and adding a tiny bit of noise worked for me too when exporting from Premiere and playing locally, but didn't completely get rid of it after uploading to YT.

[@vitorquental3628]

Yes, I think film grain helps with banding.

[@paulchristopherlittle]

use color picker and turn the grey into black background

[@FOTOLOCO_]

You can't fix the 8 bit compression problem. That's just how many shades can handle 8 bit from white to black. Adding noise helps a bit, but you'll still get blocks.

[@WellRfilms]

The best way to get rid of color banding is to add a lot of grain or upload the video in HDR. But you need a monitor which can display HDR content to see that the banding is gone. On a normal monitor you would still see color banding. So it's not the best solution for everyone

[@gabrielwolfcolor]

The new kids on the block way of eliminating blocking is to go the extra mile for HDR for god fathers sake. Please do it. Invest in a Reference Monitor and spit out everything in HDR10. You need that 10 bits. Period. The free Dolby Vision analysis inside DaVinci does a pretty good job. KZbin gives us an automatic SDR conversion for free. And if you want to make that SDR spot on to your liking, you can add a LUT with custom curves. (There’s tutorials out) Ps: thanks for the video! Keep up the good content 🎉😊

[@woody7761]

post more videos please

[@MiroSays]

KZbin destroys any kind of gradient. I regularly have this problem because of light spill on my black background which creates a dark grey gradient. The only solution I know is to get rid of that - which, unfortunately I can't due to space restraints.

[@nick314]

noise reduction to 100% This will help get rid of most banding... This is due to 8 bit high recompression on youtube. Avoid any grain or noise.

[@ShiroiRyuu24]

29k views and title 29 ways

[@DylanWithVideos]

are you filming in 8 bit? or 10 bit?

[@EpicLightMedia]

We filmed with canon c500 ii Raw

[@DylanWithVideos]

@@EpicLightMedia and that is all the footage in this video correct?

[@marcantomatteiphotography]

The what you call "blocky" banding in the background, did you record this video with an 8-bit camera (e.g. Sony a7C), or did you use 10 or 12-bit and still get it?

[@EpicLightMedia]

Yeah we filmed in raw on the c500ii

[@thisisourchannel3589]

'Don't subscribe' 😂. Nice!

[@micahreimerfilms]

Did you guys buy that white tent for outdoor interview diffusion??

[@EpicLightMedia]

No we bought it for crafty but then realized it could work for lighting

[@ZeroFuxBE]

KZbin only does 8 bit video = 256 different shades of brightness. Since the grey background only has so few shades it causes that "banding" artefact. Adding a strong vignette or adding some kind of texture to the grey background could do the job. ps. I'm flabbergasted you don't know that as a DP! Guess I'll just subscribe then.

[@nikilragav]

What power level were you at with the light & tent? What about ISO & aperture? You said you had 4 stops of ND? So you could have made the light 1/(2^4)=1/16 ≈ 6% the brightness and removed the ND

[@EpicLightMedia]

I’m not sure but I’m sure to get the same look you could have used a light with much less power

[@nikilragav]

@@EpicLightMedia any chance you could try it w/ a 60W light? or w/ your MC trashcans haha

[@timelessamor]

Would you still recommend the 4.6k G2, given its nearly the same price as the 12k? Currently I have the 6k pro and need a 2nd cam so I'm thinking of that or the fx6. I'm specifically using it for interviews and commercials for local brands.

[@EpicLightMedia]

Yes I recommend it over the 12k

[@benhuff9592]

I often am able to achieve the look I want for the talent and the background lighting, but sometimes the talent has to squint or they'll let me know the key light is too bright for them, any suggestions would be super helpful. Thank you!

[@EpicLightMedia]

Usually it bugs me when people complain about the light because our indoor lights are nowhere near as bright as the sun. One trick is to have them close their eyes and turn their head directly towards the light for a minute and it helps the eyes adjust. Only other suggestion would be to ND windows so your lights don’t have to be as bright in comparison… that way you’re not fighting the natural bright sources

[@benhuff9592]

@@EpicLightMedia Thank you so much! Keep teaching, you're the best!

[@dewankiscents]

i miss Lynn