Small Light for Dinner Scenes?

[William Baroo]

My wife and I went to an outdoor restaurant in Singapore. I was using a Zhiyun gimbal as a tripod to film us while we ate, because it was a filmworthy kind of meal. It didn't taste good, but it was visually above average.

This gimbal has a little light on it, and you can put different filters on it. Not knowing what I was doing, I accidentally turned the light on, and it was on for quite a while. I eventually figured out how to turn it off, and when I did, my wife disappeared. She is very dark, and it turned out the light was the only thing that made her visible in the video. I found this out when I reviewed the video later.

Now I have a video in which I spend part of the time dining with my wife and the rest of the time sitting next to a big shadow that moves and talks.

There has to be a little light out there that ISN'T part of a big, clumsy gimbal. Any recommendations? I can see we're really going to need one. The filters on the gimbal light are just pieces of plastic in different colors. Not clear.

The light is very small, but it made a huge difference.

 

[Strodav]

https://www.adorama.com/lulcv21.html

 

[William Baroo]

That might do it. Thanks.

 

[cgw]

Hoping you're not planning on dragging that light into a restaurant.

 

[William Baroo]

Not a lot to drag.

 

[cgw]

Not a lot to drag.

Never mind annoying other diners and management, right? Seriously...

 

[William Baroo]

Have you been to a restaurant lately, especially in tourist towns? A tiny cube will be the least of their problems.

Restaurant owners adore cameras. When they saw me shooting in Singapore and Hong Kong, they approached me and told me what to shoot. They wanted to be in videos. They know people put things on the web, and that means money.

 

[wfooshee]

I would consider leaving, and telling the restaurant staff why I was leaving, if someone set up a light at a table near me so they could video themselves eating. You might as well set up a stereo and start playing your own music! (Oh, wait, people do do that, by playing videos on their phones.) You simply have no right to impose your conditions on everyone around you in a public place.

And it's just my opinion, mind you, but speaking of recording everything you do, just because you can never ever meant you should. I've been to some really nice meals, but it never once occurred to me that I should record it for posterity. I can see my friends rolling their eyes and getting up to leave as I put up "Anniversary dinner at a Japanese restaurant in Florida" on the TV...

Even if you're recording just for your own reminiscence, do you actually need a video to remember a special event? Take a quick phone picture and leave it. And don't post it everywhere. Nobody cares.

 

[William Baroo]

I'm so glad I haven't mentioned the drones!

 

[William Baroo]

To respond more seriously, the place where I used the light was a pretty dreadful restaurant that began as a food center stall. You can look up Singapore food centers to see what I mean. We were outdoors at a crummy table with one short leg, surrounded by noisy families. Outdoor seating at Checkers is at least two levels higher in terms of elegance.

We have shot some footage at a few other places, but not at restaurants where anyone would care. I didn't put up a tripod at Ruth's Chris. No one has been offended.

I don't have social media accounts. I wish my wife didn't. They're toxic. I love knowing people I ejected from my life 30 years ago can't find me or communicate with me. I don't want to hear from people I got drunk with in college, or divorced high school classmates who are suddenly terrified of dying without husbands. I don't want strangers and the government to see every square inch of my house and know what's in it.

Because my wife's immigration process has taken so long, we have had to do a lot of traveling in order to see each other, and every day we spend with each other is legitimately important to photograph, not for random strangers, but for ourselves and our children. There is no way I would stop or slow down. Also, some of our experiences are so unusual, it would be a shame not to shoot some video. Examples: my foreign wife at Five Guys and Shake Shack, 12,000 miles from home. I'm not a huge fan of these places, but my wife thinks they're amazing, and they don't exist in her country. We also did some shooting at the food centers, where you could change a baby's diaper on the dirty tables without attracting attention.