Hot Lights

Two Hot Lights, One Compelling Portrait: What This Continuous Lighting Setup Actually Teaches You
Video Tutorials

Two Hot Lights, One Compelling Portrait: What This Continuous Lighting Setup Actually Teaches You

Continuous lighting used to be a compromise I made reluctantly. Strobes were precise, repeatable, and fast. Hot lights felt like a workaround for filmmakers who hadn’t fully committed to either medium. Then I started getting more hybrid jobs, clients who wanted a behind-the-scenes reel alongside the stills, and my entire attitude shifted. You can’t fire a strobe at 24 frames per second. Continuous light, once you understand how to manage it, stops being a limitation and starts being a genuinely elegant solution.

Candy Glass, Rim Lights, and a Couch Against a White Wall: What This Stunt Technique Taught Me About Scene Lighting
Video Tutorials

Candy Glass, Rim Lights, and a Couch Against a White Wall: What This Stunt Technique Taught Me About Scene Lighting

There are tutorials that teach you a technique, and then there are tutorials that accidentally teach you three techniques while pretending to teach you one. In this The Slanted Lens tutorial by JP Morgan, the stated subject is how to make breakaway candy glass, the kind Hollywood prop departments have been fabricating since the early days of film. But if you pay attention past the candy thermometer and the corn syrup, there’s a complete multi-light scene setup buried in the second half, and that’s the part I keep coming back to.