Tag: rental

Top 5 Lighting Techniques

One of the most important tools in staging a scene is lighting. Lighting develops the mood and setting in any production. It captures the audience and draws them into the storyline just by looking at the scene and the lighting techniques that are used.

This post will highlight the top 5 lighting techniques used in film production and their purposes for a scene.

Number 1: Soft Lighting

Soft lighting is commonly used for its aesthetically pleasing effect. It eliminates shadows and recreates subtle shades of light that has no strict definition of a light source. The purpose is to make the subject or object look less harsh. An example of this technique would be in the movie Restless (2011) where you can notice the soft light with no clear distinction between light and shadows, and has a calming effect.

Number 2: Hard Lighting

Hard lighting uses a direct beam from a light source or from the sunlight. This lighting creates shadows and harsh lines. It can also create silhouettes and highlights. An example would be in the movie The Dark Knight (2008) with the harsh tones of the subjects faces and the overlapping shadows to add to the mood of the scene and the intensity of the character.

Number 3: Ambient Lighting

Ambient lighting, also known as “practical” lighting, consists of the lights that are present and natural, so this could be sunlight, lamplight, or an overhead light. Ambient lighting can add depth and dimension to a scene if used cleverly. It can also add a sense of realism to the scene that draws the viewers attention. You need to account for ambient light, especially when shooting outside.

Number 4: Three Point Lighting

Three point lighting is a media standard form of lighting, as in it is highly used in all forms of media such as film, video, and photography. Three point lighting includes key light, fill light, and a back light.

The key light is the primary light source. It is the most intense and direct light in the scene. The key light will illuminate the form of the object or actor. Secondly, the fill light cancels out the shadows created by the ket light. It adds softness to the shadows. Lastly, the back light hits an actor or object from behind. This is used to separate the object or actor from the background.

3 point film lighting Toronto canada Scarborough tutorial

Number 5: Motivated Lighting

Motivated light seeks to imitate natural light sources, such as sunlight, moonlight, street lights, head lights and more. This technique is used to emphasize the natural lights effect to help set the story or scene. It allows the audience to believe the world that is being presented.

Lighting as a whole is complex and broad. There is so much terminology and techniques that even choosing the top most common techniques was difficult because everyone has their own interpretation. This post was a simple introductory article about the diverse world of lighting in media, specifically in film.

Rentals

lighting and AV rentals for film, video, stage , parties and events in Toronto

Pricing and availability are subject to change without notice.
Please call to check availability416 894 4025

located at:

2370 Midland Ave – UNIT B9
Toronto, ON, M1S 5C6

Pricing is based on self pick up and return to our location.
Prices do not include taxes, set up, delivery or return pick up.
If you require any of these services, please Contact Us for a quote.

All rentals are based on a 24 hour period or portion there of,  ask us about our weekend rates!

 

Big City Lights is a lighting company that offers services for the film industry, photographers, events, stage shows and parties. We do both sales and rentals. We offer self serve pick up from our location, or we can deliver and/or offer set up in and around the GTA including Toronto, Scarborough, North York, Etobicoke, Richmond Hill, Markham, Thornhill, Vaughn, East York, Ajax, Pickering, Brampton, Oakville, Oshawa, Mississauga and more! Contact us for a quote.

We have been in the lighting business for over ten years, and we offer great customer service in Toronto and the GTA.  Big City Lights works with event planners, filmmakers, photographers, video production companies, DJs, churches, synagogues and other places of worship to create the perfect lighting for your special event, concert, film shoot, photography shoot, party or stage show.  We  currently serve the areas of Scarborough, Toronto, Brampton, Mississauga, North York, Etobicoke, Richmond Hill, Markham, Vaughn, Thornhill,  East York, Pickering, Ajax, Oshawa and Oakville and more!

 

 

affordable rental of lighting and AV equipment in Toronto Canada. We have a large selection of rental lights rental film lighting LED lighting and audio visual equipment. Based in Toronto Canada and we sell to all of Canada and the USA. Video equipment and lights for all events and parties stage shows and concerts we even rent ring lights!

