Videography/lighting setup for cooking videos
August 9, 2016 8:25 AM Subscribe
My significant other likes taking pictures of her creations in the kitchen, and she'd like to branch out into video.I have a DSLR, but am unsure how to approach the lighting setup.
I think, to start, we'd like to go with an overhead set-up (like this (SL youtube)) with a very white, clean, natural lighting look.
Any suggestions on what the minimum set-up would look like, where to start and what to ask at the video/camera store?
Thanks!
I think, to start, we'd like to go with an overhead set-up (like this (SL youtube)) with a very white, clean, natural lighting look.
Any suggestions on what the minimum set-up would look like, where to start and what to ask at the video/camera store?
Thanks!
Best answer: If you go to the video/camera store you'll be looking at probably $400-1000, but if cost isn't a huge concern LED panels are really nice ($400). They put out clean consistent light, not very much heat, and they don't shatter when you drop them.
Fluorescents with soft boxes will work too ($80), but the color will probably be worse (fixable, but worse).
For cheap you could use a 4 foot florescent fixture ($12) plus daylight tubes ($10). The color will be mediocre, but probably fixable. You'll probably have to experiment with shutter speed on the camera to not have flickering in your video.
Or like sexyrobot said, a window should work fine if the sunlight is good. Or if you have some outdoor space you can get nice clean light in afternoon shade.
posted by gregr at 9:54 AM on August 9, 2016
Fluorescents with soft boxes will work too ($80), but the color will probably be worse (fixable, but worse).
For cheap you could use a 4 foot florescent fixture ($12) plus daylight tubes ($10). The color will be mediocre, but probably fixable. You'll probably have to experiment with shutter speed on the camera to not have flickering in your video.
Or like sexyrobot said, a window should work fine if the sunlight is good. Or if you have some outdoor space you can get nice clean light in afternoon shade.
posted by gregr at 9:54 AM on August 9, 2016
Best answer: My husband, who shoots professional web video, does 90% of his indoor work with this kit (I believe that's the one - he's not here but the kit is and it looks like the same one). We use the two umbrellas for food photos as well.
posted by Lyn Never at 10:28 AM on August 9, 2016
posted by Lyn Never at 10:28 AM on August 9, 2016
Best answer: Here's the short version of my advice:
Natural light is awesome, but it changes over time so you can end up with lighting inconsistencies from shot to shot if you take a while to make a single video.
The video you linked was lit with a very diffuse light source coming from above and toward the direction of the top of the screen (you can tell by how the interior of the bowl is shaded - the shadows always tell the story of light placement!) but there is a tremendous amount of bounce filling and softening shadows. This can be accomplished with additional lights, or "bounce cards". White foam core works well for this purpose. Metallic reflectors not so much.
One of the hardest things is dealing with shadows. Harsh shadows (and in this kind of video hand shadows) would make things look less professional. So you'll need a lot of light (not necessarily a lot of lights) and some means to bounce it into the shadow areas.
It's best if you can avoid mixing different color temps of light. If you have enough light to make a good exposure, and the light is all the same color temperature, you can white balance the camera and get good results. If you're mixing color temps, e.g. unfiltered daylight plus living room lamp, you're making things harder for yourself. You'd have to white balance to one source or the other, or somewhere in between. Or you'd have to filter the light sources to color balance them. Unbalanced light sources can intentionally be used to good effect (just as harsh shadows can be), but the phenomenon is usually a marker of an amateur approach.
I've used daylight-balanced fluorescents, LEDs, table lamps etc. You just need to be able to get as much light as you need where you need it with the quality you desire. Expensive studio lights make a lot of these things (plus setup and mounting/support) way more convenient, which saves a lot of hassle especially if you're using them a lot and setting them up frequently. They also are engineered to avoid issues like flicker and undesired color casts, but if you're creative and resourceful and don't mind spending the time, you can get professional-looking results without professional lights as long as you can make the appropriate camera settings.
The video you linked has really good exposure imo. You'll notice that there is plenty of light, but the highlights are not blown out (that is, there is still detail visible in the brightest parts of the image). You can't fix blown-out highlights in post. A little clipping is acceptable in highly specular reflections (like the edge of a shiny bowl) but the point is to make an informed choice about what you want. If your DSLR has zebra stripes, I'd recommend setting up a quick-button for that (if you can) or at least being familiar with turning them on/off, and setting the threshold for them (again, if the camera permits it). Zebra stripes will be visible in any part of the image where the brightness exceeds the threshold so you can make sure you're not blowing out your highlights. They will not be recorded with the video, but they can be distracting when you're actually shooting so I'd recommend turning them back off after you're done setting up your exposure.
