Self Tape Setup: Lighting
From Julie:
One of the most common questions I get is what kind of lighting I use for my self tapes. When it comes to lighting, I turn to my industry professional babe, Austin, for all his expertise on the matter! So many of us actors and models end up learning so much of about lighting, audio, cameras, etc. on our own— so to make it easier, you will hear directly from the director/DP/photographer himself so you know how to best upgrade your current setup!
For reference, many of the links I’ll be using are already listed under my blog, “A Talent’s Wishlist” under “Self Tape Setup”. Check that post out for additional information, including camera gear, audio gear, backdrops & kits, and SD card readers (to transfer videos from your camera to your phone).
Now a little bit about my husband, Austin…
Austin Berry is an award-winning director and director of photography with over 15 years of experience in the entertainment industry. From Telly award-winning commercials to nationally recognized films, Austin is both an incredibly talented and skilled cinematographer as well as a kind-hearted, passionate, and humble human being. He is not one to brag so I’ll brag for him! I often run into actors and crew who tell me how lovely he is to work with, and as a wife, few things make me prouder than to be standing by such a man.
He has made me a better actor, model, and woman. It’s my hope that I can share some of the pearls of wisdom he has shared with me to my fellow actors and models, desiring to make their dreams a reality.
Understanding that we may be at various stages in our career and may also have different budgets, we’ve provided 3 different levels of lighting setups. Don’t feel like you need to jump straight to the advanced setup from day one: Some of the biggest jobs I’ve booked happened while I was traveling and didn’t have access to my ideal setup.
Ultimately what matters most is that they can see you and hear you clearly. However, having a high-quality setup can likely boost the look of your self tapes and therefore the perception that you are a working professional.
Without further adieu, let’s hear from him about how to upgrade your lighting setups for self tapes!
From Austin:
The throughline of each of these setups is simple. You need a key light, which is your main light that illuminates your face, and a background light, which helps to separate you from your backdrop.
Basic Setup
This is exactly what I described above. Your key light in this case is super simple— a ring light that your camera shoots straight through. It creates a nice eye light (which is the little reflection of a light you see in Julie’s eyeballs above), and helps bring life to the eyes. If you watch any commercial, pay attention to the eyes— you’ll probably notice that there’s a little bit of a dot of brightness in there. The backdrop lights are pointed at the backdrop and are placed far enough back so that they don’t spill onto Julie.
Moderate Setup
All we’ve done here is add a big, soft light to the right side of the frame, which is now considered the key light as it’s the main source of light on Julie. It helps to create nice dimension on the camera-right side of her face, which is flattering and a little more cinematic. The ring light stays where it was before, and now serves as a front fill and an eye light—making sure that our big softbox key light doesn’t create too much contrast on her face. I’d suggest dialing the power on your ring light down so that it’s about the same brightness as your big softbox key light.
Advanced Setup
The difference between the moderate and advanced setups is pretty subtle, but elevates your look. All we’ve done is change out the ring light for a beauty dish attached to a Godox 60W light, which is placed directly above the camera. A beauty dish creates a really flattering, soft front fill light and eye light. Like above, I’d suggest dialing the power down on your beauty dish so that it’s around the same brightness as your key light.
Godox 60W (need 2 of these) plus 2 light stands (1 for each Godox)
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