10 KILLER Lighting Setups Using a Projector Mount!

In this video I'm going to share how to create 10 different lighting setups by using one of the most practical lighting tools, the projector mount. I'm not just going to show you how to set up these different shots but also explain the reasoning behind the lighting and share some different variations for a few of them. For all these shots I'm using the Nanlite Forza 60B Mark 2 and the Nanlite projection mount. This first setup is one that could work great for example for any type of music videos where you could portray the artist or band in this cool color contrast setup. This is a very simple two light setup with light number one being the Nanlite Forza with the Nanlite projection mount attached. I set the projector to a slightly soft focus and then turned the color temperature of the light all the way down to 2700 Kelvin. That created a nice and warm orange light. The second light, which is the key light, is an Amaran RGB panel boomed up high so it would be directly above me. This one is set to a blue color tone to create some nice color contrast with that orange circle in the background. And note that I put a grid on this light to prevent the blue from spilling too much on the background. We can make this lighting a little more dynamic by switching the Nanlite to one of the effect modes and that makes things just a little bit less static. Now the great thing about the projector mount is that besides this circle shape it gives you the ability to create almost any type of shape you want by moving these flags. We can have the same shot but for example with a rectangle instead of a circle. And this rectangular shape also works great for creating fake window light like in this shot right here. But there is a little bit more going on besides just that. So let's break it down. The subject is sitting by a desk lamp which serves as the motivation for the key light because as you can tell here without the key light the shot would be too dark. The key light is set to a warmer color temperature to match the desk lamp. Now things look better but the shot still lacks depth. So let's fire up the Nanlite with the projector mount and create a window light by moving the flags and shaping a rectangle. The Nanlite was set to a cooler temperature to mimic moonlight shining through the window because this is supposed to be a dark nighttime scene. That splash of light on the wall separates the subject from the background and adds a lot more depth to the shot. Also the blue tone of the moonlight and the orange warm tone of the desk lamp creates nice color contrast in the scene. But there is one more little detail we can add here. Let's see if you can figure it out when we compare these two shots. In the second one I added a small light in the hallway behind the character. It could be moonlight coming from another window for example. This adds another level of depth to the shot and just a little detail that I think makes all the difference. So with a pretty simple setup we were able to go from a boring and underexposed shot to something that has a lot more depth and story to it. And I'll show you some more examples of how you can use the projector mount to create light that helps tell the story in your shots. But first let's head back to the studio for a few more simple but cool looking lighting setups. The projector mount is great at delivering a very direct and steady beam of light without much spill. This works really well for backlighting your subject. For this shot I had the nan light with the projector mount pointed almost straight towards the camera. But I didn't want my face to be completely in shadow so I added a bounce to reflect some of that backlight back into my face. And backlighting just looks a lot more epic with haze so I fired up the haze machine. And just to show you how much of an effect that bounce has here's the shot without the bounce and with the bounce. The cool thing about this setup is that you basically have two lights in one. The nan light with the projector is serving as a backlight but also as a key light by bouncing it. And this is a setup that could work for different scenarios as well like this one for example. Here I had the nan light setup again pointing more or less toward the camera and then bouncing that light back to create a key light and lifting the shadows on my face. You could also achieve backlighting with for example a reflector mounted onto your light. But you can see here how much more the light is spilling everywhere else like for example on the table. Now it kind of works fine for this shot but there would definitely be a lot of scenarios where you wouldn't want that backlight spilling all over the place and where a projector would produce better results. This next setup is another great example of how powerful this directional light created with a projector mount can be. Here I lifted the light up higher pointed it down and put it directly behind me. The haze is again doing a lot of work in this shot but the hard directional beam of light coming from the projector mount really creates this spotlight effect. And you can of course do different types of spotlight setups depending on where you move the light and how it's pointing at your subject. Now we can't really talk about a projector mount without talking about gobos. Gobos are these small metal plates that you can insert into the projector mount to create certain patterns of light. Like this one for example which creates a blinds pattern. It works great in our previous shot on the desk only this time the moonlight is shining through a window with blinds. Another setup I used this gobo for was to create this film noir style shot. I had the blinds gobo set up in the projector mount creating a pattern on the wall. Then I taped off my key light so that it would just let through a small splash of light onto my face. This would mimic the light peeking through those blinds. Another gobo included with the Nanlite projector is one with a tree pattern. Here I used it to create some textured light on the wall behind me to motivate my key light. So the key light here is the one that's actually lighting my face and the projector is just throwing a texture on the wall making it seem like there's moonlight shining through some trees. If we look at the same shot without the lights on the wall you can tell that something feels off and the shot lacks depth. Next let's look at two ways how to use a projector mount as a key light. I already showed you in the backlighting shots how adding a bounce can help fill in the shadows in the face. But you can actually use a similar technique to key light your subject. Because the beam of the projector mount is so focused there's hardly any spill. So you can point it at a white bounce and that can then serve as your key light. And if you want to make that light even softer you can add another layer of diffusion. That way you're essentially creating a book light which makes for a very soft and even key light. This is especially great if you don't have a lot of space to actually set up a big light with a softbox. This technique also works really well if you're in a very tight space where you can't even set up a bounce or you just need a quick key light setup. In this shot I needed to light up the face from this side so my key light would be motivated by the lights coming through these doors. I pointed the Nanlite with the projector towards the wall beside me more or less where I would normally place a key light. If your location has white walls you can point the light with the projector mount to one of the walls and that will then serve as your key light. And this is honestly a super simple technique that works great for these types of scenarios. All right now I already showed you a few ways how the projector mount can help you to create light that supports the story in your shot. And here are two more ways you can use the shape of the light in your storytelling. This shot looks like the scene is taking place at sunrise or sunset or it could also just be warm household lamps. However once I add a streak of light on the subject's face it immediately becomes more apparent that this is in fact happening at sunrise or sunset and there is sunlight peeking through some curtains or a window. To achieve this I created a very narrow shape on the Nanlite projector and pointed it towards the Then I had my key light coming from the same direction and this time I added a second layer of diffusion to make it extra soft. By changing the color temperature settings on the lights and the camera we're even able to take this same shot and turn it into a nighttime shot. Now the exact same setup looks like this person is sleeping at night and there is perhaps light shining through an open door or a street lamp shining through the curtains. It all depends on the story you're trying to tell and it can be as simple as a single streak of light. Here I closed the flags of the Nanlite projector almost entirely which created a very narrow beam of light. I also used some haze in a can to add some volume to the light and that's it. I hope you were able to see what a versatile tool the projector mount is when creating lighting for your shots and that this video was able to teach you a thing or two. Anyway if you want to purchase the Nanlite projector mount or any of the lights you saw in this video there are links down in the description and if you have any questions feel free to leave them in the comments. As always thanks a lot for watching and I'll see you in the next one. Bye!