Lighters

What does a good lighter show in his or her portfolio?

At a minimum, a lighting portfolio should contain still frames that demonstrate a solid understanding of how to set a mood and direct the eye through the use of various types of contrast (especially value, color, and depth of field) within a highly photo-realistic style.

Within that photo-realistic style, you should demonstrate your knowledge of how light interacts with different types of materials, the qualities and complexities of realistic textures, how the position and intensity of lights affect mood and believability, and color theory and harmony. A helpful exercise is to try to integrate a fairly complex digital object into a live-action plate.

Lighters tend to come from a variety of backgrounds, but a strong technical aptitude proves helpful. Many of our lighters at Rhythm & Hues have both formal art and computer science/engineering training.

What do lighters do at Rhythm & Hues?

Lighters have a broad range of responsibilities, including placing lights, defining material properties, painting textures, managing renders and sometimes compositing.

As with all our specialties, lighters will work on projects of varying visual style, including non-photo-realistic looks. However, photo-realism remains the most commonly asked-for look, and therefore is the standard by which most portfolios are judged.