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Gear Question Can you reverse engineer this shot? I want this lighting

Beanie Draws

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I'm curious about the lighting and camera from this shot. The fact the image is so broghtly shot, but not over blown in the highlights, and you can see the texture of the canvas, and the shadow of his hand isn't covering the art, nor is there any hard shadow from the brush, BUT the lighting is also even throughout. I'm wondering how you can get such even lighting without any vignetting, and if you can maybe guess what kind of camera he's using?
I'm also wondering what kind of wiring setup he'd need to allow that camera to stay on for so long. I'm also assuming he's probably using an overhead mounting system.

Whatever he's using, I want it!

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Legacy

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Can I have the link to the video so I can see a bit more?
 

BensTechLab

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@Beanie Draws looking at the lighting on the hand holding the paintbrush I would say the light is primarily top down from the perspective of this video frame. Now the canvas itself may be laying flat on a table, or sloped like an easel, or straight up and down - I'm not sure. But the light is coming from the top towards the bottom of the canvas in frame. The top down light makes the hand's shadow beneath/below the hand in this frame - but also softer light will help minimize the shadow.

To avoid hard shadows, you want a "soft" light. This is achieved by some kind of diffusion in front of a light. The larger the diffusion the softer the light. Obviously this is a trade-off for what you can fit in your studio space. Some popular ones for YouTubers include the "Aputure Light Dome MK II" or "Aputure Lantern" - but that light dome is pretty huge (like 3ft deep). So when space is a concern you can get away with smaller diffusers.

If I had to guess from the lighting on the hand in the above frame, I'd guess they do NOT have an aputure light dome mkii, the hand is still a little bit harshly lit (as is the artists face in the picture-in-picture which has some hot spots on his skin). So I'd guess they have a diffuser smaller than 24" in diameter. Perhaps even as small as an Aputure EZ BOX II.

Now Aputure is one of the top YouTuber light makers for sure, but they are pricey. So personally, I ended up buying Godox lights. They are pretty decent for about 1/2 the price of the Aputure stuff.

1.) If you have the studio space for a larger light (probably on a C-Stand), buy a Godox VL150 and an Aputure lantern (bowen mount difuser).

2.) If you do not have the studio space/height, then consider something like a Godox FL150R 4ft x 1ft LED light panel with their soft box add on. This light is quite light weight and can be mounted on the ceiling from a drop ceiling bracket or a screw in baby pin plate to get it off the ground and have no light stands.

I bought both of the above mentioned Godox lights. :grinning: Ha, ha.

P.S. I can't identify the camera from that blurry snapshot. But it looks like a relatively inexpensive point-and-shoot - something like a Sony ZV1 (although I don't think that's it in the photo). Ultimately though the lighting matters even more than the camera at that point-and-shoot price point. Use whatever you have now and invest some money in your lighting next.