A buddy needs help, Constant "hot" lights

[resqd1]

Alright so I have not purchased any studio stuff yet, but a friend is in need of help, so tell me if you think you have some knowledge to pass on. This guy at church is shooting pictures of every couple that comes in the door at the event. He asked me to help him with his setup, So I am askign for some help. He has a bunch of constant lights for shooting small indoor videos and that is the lighting he is going to be using. Anyone have any pointers for me? We will be shooting couples against a black backfrop with two to three hot lights. Suggestions on distances or camera settings would be great. thanks

[Longwatcher]

You use hot lights just like you would strobes (except you might not want to use a softbox for fire safety reasons :)

As to distance we would have to know the guide number of your lights or an f-stop versus distance number.

if you don't have light meter, I recommend one of you play subject and use one light as main until you have the exposure almost perfect (Just a touch under less then 1-stop) and then add the fill light and move it back and forth until you have perfect exposure and save the third light you mentioned to highlight the backdrop area.

Optimumly the fill light should be two to 3 stops lower then the main. since you are shooting people minimum shutter speed is 1/125 recommended, set aperture to taste (I like f2.0 myself (but f5.6-f8 is what most people like ) ) and ISO to the lowest you can get away with while keeping the lights at least 4 feet from people (given they are hot-lights ).

Hope that helps - Just my opinion,

[Wilt]

Longwatcher got you started, but one thing that needs modification...the relative strength of the lights: 2EV different in intensity is lighting ratio of 5:1, that is typically upper limit of the ratio! 3EV is definitely too harsh of a difference in light intensity, one which is far too dramatic for conventional portraiture at 10:1 !

I would also add the comment that unless those lights are bounced into umbrellas to make their apparent size larger, the video lighting is too too small and harsh using tiny direct sources!

[resqd1]

yes I believe he has umbrellas for them. Thanks, yeah no light meter, gonna play with it using the histogram I guess.

[Alectron]

There are softboxes made to take hot lights. They are called video boxes.

[RPCrowe]

tell him to shoot his subjects quickly before the heat from the lights makes them broil to medium rare...

I am not being a wise guy - using hotlights close enough to get a decent shutter speed and f/stop can be very uncomfortable for the subject.