How to Recreate Candle Lighting: Some Quick Tips by Saro Varjabedian

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Motion pictures like all art forms strive to provide a perspective or an abstraction on reality.

However, the magic of films is the ability to pull audiences into the abstraction, and then, transport them into an imaginary world or story. In order to achieve this, motion pictures try to emulate a realistic look. If the image does not look realistic, it can become jarring for the audience, pulling them out of the story.

An important attribute to develop as an aspiring DP is the ability to dissect the way light naturally behaves in everyday scenarios and then be able to recreate it. For example, take a rather common scenario: romantic dinner lit by a single candle placed in the middle of the table between a couple sitting across from each other. The difficulty with filming such a scenario is that the light produced from the candle flame is a very weak source and cannot be used as a practical light source, so artificial lighting will need to be used to recreate the candle light look. While there is no one way to light such a scenario, the important thing to keep in mind, as you set up each light, is what role each light you use will play in the scene.

If we were to do a close up on one of the characters, then the solution would probably be a quick one and would probably need minor adjustments to a traditional three point lighting setup. But, how about if the shot is a long two-shot. How would we arrange the lighting so that the candle flame appears to be the key light source?

We would start by setting up two key lights from behind the actors in with the beams crossing each other’s path. This is called a ‘back cross.’ Angle the lights so to ensure that the shadow of the candle does not fall on the actors. Use flags or barndoors to ensure that the light is not hitting the back of the actors. In addition, the lights should be aligned to approximately the same height as the candle, and angled or cut off with barndoors or flags so to keep the light from hitting the top of the table.

This is so that the candle does not create shadows on the table revealing the direction of the artificial lights.

The next step would be to light the candle and table from directly above. This could be accomplished by attaching a snoot to a Fresnel. You could add an amber gel to the lights which are supposed to mimic the candle flame source. Now the characters appear to be lit by the candle. At this point, add as much fill light and backlight to the characters as desired. Be careful not to make the backlight too pronounced. If needed, you could add some ambient light to bring out some of the details of the background.

On a recent project, I worked on a scene which called for candle lighting. The Varjabedianscene was not exactly two people sitting around a table, but it was close. The scene took place on the rooftop of a building and the main characters were supposed to be lit by many candles. The candles were arranged in front of the two main characters so I was able to light them from the front using a tungsten 1k open face with a 216 and an 85b gel to soften the light and make it look more amber.

Then I was able to set another 1k with the same gels from a roof above the two characters and point it directly down onto the candles filling in the area with what appears to be the light coming from the candles. I added one more 1k open face light with just the 85b gel, which I splashed onto the walls behind the characters to bring out some of the backgrounds. If you are shooting in the video, remember to do your color balance with the gels off of the lights.

Saro Varjabedian is a director of photography based in New York and has worked on over twenty films, music videos, and corporate videos for various production companies. His most recent projects include La Chambre de Motel, which he wrote and directed GeoCache, and the feature film, Testosterone.

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