Shooting by Candlelight

During our Pro Level Two workshop, students get a chance to shoot scenes for a short film that show what they can do with their Canon 5D’s and 7D’s. Our last Pro Level Two Canon Boot Camp had three set-up scenes to shoot:

1) a “glamour”, soft-lit scene
2) green screen scenes
3) romantic, candle-lit fireplace shot

 

The video below is the rough cut preview of the third scene:

For the opening close-up lighting of the candle, we put Canon’s 28-135mm on a 14mm macro extension tube, on the Canon 7D.  The extremely short depth of field draws attention to the candle’s flame.  The rest of the shots are from the Canon 5D with an L series Canon 70 – 200 mm shooting at f 4. This “long lens”  threw the candles out of focus (they were eight feet away).

A china ball lamp served as the key.  On some of the shots we held a three-inch square white candle to add a flickering fill light as the Porta-Jib Traveler arced across the actors.

We tested the extension tubes before the shot
We tested the extension tubes before the shot.
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The Fotodiox tubes were well-machined and fit snugly on the 28-135 Canon lens.
Canon 7D Flame Lighting Shot
The flame lighting shot was shot on the Canon 7D.
Anyone interested in getting trained on the Canon DSLR 5D & 7D can find out all about our Canon camera classes by visiting www.canonbootcamp.com for the next event dates, or click on the links on the right of this blog for a specific upcoming class date.

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