Something to note in the video you linked - the background (counter) is very light, which helps indirectly fill shadows, and also creates a composition without a huge range of overall contrast between the background and subjects. A dark counter would create a very different feel even if everything else were exposed and lit just as it is in the existing video. Importantly, from a technical standpoint, if you're relying on in-camera metering to determine your exposure you'd need to be aware of how a darker background might affect what the camera thinks is a good exposure depending on how the metering is set up. Shooting some test footage and analyzing it is a good thing to do.
Another thing to consider is depth of field. There are a lot of variables and settings that you can use to get the depth of field you want. For a glamour photo of food, a shallow depth of field is nice (things get blurry with smaller distances from the focal point than they do with a deep field of focus) and it makes it look cinematic. But in my opinion, a demo video benefits from a deeper field of focus - there's less risk of something being undesirably out of focus, like the demonstrator's hands. If you know about depth of field you can skip the mansplaining that follows, although shutter speed in video requires special consideration compared to still photography.
Depth of field is a function of the relationship of the size of the aperture to the focal length of the lens and the size of the image sensor. Larger apertures (smaller f- or t-stop numbers) yield shallower focal fields. Smaller apertures (larger numbers) give greater depth of field. To use a chosen f-stop, you then adjust the sensor sensitivity (ISO) and/or shutter speed and/or the amount of light to achieve the correct exposure. Given a fixed amount of light and a correct exposure, opening the aperture more would require lower ISO sensitivity and/or a faster shutter to maintain the same exposure.
But for video, the rule of thumb is that the shutter speed should be about 1 divided by 2x framerate, so for 24 fps the shutter should be set to 1/48 of a second or as close as possible. The idea is that it results in the amount of motion blur in individual frames that audiences have come to expect as feeling natural. If the shutter is too fast you get "strobing" or what I've heard referred to as "jitter." To get a specific dof then, you'd be looking at setting the aperture size you need, setting the appropriate shutter speed, then manipulating ISO and/or light intensity. See if your DSLR has a dof preview button, or shoot some tests to determine how to get what you want.
It looks like there are times where the camera that shot the linked video is auto-focusing. If I were shooting such a video I'd do everything I could to eliminate the need for auto-focus (or any refocusing within an individual shot), by achieving a deep field of focus.
With DLSRs there's an issue called "rolling shutter" that is more noticeable the faster something moves in frame. I know Premiere has a "rollng shutter repair" feature, and I suspect other full-featured editing programs do as well. It's worth reading up on in case it's something you end up needing to deal with.
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 11:15 AM on August 9, 2016 [4 favorites]
- Lots of light
- Main light direction avoids undesired shadows as much as possible
- Light is diffuse
- Light is bounced into shadows
- Consistency in light source color temperature
- Good white balance
- Don't blow out highlights
- Set camera settings for appropriate shutter speed and desired depth of field
- Avoid auto-focus or refocus during a shot as much as possible
- Be aware of rolling shutter issue
- Bonus tip: Don't cook anything greasy with the camera directly over the pot
Natural light is awesome, but it changes over time so you can end up with lighting inconsistencies from shot to shot if you take a while to make a single video.
The video you linked was lit with a very diffuse light source coming from above and toward the direction of the top of the screen (you can tell by how the interior of the bowl is shaded - the shadows always tell the story of light placement!) but there is a tremendous amount of bounce filling and softening shadows. This can be accomplished with additional lights, or "bounce cards". White foam core works well for this purpose. Metallic reflectors not so much.
One of the hardest things is dealing with shadows. Harsh shadows (and in this kind of video hand shadows) would make things look less professional. So you'll need a lot of light (not necessarily a lot of lights) and some means to bounce it into the shadow areas.
It's best if you can avoid mixing different color temps of light. If you have enough light to make a good exposure, and the light is all the same color temperature, you can white balance the camera and get good results. If you're mixing color temps, e.g. unfiltered daylight plus living room lamp, you're making things harder for yourself. You'd have to white balance to one source or the other, or somewhere in between. Or you'd have to filter the light sources to color balance them. Unbalanced light sources can intentionally be used to good effect (just as harsh shadows can be), but the phenomenon is usually a marker of an amateur approach.
I've used daylight-balanced fluorescents, LEDs, table lamps etc. You just need to be able to get as much light as you need where you need it with the quality you desire. Expensive studio lights make a lot of these things (plus setup and mounting/support) way more convenient, which saves a lot of hassle especially if you're using them a lot and setting them up frequently. They also are engineered to avoid issues like flicker and undesired color casts, but if you're creative and resourceful and don't mind spending the time, you can get professional-looking results without professional lights as long as you can make the appropriate camera settings.