Battery Operated Lighting Options

Calling all filmmakers, photographers, hairstylists and party starters! Have you ever needed a wireless light to brighten a subject? To light a party? Well we have the products for you. This video showcases various options for battery operated lights to suit any of your needs. These lights are perfect for when you don’t have an outlet near by, or for on the go shootings. All the links for the battery operated lights we carry are available below.

Links:

Continue reading “Battery Operated Lighting Options”

Finding the Perfect Light Stand for You

Here at Big City we have a lot of stands, all with different sizes and weights. From tall ones to short rolling ones. We have anything to fit you film or photo needs. Links to all the stands shown in this video are below.

All the stands we carry.

 

Quick and Easy Lighting – The Ring Light

ring light diva stellar nova super nebula ledgo big city ringlight

 

Do you know little to nothing about lighting, and are looking for a fast and simple way to get the perfect look? If this is you, then a Ring Light may be just what you’ve been looking for. Here are a few reasons why..

 

1. ONE AND DONE

There are several different types of Ring Lights. They come in different sizes, but all the same shape. The most practical use for a Ring Light would be to light the face of a subject. Whether its for Film or for Photography, a Ring Light is easily one of the quickest and efficient ways to light a subjects face, without the use of multiple lights. This is due to the fact that a Ring Light is able to produce an incredibly uniform light, creating even shadows, and lights all sides of the subject. Just plug in, and enjoy!

Ringlight photo by Clint Adam Smyth, the master of light and lighting

2. THESE EYES 

Ring Lights have a great reputation for being able to create a beautiful eye reflecting effect. With other lights, it is often difficult to capture the detail of a subjects eyes. With the Ring Light, you are able to shoot right through the centre of it, which makes it incredibly easy to capture the detail in someones eyes.

Ringlight photo by Clint Adam Smyth, the master of light and lighting

 

3. RAISING YOUR VLOG GAME 

Due to its practicality, simplicity, and versatility, a Ring Light is the favoured lighting choice for most of the internet’s most famous vloggers and content creators. YouTubers who specialize in makeup, and beauty care will often use a Ring Light for its ability to bring out the details in the subjects face.

Ultimate Diva Ringlight Light by Big City Lights based in Toronto, Canada

 

4.  FILL’ING IT UP 

If you already have a decent lighting setup that you’re content with, adding a Ring Light to the mix will take it to the next level. The Ring Light can also be used as a fill light that can be used to cancel out unwanted shadows, and will provide a softer look.

Fluorescent Ringlight in Canada for Film and Photography. Great for Make-up!

 

5. WE GOT WHAT YOU NEED 

Ring Lights can often be difficult to come across at your ordinary retail shop, but here at Big City Lights, we offer a wide selection of Ring Lights for great prices!! You can check them out HERE, or visit us in STORE and see them for yourself!

Rotating LED PAR-Kit

The Rotating LED PAR-Kit was made to be an easy way for anyone to add interest to their party or event with a simple set up. The first items in the kit are 2 Rotating LED PARs . These small lights have an out put of 56W giving punchy colours in low light venues. Also included are a  6′ and a 25′ power cable giving more freedom with the placement of your lights, as it allows you more length to move from your power source. In addition we added a  32′ DMX cable witch will allow you to separate the lights up to 32′ apart but still have the lights in synch.  Now all of this may sound complicated or out of your skill set, but its NOT as we have made a easy do it yourself video to show you how.

With this short video we will show you step-by-step to putting together this kit so you can be confident and stress free for your event or party.

