Page 16 - Lighting the Unlightable Volume 1 #1

wrong way, would easily lose detail and would become blown out. Most

importantly, Nikki’s back would be to the light. Placing a light directly
in front of her, even if I could, and I couldn’t given the stairs to the first
floor, might light her effectively, however, the glossy white wall would
reflect all the light back at the camera. The results would be disastrous.
I risked blowing out the wall behind her, the wood frame of the settee,

and, potentially, even the wood floor in front of her.

I should also note that all the molding is glossy white, and, directly par-
allel to the settee is about three feet of glossy white raised panels that
reflect a significant amount of light back at the wall. The result is a mirror
effect that intensifies the light almost directly over the stairs to the first
floor. This also makes the wall behind the settee more intensely bright

and white. While this might make lighting Nikki easier, it would exacer-
bate all the other problems I faced.

Getting a correct exposure under those circumstances would be most
difficult. Even if I did, the image I created would not be very good.

There was one more problem I needed to keep in mind. The “blackest
black” was under the settee. Somehow, I needed to direct light under
the settee just enough to maintain the “natural” look - that is, the shad-

ows under the settee had to look to the camera the way it looked to the
human eye.

Remember: The goal is not to light the scene - at least not in the tradi-
tional sense of that word. The goal is to collapse, or decrease, the differ-
ence between black and white. In terms of our NyghtVision Methodology,

the closer to one F-stop the difference between black and white, the
more consistent the volume of light. The more consistent the volume of
light, the greater the dynamic range of color, and, therefore, the more
emotionally powerful the image. (See page 132 for a detailed overview of
the “solution.”)

Unless you are familiar with our Methodology and with our understand-

ing of light, the idea that light can be broken seems, well, strange. How-
ever strange that idea might appear to be, it works. And that, in the end,
is all that matters.

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