The video you linked has really good exposure imo. You'll notice that there is plenty of light, but the highlights are not blown out (that is, there is still detail visible in the brightest parts of the image). You can't fix blown-out highlights in post. A little clipping is acceptable in highly specular reflections (like the edge of a shiny bowl) but the point is to make an informed choice about what you want. If your DSLR has zebra stripes, I'd recommend setting up a quick-button for that (if you can) or at least being familiar with turning them on/off, and setting the threshold for them (again, if the camera permits it). Zebra stripes will be visible in any part of the image where the brightness exceeds the threshold so you can make sure you're not blowing out your highlights. They will not be recorded with the video, but they can be distracting when you're actually shooting so I'd recommend turning them back off after you're done setting up your exposure.
Something to note in the video you linked - the background (counter) is very light, which helps indirectly fill shadows, and also creates a composition without a huge range of overall contrast between the background and subjects. A dark counter would create a very different feel even if everything else were exposed and lit just as it is in the existing video. Importantly, from a technical standpoint, if you're relying on in-camera metering to determine your exposure you'd need to be aware of how a darker background might affect what the camera thinks is a good exposure depending on how the metering is set up. Shooting some test footage and analyzing it is a good thing to do.
Another thing to consider is depth of field. There are a lot of variables and settings that you can use to get the depth of field you want. For a glamour photo of food, a shallow depth of field is nice (things get blurry with smaller distances from the focal point than they do with a deep field of focus) and it makes it look cinematic. But in my opinion, a demo video benefits from a deeper field of focus - there's less risk of something being undesirably out of focus, like the demonstrator's hands. If you know about depth of field you can skip the mansplaining that follows, although shutter speed in video requires special consideration compared to still photography.
Depth of field is a function of the relationship of the size of the aperture to the focal length of the lens and the size of the image sensor. Larger apertures (smaller f- or t-stop numbers) yield shallower focal fields. Smaller apertures (larger numbers) give greater depth of field. To use a chosen f-stop, you then adjust the sensor sensitivity (ISO) and/or shutter speed and/or the amount of light to achieve the correct exposure. Given a fixed amount of light and a correct exposure, opening the aperture more would require lower ISO sensitivity and/or a faster shutter to maintain the same exposure.
But for video, the rule of thumb is that the shutter speed should be about 1 divided by 2x framerate, so for 24 fps the shutter should be set to 1/48 of a second or as close as possible. The idea is that it results in the amount of motion blur in individual frames that audiences have come to expect as feeling natural. If the shutter is too fast you get "strobing" or what I've heard referred to as "jitter." To get a specific dof then, you'd be looking at setting the aperture size you need, setting the appropriate shutter speed, then manipulating ISO and/or light intensity. See if your DSLR has a dof preview button, or shoot some tests to determine how to get what you want.
It looks like there are times where the camera that shot the linked video is auto-focusing. If I were shooting such a video I'd do everything I could to eliminate the need for auto-focus (or any refocusing within an individual shot), by achieving a deep field of focus.
With DLSRs there's an issue called "rolling shutter" that is more noticeable the faster something moves in frame. I know Premiere has a "rollng shutter repair" feature, and I suspect other full-featured editing programs do as well. It's worth reading up on in case it's something you end up needing to deal with.
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 11:15 AM on August 9, 2016 [4 favorites]
Bonus tip: Don't cook anything greasy with the camera directly over the pot
Oh yeah, clear/polarizing/uv screw-on filter is a must for protecting your lens (even steam can be bad bad bad for lens coatings), buy 2 they're cheap.
posted by sexyrobot at 11:26 AM on August 9, 2016 [1 favorite]
Oh yeah, clear/polarizing/uv screw-on filter is a must for protecting your lens (even steam can be bad bad bad for lens coatings), buy 2 they're cheap.
posted by sexyrobot at 11:26 AM on August 9, 2016 [1 favorite]
Don't go too cheap on the UV protection filter; cheap ones can cause horrible flare.
posted by gregr at 2:07 PM on August 10, 2016
posted by gregr at 2:07 PM on August 10, 2016
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window>table of foodstuffs>big piece of cardboard painted white to fill in shadows.
If you need to add in overhead light use incandescent not fluorescent (looks warmer, no strobing). Oh, maybe pick up a piece of diffusion gel/film to put over the window if the light is too harsh.
total cost ~$5. Also, to get that "clean white" look, make sure you set your exposure level manually...cameras pointed at a lot of white are programmed to assume that there's an exceess of light and stop down, resulting in a greyer image.
posted by sexyrobot at 9:00 AM on August 9, 2016