Lighting design in small and medium studios is all about three things: 1) the lighting design layout, 2) the lighting suspension, 3) the lighting setup. A good lighting layout looks professional, a good suspension system helps with post and operation, and a good lighting setup affects the whole scene. Here are three.
Lighting Design Layout
A good studio lighting design uses the 12-point circular lighting method where lights are arranged like the numbers on a clock. The subject and the recording area is at the center and the lights are positioned using the horizontal or vertical clock face as a reference. So, before you design the lighting you need to survey the location and design the layout accordingly.
Studio Lighting Suspension
Common studio lighting suspension systems are track-mounted systems, fixed hanging systems and grid systems. Track-mounted system is good for later installation, adjustment and operation. By using fixed tracks, sliding tracks, directional brackets, light fixtures, cable sliders and constant force hinges lights can be installed and adjusted to move forward, backward and side to side so lighting technicians can fine-tune until the best shot is achieved. Users can also operate this system if they learn the way. Note for track-mounted system the studio height should be more than 3.3 meters.
Lighting Setup for Studios
A professional studio lighting setup combines LED panel lights with LED spotlights. For key, fill, back and background lighting large-area, soft-light emitting LED panel lights are used. For contour and backlighting, high-intensity LED spotlights are used. The number of fixtures is based on the size of the room. In virtual studios the number of LED spotlights is usually double that of a traditional studio.
