Creative Lighting with Tactical Practicals

Lighting Tip: Using Practicals

Practicals are all around us. From night lighting to indoor lighting, these light sources can be used for all sorts of productions and can help save you in a pinch. So what are practicals? Practicals are any light source that already exists at a location, whether it's a street lamp or a house lamp. Even candlelight and car headlights would be considered practicals.

Using practicals can be tricky. They're often not the same light temperature as the lights in your professional light kit. And when using practicals by themselves, they can be too harsh, too dim, at the wrong angle or just don't work within the scene. The key to using practical lights successfully is being aware of the quality of light and knowing how to manipulate that light whenever you need to.

When using practicals within a scene that is already lit with professional lights, it is important to pay attention to the light temperature. In order to light the scene naturally, you may have to gel some of the lights or replace their bulbs. Using practicals as your primary light source may require diffusion if the light source is too harsh, or require reflectors to fill in shadows and boost the overall light to a level that is acceptable for your camera.

Practicals can help develop a variety of creative lighting set-ups or save you when you're short on professional lights. By becoming experienced with the use of practicals, you'll be able to tackle any lighting situation with precision, resulting in great lighting no matter your situation.

Check out Finding Light for Video for more tips on using practicals, as well as using other alternative light sources, to help illuminate any scene, anywhere.

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