Welcome to Basic Porn Lighting 101: Part 2. In Part 1 we learned the different terminologies used in lighting for video. We also learned how light travels and bounces. With this newfound knowledge we are going to move forward to bouncing light with umbrellas, soft box lighting, and alternative directional lighting used on today’s modern-day production sets.Let’s begin.

Umbrella Bounce

When is umbrella bounce lighting needed in video production? During my days as a documentary maker and news videographer I used bounce umbrella lighting as a quick and easy way to set up lighting in an otherwise a difficult setting – like a dark hallway (dark walls and carpets with high ceilings). The reason is simple: some colors and textures absorb light rather then reflect it, so in these cases more light is needed, even for a small area such as a face.

In shooting news we used an open face Lowell Omni light (for example) and bounced it with an umbrella in order to get a soft balanced light using only one light source. This worked well for live-eye shots, such as live Satellite talk back as seen on TV, or for simple stand-ups. Using the same principle we can apply this to a porn set.

Here are the problems we encounter when lighting for porn:

Using two or more lighting fixtures will naturally create shadows. For example, two lighting fixtures set at 3 o’clock and 9 o’clock will create a full body shadow to the left and to the right of the subject. One shadow will be darker than the other. Remember “key” and “fill” light from Part One? In principle, the higher up you set your lights the lower you can “throw” the shadow towards the floor… eventually removing the shadows from your shot. But this isn’t always true in porn. In porn, unlike most news scenarios, the camera is in constant movement with the action. Also the camera needs to get in hard-to-see places such as in-between legs where harsh strong shadows are always a problem.

Directional lighting will always create a harsh dark shadow. On the other hand, and as we learned in Part One, bounce lighting is much softer and much more balanced, hence reducing the harsh shadows. But in-between legs there really isn’t much we can do, right? Wrong. When using umbrellas to bounce, you create a much larger “beam” of bounce light than directional lights would produce. This reduces the strength or harshness of shadows and throws the shadows to a much more acute angle (left and right). This approach is great for reducing the size of that harsh shadow between the legs. This is one reason why girls in porn flicks seem to have her legs spread apart much more than would be needed in real life sex situations.

If you find yourself in a situation where these shadows are still a problem despite the use of umbrellas then I strongly suggest using a small eye light or sun-gun. 3 watts should be sufficient in helping reduce this soft shadow and not burn the image.

Umbrellas range in size and in material. Some come with a silver interior and a black exterior. Stay away from silver as they are not needed for video. Others come with two layers: a black layer and a white layer, the white layer being on the interior of the umbrella. These are very useful umbrellas. Should you ever be in need of an emergency soft-box, these umbrellas are the perfect replacement. Simply remove the black lining and place the umbrella in front of the fixture as you would a gel. You have now reduced the intensity of the light, creating much softer light – in essence, a soft-box.

Bounce Light As A Fill

Directional is sometimes the only way to go in a hard lighting situation, however don’t despair. A bounce, used as a fill, will lighten the image and create softer shadows than directional light alone. Using a white reflector disc, a white show card, or even a foam core mounted on a tripod will soften the whole feel of the frame. This also allows for maximum coverage of the light area. Remember: light bounces at 90 degrees. I have been known to use this type of lighting for interviews or a single blowjob scene where the camera movement is limited to just in front of the talent.

Soft Box Lighting

A very popular style of lighting in porn is soft box lighting. Much more expensive than bounce/umbrellas, soft box lighting creates the same type of soft shadows that are needed to shoot porn. However, soft boxes will cover a much smaller area than an umbrella bounce and are still considered a directional light, hence a little harsher shadow than bounce. A soft box is an enclosed black box (made with fire-retardant materials) with a reflector on the inside. It is closed off with some soft diffusion gel.

For tight budgets, building a soft box is fairly easy and painless. On a recent production I needed to have 8 soft boxes set up on 8 different sets. Rather than buy the soft boxes (they can run as low as $250 per), we decided to build them at a cost of approx $45 each. At any hardware store you can purchase some Quartz working lights (300 watts). You’ve seen these powerful lights used in garages or web cam Houses. They create lots of heat and a very harsh directional light. Using one or two of these lights we then proceeded to build a soft box using double-sided white and black foam core, but you can also use thick show card. Make sure to build the sidewalls at 45 degrees rather than 90 degrees, leaving enough space for air circulation so as not to burn the foam core or show card. Then close the box off with diffusion paper such as full opal or half opal. Build yourself a dimmer box and connect the soft box to it. This will allow you to control the intensity of your soft box.

Alternative Pro Lighting

On my higher end adult shoots I use a very different type of lighting: balanced daylight or tungsten florescent lighting fixtures. The most popular brand of these types of lights is known as Kino-Flows. These pre-balanced florescent tubes are pretty expensive to purchase (ranging from $1100 – $3000 per unit) and come with a dimmer, ballast and egg crate. In my humble opinion these lighting fixtures are ideal for porn. They create a cool light (no heat is distributed through these lights) which is much softer than bounce or soft boxes. My usual setups include 3 to 4 of these fixtures, depending on the size of the set, and either 4 bank or 8 bank units.

When using 3 Kino’s in a small room or set I place 2 Kino’s at 3 o’clock and 9 o’clock and up as high as I can get them, thus throwing the shadows as close to ground as possible. The 3rd light is placed down low towards the area that will be mostly used during the production… in other words, the penetration area. This third light will throw the cameraman’s shadow to the left or right and will still illuminate the much-needed money shot. A fourth backlight is used when the room or set is bigger and a back wall can no longer act as an effective bounce/fill. Renting a 3-light fixture kit will run about $300 – 400 per day. Balance your camera to either Tungsten or CTB (daylight) and I assure you a beautiful and well-balanced professional look with minimal shadows.

What’s Next?

Now that you have a good comprehension of lighting for porn we need to discuss camera treatment and set-up… but that’s for another article. For now let me leave you with a few tips that will help assure a better-looking production:

First, always remember to white-balance your camera to the final lighting scheme. Place a white board or paper at a right angle to the light in the middle of the action and white-balance your camera with whatever lens or attachment you will be using during the production.

Second and equally important is to lay down an axis that will help you confine the camera’s movements to aid in keeping the lighting fixtures out of the shots and not confusing your audience as to the position or direction of the action. Keep these simple tips in mind every time you shoot and you will have better production values, guaranteed.