Tip #175: Lighting Tricks with Your Cell Phone
… for Random Weirdness
Tip #175: Lighting Tricks with Your Cell Phone
Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com
A lighting kit is better, but a cell phone can salvage a shoot.
These lighting tips first appeared in PremiumBeat. While you never want to rely on your cell phone as the primary light source, here are some ideas you can use in a pinch.
- Moody lighting. Make the room as dark as possible. Search for an image of a solid color on the web, say, the color blue. Save it to Photos, then display that image full screen (as a saved photo) on your phone. Ta-DAH! Instant blue light.
- Use your flashlight. Prop your phone on a desk or table. Turn on the flashlight. Works great as a backlight. Bounce it off a wall or white foam core as a fill light.
- Quick softbox. Find an image on the web that’s all white. Save it to Photos, then display it as a full-screen image. instant softlight. It won’t light a big area, but it can give you a key in a pinch.
- Gaffer tape the phone to the ceiling. Put some gel over it to give it a color.
- Shine your light through a bottle of mouthwash or any other clear glass container containing colored liquid.
EXTRA CREDIT
Just to state the obvious, be sure to pick a phone that won’t break your heart if it falls, gets taped or gets wet.
Whenever you do this, remember to turn off the vibrations, ringer & all sounds, including alarms. Even if the production is not recording audio, a phone ringing or vibrating while taped to the ceiling is still very distracting!
Martin:
Great points!
Larry