ENDA Episode 53 → The time when ENDA shares why lighting matters (Part 1)
Whether you’re integrating a CG element into live-action footage or patching up elements for a clean plate, proper lighting is what makes everything snap together convincingly.
What can I learn to improve my abilities in the VFX world?
You will be surprised (or not…) that the answer is…
Lighting
Most people think it’s the domain of Lighters alone, but it’s actually core to so many areas of VFX, especially compositing.
Whether you’re integrating a CG element into live-action footage or patching up elements for a clean plate, proper lighting is what makes everything snap together convincingly. And while your audience might not know the technicalities, they’ll immediately sense when the lighting feels “off.”
Here’s a tip if you’re looking to level up your lighting sense: practice photography. It does not matter if you only have your phone, that is a great beginning.
Pay close attention to how natural or artificial light shapes a scene: where shadows fall, how highlights wrap around surfaces, and the color shifts at different angles.
By analyzing these details, you build an intuition for lighting that would make a difference in your comps.
It will be interesting to dive deeper into specific comp scenes and show how good lighting makes or breaks the illusion. But that would be for future episodes.
The journey continues…
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