KitPlus | Articles

Creating A Signature Look With Lighting

As an LA-based DP, I view my role as a narrative storyteller. For me, cinematography is not just about getting some nice images – it’s about telling truths. I love being able to weave a story with imagery and capture something that’s real, whether through performance or visual symbolism. Lighting is one of my most important mechanisms for capturing...

Submitted by William Hellmuth

Published 03 November 2019

The LED Lighting Revolution

Back in April 2019, the National Association of Broadcasters hosted the annual NAB show in Las Vegas where over 90,000 people from more than 160 countries came to see the latest broadcast technology from around the world. Honouring the highlights of the show were NAB’s 2019 Product of the Year awards, where the newly launched Chroma-Q Space Force o...

Submitted by Neil Vann

Published 10 September 2019

Panasonic EVA1 and Atomos Shogun Inferno ProRes Raw Revie...

Filmmakers all over the world are embracing an affordable new route to higher-than-4K video recording. It’s just a few weeks since Atomos enabled support for 5.7K Apple ProRes RAW recording from the Panasonic EVA1 with the Shogun Inferno monitor/recorder, but filmmaker David Fernandes and DP Gregory Bennett have already become the first to use 5.7K...

Submitted by David Fernandes

Published 18 July 2018

Slow Motion Video Techniques

Well, those kinds of higher frame rates still pretty much belong to the big guns. The Phantom Flex will give you 2,000 frames a second at ultra HD or 1,000 fps at 4K. It produces truly stunning images, but at a price that is beyond the reach of all but those with the biggest budgets. The camera retails at a cool £100,000 (I’ll have three please) wi...

Submitted by Phil

Published 07 June 2018

How to shoot the perfect lighting mix

Advances in high-quality LED lighting over the past couple of decades might be one of the best things that’s ever happened to broadcast and cinema production. Compared to traditional tungsten fixtures, LED lights offer powerful operational and financial benefits from longer life and lower energy bills to brighter, more consistent light and greater...

Submitted by Alan Ipakchian

Published 07 June 2018

The shining star of Dancing On Ice

Lighting is an incredibly important part of any TV production, and it can make a huge difference to what is seen on-screen. If the right lights are used in the right way, it can create a mood, set a tone and convey a certain atmosphere. Nowhere is this more evident than on the set of dramatic TV shows such as Dancing on Ice, a hugely popular UK sho...

Submitted by Rod Aaron Gammons

Published 26 March 2018

A Pandoras Box to empower the filmmaker

The setting was Celebro Studios London, home to their fully 4k television studios, where journalists and industry commentators gathered late last November to witness the launch of the revolutionary Rotolight Anova PRO 2. This was no ordinary unveiling though, the launch was streamed live on Facebook and YouTube and hosted by award winning news anch...

Submitted by KitPlus

Published 12 February 2018

Supporting creativity and driving better workflows

For decades videographers and filmmakers have been pushing the boundaries when it comes to creativity all with the aim of delivering a visually spectacular and engaging experience to viewers. For the most part they rely on artistic vision and innate skill, but over the last few years technology has been playing more of a role in enabling that creat...

Submitted by Rod Aaron Gammons

Published 19 October 2017

5 reasons to use a soft box with LED lighting

LEDs are a highly efficient light source, and putting aside any color spectrum issues, (that have generally been improving) they still have limitations for lighting people. The naked illumination coming off a single emitter, or an array making up a larger fixture, such as a panel, is just not the soft, beautiful glow that we seek for human subjects...

Submitted by James Mathers

Published 19 October 2017

Advances in LED lighting innovation with Rotolight AEOS

i There\'s no doubt that lighting plays a critical role in videography, filmmaking and photography. It\'s the area of content capture that brings added creativity to shoots, whether that\'s filming a wedding, producing a commercial or making a movie. Much like cameras have evolved over the past few years, lighting has also evolved; from the traditi...

Submitted by Rod Aaron Gammons

Published 07 September 2017

The now and how of LED Lighting

LED lighting has come a long way from the days when companies like Outsight were ridiculed by major manufacturers at trade shows because, the manufacturers asserted, technology couldn\'t be entrusted with the requirements of our industry. During this time the market has moved from that initial question, "What is LED?\" to "Is LED ready?\" and final...

Submitted by Tama Berkeljon

Published 15 March 2017

The Benefits of LED Lighting in Broadcast

The humble LED studio light has come a long way since its introduction. In the early days adoption was low, while scepticism that the quality and functionality of LEDs could rival traditional tungsten lighting was high. There has been a period of adjustment, challenges (particularly around light quality and manufacturing) overcome and the broadcast...

Submitted by Rod Aaron Gammons

Published 15 March 2017

How to illuminate a better shot

LED (Light Emitting Diode) technology built for the general lighting market is designed to meet very different criteria than the critical lighting requirements for image capture. While LEDs may be a suitable lighting option for some photography and videography, critical applications, such as feature film, production requires users to understand the...

Submitted by Chuck Edwards

Published 15 March 2017

Space lights and a man called Bill

The Space Light has become one of those universally used fixtures which inhabit many film sound stages, as well as finding employment within studio-based broadcast productions. Its history, not completely lost in the sands of time, is very much part of the evolution of the British film industry, whilst its use extends now to Hollywood and beyond. F...

Submitted by Ian Muir

Published 07 December 2016

Highlighting YouTube Space

Video, by definition, requires space and light. However, the right space, with the right light, can make or break a production. YouTube parent company Google\'s new London HQ in Pancras Square at King\'s Cross is certainly the right space. In fact, it\'s so right they\'ve called it YouTube Space London, a 20,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art facili...

Submitted by Peter Daffarn

Published 10 November 2016