Smart lighting has become a popular solution for drastic changes in frequency, color, etc.
Remote control of lighting in the television and film industries has become a new standard. Production requires more settings in a shorter period of time, so it is vital to be able to change our equipment settings without touching them. The device can be fixed in a high place, and the staff no longer need to use ladders or elevators to change settings such as intensity and color. As photography technology becomes more and more complex, and lighting performances become more and more complex, this approach of DMX lighting has become a popular solution that can achieve dramatic changes in frequency, color, etc.
We saw the emergence of remote control of lighting in the 1980s, when cables could be connected from the device to the board, and the technician could dim or hit the lights from the board. The board communicates with light from a distance, and stage lighting was considered during development. It took less than ten years to start seeing the emergence of wireless control. Now, after decades of technological development, although it is still very necessary to wire in studio settings and many devices need to be played for a long time, and it is still easy to wire, wireless can do a lot of work. The point is, DMX controls are within reach.
With the popularization of this technology, the modern trend of photography has changed during the shooting process. Since adjusting the color, frequency and intensity while watching the lens is very vivid and completely different from our real life using continuous light, these effects are usually visible in the world of commercial and music videos.
Carla Morrison’s latest music video is a good example. The light changes from warm to cold, producing lightning effects over and over again, and is controlled remotely. To achieve this, nearby technicians (such as gaffer or board op) will control the unit according to the prompts in the song. Light adjustments for music or other actions like flipping a light switch on an actor usually require some rehearsal. Everyone needs to stay in sync and understand when these changes happen.
In order to perform wireless control, each unit is equipped with LED chips. These LED chips are essentially small computer chips that can perform various adjustments and usually control the overheating of the unit.
Astera Titan is a popular example of completely wireless lighting. They are battery powered and can be controlled remotely. These lights can be operated remotely using their own proprietary software.
However, some systems have receivers that can be connected to various devices. These devices can be connected to transmitters such as Cintenna from RatPac Controls. Then, they use applications such as Luminair to control everything. Just like on the physical board, you can also save the presets on the digital board and control which fixtures and their respective settings are grouped together. The transmitter is actually located within reach of everything, even on the technician’s belt.
In addition to LM and TV lighting, home lighting also follows closely in terms of the ability to group bulbs and program different effects. Consumers who are not in the lighting space can easily learn to program and control their home smart bulbs. Companies like Astera and Aputure have recently introduced smart bulbs, which take smart bulbs one step further and can dial between thousands of color temperatures.
Both the LED624 and LED623 bulbs are controlled by the app. One of the biggest improvements of these LED bulbs is that they do not flicker at all at any shutter speed on the camera. They also have extremely high color accuracy, which is a period of time that LED technology has been working hard to make it properly used. Another benefit is that you can use all the bulbs installed to charge multiple bulbs. A variety of accessories and power supply options are also provided, so it can be easily placed in different locations.
Smart bulbs saves us time, as we all know, this is money. Time is spent on more complex prompts in the lighting settings, but the ability to dial in things so easily is incredible. They are also adjusted in real time, so there is no need to wait for color changes or dimming of lights. The technology for remote control of lights will continue to improve, with higher output LEDs becoming more portable and adjustable, and with more choices in applications.
Julia Swain is a photographer whose work includes films such as “Lucky” and “The Speed of Life” as well as dozens of commercials and music videos. She continues to shoot in various formats and strives to create compelling visual effects for each story and brand.
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Post time: Dec-16-2020