 

disco, DJ, dmx, event, lighting, lights, party, rental, rentals, stage, technology, toronto

Top 5 Event/Party Must Haves

disco, DJ, dmx, event, lighting, lights, party, rental, rentals, stage, technology, toronto

 Creating a good event can be tricky when your unsure of whats out there. The confusing language and abundance of options can be overwhelming for anyone  not in the industry.  On top of it all trying to get the right feel or atmosphere to your venue is the most difficult but the most important part to any good event. These 5 basic must haves can open your mind to the options and will take your party, corporate gathering, or wedding, to the next level.

disco, DJ, dmx, event, lighting, lights, party, rental, rentals, stage, technology, toronto

1 – DELUXE LED PARS

There many different lighting options for any event but LED PAR‘s made my list because of its versatility.  LED PARs are a narrow, powerful light that have a wide rang of different colours. These lights are great for creating a dramatic back drop of a stage, wall, or pillar but can also be a cheep substitute for any small stage lighting. In edition to just a solid colour you can have it on auto control mode that slowly changes colours and can even have it go to the beat of the music.  This means MORE options, LESS equipment and MORE money in your pocket.

disco, DJ, dmx, event, lighting, lights, party, rental, rentals, stage, technology, toronto

2 – Wall Washers

 Similar to the LED PAR lights the wall washer has the same versatility in colour and function. Unlike the LED PARs wall washers have a longer and softer beam, mainly used for atmospheric lighting.  When trying to create a glow of colour up the wall or bar table its a great way to turn a plain dull hall or event room to the party atmosphere you want.  We rent these lights, but they are also ON SALE for a limited time for purchase.

disco, DJ, dmx, event, lighting, lights, party, rental, rentals, stage, technology, toronto

3 – G3 Wireless Lav

Lighting isn’t everything that an event needs, even if its small speeches at a wedding or a presentation, you will need a way to speak to your guests. The G3 Wireless Lav is a great and simple way to do just that. This is a small clip on wireless mic that allows you to move freely in your space and no working about cables (FREEDOM) but every event is different and have different needs. This is a good mic for any one that will be speaking for longer periods of time not so much for quick and easy exchanges from one seeker to another.  However this mic has a great sound quality and will work well for any presentation or MP at a wedding.

disco, DJ, dmx, event, lighting, lights, party, rental, rentals, stage, technology, toronto

4 – Laser Lights

There are a few different kind of lasers but the most versatile would be the High Power Animation Laser. This high powered laser has hundreds of  different preset animations making it very easy to turn on and have a lighting show –perfect for the inexperienced.Also with just a little more effort it has so many ways for you to refine the animations to get exactly what your looking for.  Your typical laser will usually only come in red and green the Animation Laser has and additional white and blue light just giving the most options as possible, making it a great entertaining peace to add to your next event.

 disco, DJ, dmx, event, lighting, lights, party, rental, rentals, stage, technology, toronto

5 – Fog Machines

Fog machines and lasers go to gather like cookies and milk, you can’t have one with out the other, so fog Machines made the list. An easy way to elevate your lasers from a simple/kinda cool basic light show to an amazing moody atmosphere and we all know that is all about the atmosphere.

If you are planning on renting one for your next event it may trigger more sensitive smoke alarms, so be sure to talk to your venue about it before hand.

If your looking for any of any of these products to rent, you can see our rental list HERE.

–Stephanie Bradshaw

big city, bigcity, fashion, lighting, lights, model, photo, photographic, photography, rental, toronto

Exclusive Behind the Scenes Video of a Pro Photo Shoot Using Big City Lights!

Calgary, Canada, halifax, LED, LEDGO, lighting, lights, ringlight, Toronto, Vancouver

Hello ladies and gentleman today we bring you an exclusive, behind the scenes, look into a professional photo shoot by Toronto photographer Clint Adam Smyth. As an acknowledged photographer/videographer Clint needs to have the best, most reliable, equipment at his fingertips to provide his customers with what they need. In this video you will see how he uses Big City Lights to attain beautiful, incomparable results. This was a calendar shoot That will be coming out in 2011 to promote a makeup, hair and wardrobe stylists work It featuring a gorgeous model and a luxurious ride (needless to say, they were very excited and completely satisfied with the final results).

Clint uses a single Big City 110, two Big City 220’s and a ringlight for this particular shoot. The two large light banks perform the duty of filling and brightening the set, they are very powerful and effective. The 110 is used to add a slightly softer touch of light in a focussed area and finally the ringlight is used for the glamorous and stylistic effect it is so well known for. The video also demonstrates the growing love for continuous lighting and the needlessness of using strobe lighting. Continuous lighting provides consistency and makes it easier to get that specific look you’re trying to achieve.  Video of shoot is below.

