COURSES

Ambient-the pre-existing light in an area

Artificial- human generated light

Available light- using light that is already present at the location

Back light- light placed behind the subject hitting them from behind

Barn doors- movable flaps on the front of lights allowing light to be cut and shaped

Boca- the pattern created in out-of-focus portions of an image, particularly highlights

Color temperature- a measurement in degrees Kelvin of the warmth or coolness of a light source

Contrast ratio- the ratio of brightness between the light areas and the dark areas of an image

Cookies-cutout patterns used to shape light (also yummy treats)

Cutter- a flag, a solid piece of material used to create a shadow or to block light

Depth of Field- the amount of in-focus portion of the image as you move from the lens to the distance

Diffusion- spreading of light. Materials used to disperse and soften light sources.

Dimmers- electrical or electronic devices used to vary the brightness of light sources

Down light- light placed above the subject hitting them from the top

Edge light- light placed behind and to the side of the subject hitting them from behind and wrapping around the side

Falloff- decrease in the intensity of light over distance

Fill- light placed on the shadow side of a subject to lighten the dark portion of the image

Flag- a solid piece of material used to create a shadow or to block light

Fluorescent- a lighting technology utilizing ionized gas in a phosphor-coated glass tube

Foot candles- a measurement of the incident light hitting a specific area

Gel- translucent material used to color, attenuate, or diffuse light

Gobo- a pattern cutout and placed in front of or into a light to create a shadow pattern

Green screen- a technique used to electronically remove the background from a scene

Hair light- light placed behind the subject hitting them from behind and creating a halo effect

Hard light- sharp point source light that creates sharp shadows

High key- brightly lit scenes with lower contrast ratios and not a lot of dark areas

HMI- a lighting technology utilizing an arc of high voltage electricity enclosed in a small glass glove to create very high-power lighting

Inverse square law- the physics formula used to describe the falloff of light as it travels away from its source

ISO- a measurement of the sensitivity of a recording medium, a camera sensor or film

Key- the principal light in a scene

LED- a lighting technology utilizing semiconductors to generate light

Lens flare- optical patterns formed in lenses due to light striking directly into the lens

Low key- darkly lit scenes with higher contrast ratios and more shadows

Lumens- a measurement of the overall output of a light source

Lux- a measurement of the incident light hitting a specific area

Motion blur- the effect of a blurred image in the direction of motion created when the shutter speed is not sufficient to stop the motion within the length of exposure of the frame

Motivation- the principal of using objects in a scene to justify the placement of light sources

Natural light- light occurring in the natural world

Net- a semi-transparent fabric placed in front of lights used to selectively reduce the intensity

Noise- random bits of rapidly changing pixels or image elements caused by artificially boosting low light images

Pattern- a shape created by shadowing a light source with a gobo, cookie, flag, barndoor or other method

Point source- a very small area of light emission resulting in hard light

Practical- a light source which is seen in the frame and generally accepted as part of a normal scene, such as a desk lamp

Reflectivity- the quality of an object that defines how much light bounces off of it

Reflectors- devices made to redirect light to soften it or achieve a difficult angle

Rim light- light placed behind the subject hitting them from behind

Scrim- a wire device placed against the front of the light used to reduce the intensity

Shutter speed- the length of time an image sensor or material is exposed to light

Soft light- diffused light sources creating gradual, subtle shadows and even light

Spread- the softness of the light, how much is diffuses around an object

Top light- light placed above the subject hitting them from the top

Tungsten- a lighting technology utilizing a heated metal element enclosed in a vacuum or gas

Up light- light placed below the subject hitting them from underneath

Waveform- a monitoring system that displays the brightness level of a video signal as a  graphical pattern on a metered scale