Want to know how to create a fire lighting effect for your video shoot? We’ll teach you some cool ways to create affordable fire effects that gaffers use and in the process, you’ll learn how to create other lighting effects as well.
Lighting in film and video has two purposes: to illuminate our sets to give us an exposure to record the shot and also to create a mood and feeling that fits the scene. How we do the latter is by observing the world around us and then using lighting techniques to simulate it.
This real-world lighting already has a look and feel that are familiar to viewers. The trick is to convincingly simulate them with the light that we have.
We use a cucoloris to create window effects. Color temperature orange gel to color light for a tungsten lamp on a table and then we have unique forms of light like candle and fire. We use what we call Effect Lights.
Effect lights
Effect lights usually simulate some light off-camera: A TV, computer monitor, or cell phone on a character's face, candlelight or a fireplace, the emergency lights of a police car or ambulance.
Those types of lights have two main characteristics that we have to recreate: a specific color or range, and a fluctuating light level. That’s all the separates a TV light from a firelight. Let me show you.
Color
We can spend a whole video or two on color so let's keep this simple. On the white balance scale, we know daylight is around 5000k, on the blue end, a tungsten light bulb around 3200k, the orange. Where’s a candle or fire on that scale? Somewhere around 1800k. Really orange, maybe a little red.
Now, what white balance setting are we shooting? I generally shoot at 5000k during the daytime, and 3200k, tungsten, at night. So here, camera at 3200k, using a firelight effect bulb that’s 1800k and an edge light that’s daylight, 5000k. The firelight is a good orange/yellow and the edge light a nice blue, feels like moonlight.
I could use a tungsten bulb for the fire but since it’s at 3200k I add a piece of full CTO or double CTO to get it down to the deep orange I’m looking for. For more info on CTO gels, see our video on that topic.
So that means, for TV and computer screens I’ll still shoot at 3200k white balance but I’ll use a daylight balanced bulb.
Adding Flicker
The other part of the effect is changing the light level. Normally, you set a light, your key, fill, and it doesn’t change. But a fire, whether a single candle or a roaring fireplace, changes its level constantly. So how do we create it?
For a candle, at its simplest, you hook up a small light to a dimmer, mark your low/high points, and then randomly adjust the light level during your shot. You could block the light partially in a random pattern with your fingers or use small cut-outs from showcard.
A fireplace, unlike a candle’s single flame, is made of many flames so a bigger light source like a softbox can work. For a better flicker effect, use two lights each on their own dimmer.
Some gaffers use three bulbs or light units with one left on steady for a constant base light level, and then they flicker the other two.
The important part of the effect here is the amount of flicker. For a candle, too much won’t seem right. For a roaring fire too little may not work. Shoot tests.
Remember, all you’re doing is randomly adjusting the light level. The rest is helped by the color and good audio to sell the effect.
Flicker Tech
What else helps? Technology. Flicker Dimmers are a common tool used on film sets. They’re electronic devices that do the flickerin’ for ya. Magic Gadgets makes one that’s been popular for decades and they have models that can handle 2000 watts and higher to work with the high powered lights used in the biz. You can set the low and high points, your max/min light levels, and set the speed of the flicker with a dial. It’s wonderful.
LED Flame Effect Bulbs
I was reading an interview with DP D.J. Stipsen who shot the feature and series “What We Do in the Shadows” and he mentions using these flame-effect LED bulbs for their on-camera lanterns. He mentions they normally shy away from consumer LEDs because of flicker but in this case, that’s the whole point.
He didn’t mention which bulbs he used but I found Omicoo from Pretigo’s Omicoo LED Fire Effect bulbs which were well-reviewed and work great. They have three settings: fire, breathing which is just slowly dimming up and down, and continuous on which are set by turning the bulb off and on.
I put these in a softbox but you can use socket adapters and put them right into a power strip. Their color temp is 1800k and if the flicker is too harsh for your shot, just set one bulb to continuous, the other to flicker. Two bulbs retailed for $9 US.
KYU-6 Wearable Effect Lights
The other cool effect LED I found and am impressed with is the KYU-6 Wearable light from Spiffy Gear. They have two products in this line-the Bi-Color and the RGB. They’re small, snap around objects, are magnetic, and include adhesive-backed metal discs to use on non-magnetic surfaces.
The Bi-Color model has 8 white balance settings between 2700k and 6500k and also has a set of effects that include breathing, candle and others.
The RGB model has three main colors—red, green, and blue—with15 sub-colors and effects like Fireworks, TV, Police.
These are 95 CRI (color rendering index) and professional level Bi-color where all the LED’s are on at the standard tungsten or daylight settings for max output.
You can purchase single or triple mounts for them that work on cold shoes or onto standard 1/4” screw stands.
Hope this article and video were helpful. Let us know if you have any questions about creating fire lighting effects in the comments below.