This is my take-everywhere solution to lighting. The palm of my hand. Generally I don’t even bother to do this cause I can just look and figure out the lighting…but sometimes I find myself standing in the middle of a crowd and holding my hand up and spinning. If you watch the attached video you can see the two general areas the light looks good: when it is hitting the face of the subject/palm and when the subject/palm is backlit. Have fun and don’t worry if folks think you’re crazy when you do this. You are, but for a good cause.
about.me
Cyndy Green
Videojournalist
Freelance videojournalist with a passion for visual storytelling.
Background: 28 years TV news camera/editor/live truck operator; 10 years teaching high school broadcasting, multimedia, English; currently working on co-authoring a book (The Basics of Videojournalism) with Larry Nance.
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February 28, 2007 at 10:02 am
Mr. Manny Mutter Butter
Good tip!
March 1, 2007 at 6:24 pm
Bill Thorpe
Really good Cyndy
February 9, 2009 at 11:16 am
Jenny Atwater
Hi Cyndy,
I wanted to thank you for this post. I use it every semester with my Broadcast students at Towson University in Towson, Maryland. They come to me with very limited shooting skills and this hand test always gives them an “aha” moment.
Keep up the good work.
Jenny Atwater
March 1, 2009 at 2:11 pm
Avoidance… « VideoJournalism
[...] me off the charts…someone ratted on me and then Al Tompkins of Poynter linked to the site (The Hand Trick, Simple Lighting Tricks, Basic Shots) and it literally went through the root with 2887 hits. I was [...]
March 1, 2009 at 3:14 pm
Avoidance…and blog stats… | b-roll.net TODAY
[...] me off the charts…someone ratted on me and then Al Tompkins of Poynter linked to the site (The Hand Trick, Simple Lighting Tricks, Basic Shots) and it literally went through the roof with 2887 hits. I was [...]
August 9, 2010 at 11:16 am
Light, Seeing, and Framing… « VideoJournalism
[...] gone through natural framing and basic use of light. Both girls got to whiz around with the hand trick, which is a great tool for beginners to visualize light. They also got a flash lesson in the [...]
August 9, 2010 at 2:36 pm
Light, Seeing, and Framing… | b-roll.net
[...] gone through natural framing and basic use of light. Both girls got to whiz around with the hand trick, which is a great tool for beginners to visualize light. They also got a flash lesson in the [...]