Lighting

[Julius]

Dear Mr. Deakins,

In your lighting technique toolbox, I often notice your preference for using multiple single sources grouped together to create a large source that appears as one wide singular source. While looking at some of your sketches on the forum, I find myself wondering if you use additional diffusion. Since you have mentioned many times that you are not a big fan of multiple shadows, eliminating them would require placing the lights incredibly close to each other or using diffusion. Perhaps I am overlooking something? Many times, you provide a specific spacing between two units in the “Look at Lighting” section, but even then, wouldn’t there be a rough shadow gradation?

One example that comes to mind is the ringlights in Blade Runner. On the “Look at Lighting” site, you share a YouTube video where one can explore the lighting test you conducted. However, in this video, the multiple shadows appear quite rough. In the movie, the lighting presents as a smooth gradient, yet still directional. What was the main difference in achieving this effect between the test and the final production?

Best regards from Germany.

Julius

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