Written by Hash Patel

camera, fashion, Clint Adam Smyth, model, photo, photographic, photography, ringlight

Big City Lighting Tips Video #2 – Lighting on a White or Black Background

Ever had trouble lighting a model in various backgrounds? No need to fear, Big City is here! In our latest video we will show you how to light your subject for a white or a black background. It may seem like a simple thing to do but, if you want professional quality photo or video, you will learn the right way to do so with this instructional video. We will talk about lighting angles, metering and even, the butterfly effect. We’ve seen failures time and time again, from photographers trying to achieve crisp whites or variable blacks but, they’re just not doing it right. It’s funny how these small tips and tricks can make such a dramatic difference in the end product, whether it be a photo or a video. You can view the video below.

 

Fluorescent, fresnel, lighting, lights, photo, photographic, photography, rental

Which Big City On Camera Light Is Best For You?

Here is a quick tutorial video of the four different on camera LED lighting Big City has to offer. This quick video will help  you decide which light fits your needs best. All of these light models use 6 double A batteries or Panasonic/Sony camera batteries.  They are lightweight and have adjustable brightnesses. Each light has a specific characteristic unique to the model, which all are highlighted in the video below. Our four models include, Big City 160 LED, Mr. Big 304 LED, Big City  Bi-colour 240 LED and finally the LED Fresnel Light.

 

 Fluorescent, fresnel, lighting, lights, photo, photographic, photography, rental

Big City 160 LED Light – $150

Fluorescent, fresnel, lighting, lights, photo, photographic, photography, rental

Big City Mr. Big 304 LED Light – $150

Fluorescent, fresnel, lighting, lights, photo, photographic, photography, rental

Big City Bi-Colour LED on Camera Light – $149

Fluorescent, fresnel, lighting, lights, photo, photographic, photography, rental

Big City Fresnel LED on Camera Light – $175

Fluorescent, fresnel, lighting, lights, photo, photographic, photography, rentalv

Light Span Of Fresnel Light

You can purchase any of these lights HERE

film, glidecam, production, rental, stabilizer, toronto, video

Tired of Shaky Videos?

 

Calgary, Canada, halifax, LED, LEDGO, lighting, lights, ringlight, Toronto, Vancouver

The Glidecam 1000 Pro

The Glidecam 1000 Pro is a camera stabilization system that literally gives the effect of you gliding your camera during filming, how this works is through clever balancing design that simply uses a vertical pole and handle. If you’ve ever recorded something using just your hands, you most likely know about the shaky amateur-like results.

The Glidecam is built to avoid your body’s jerky movements and produce smooth, professional video while you shoot. The things you can do with the Glidecam are quite impressive, you can use the Glidecam to shoot scenes where you are following a subject or panning a shot. Using such a stable device also gives the impression of a “floating” camera and can be used to create dramatic effects such as a point-of-view shot.

You can find the Glidecam 1000 Pro readily available for rental at the price of $35/day, right here through Big City Lights

camera, film, frames, million, photo, photographic, rental, video

A camera that shoots one million frames per second!

A camera that shoots one million frames per second? Here it is, the Phantom v1610, it can shoot up to 1,000,000 fps.

This new digital high speed camera shoots videos at a speed of 16,000 fps, at a resolution of 1280 x 800. However, it can shoot 1 million fps if the number of pixels is reduced to 128 x 16. It does sacrifice quality for speed, but still impressive.

Camera, film, frames, million, photo, photographic, rental, video

Phantom v1610 Camera

 

 

The camera has a custom-designed sensor of 28 micro pixels, ensuring excellent light sensitivity, 12 bit depth, and monochrome ISO of 16,500 T (ISO 12232 SAT method).

So this camera is really not for an everyday videographer or filmmaker, but it’s an awesome tool for scientists and researchers for capturing high resolution images or high speed videos.

Camera, film, frames, million, photo, photographic, rental, video

Phantom v1610 camera

The company has prices it out at $100,000 USD