The Iron Man had God Lighting.

[MaKaiser]

It's Glorious.

[Larfleeze]

Best lighting ever no doubt

[Unbiasedfan]

vincerô

[RoroCwalker]

[MaKaiser]

[Unbiasedfan]

Pros: enhances detail and freak factor;

Cons: shadows are created that might hide bodyparts in certain poses.

[1quick1]

Why can't they nail lighting the same at all shows?

[NVious]

Why can't they nail lighting the same at all shows?

Carelessness, laziness:

Great post by Bart

Yeah, the background has to complement the color of the bodybuilders, which is usually some shade of orange, brown, or gold.

If you look at a colour wheel, the opposite color to those shades is purple/violet/blue.



When you have bodybuilders posing against that blue/purple glittery background, it has a nice effect, because the colours balance each other.



Here, not so much. The glitter is the same colour as the bodybuilder, and it's a too much of one shade.

[Larfleeze]

Makes a good point, almost like he's blending in to the background in the second pic ^

[1quick1]

Best lighting ever no doubt

Pros: enhances detail and freak factor;

Cons: shadows are created that might hide bodyparts in certain poses.

This first pic is insane and absolutely perfect but then you see the one mentioned above and the shadows.

[BlackNumero]

Why can't they nail lighting the same at all shows?

Carelessness, laziness:

Great post by Bart

Playing Devil's advocate here (although I do think NVious is right bc sometimes the lighting is just god awful), it sometimes has to do with the fact that promoters want to individualize each stage. So that means different lighting, different background, backdrop, etc. If every bodybuilding show had the exact same thing, it would get dull. Then again, it would make picture comparisons much better.

This is really the only reason I could crap out that makes the IFBB not look careless lol.

[purdey]

I thought the 2012 AC lighting was really good

[blindsideflank]

Heavy overhead lighting (like in a bathroom) leaves nice shadows under the muscles and helps show separation. It really gives the opportunity to show off the body part you put forward.

As shown already, the shadows take away but perhaps a really mild light (a really really weak orange light from the front to light up a bit more but still allow some of that shadowing) like an orange line of weak LED along the front of the stage (covered on our side) so there is consistent light and no bright/dark spots on stage

And the blue/black background is GOAT

[littlearm]

Yes, the Iron Man had great lighting when it was held in the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, the same theater where they held the Emmy's. The Iron Man had crappy lighting like many other shows when it moved to the L.A. Convention Center.

Lighting is more complicated and expensive than a lot of people realize. It's not just an issue of throwing extra spot lights on the stage. If the facility doesn't already have a fantastic lighting system in place, chances are the promoter isn't going to be able to afford to bring in top-notch temp lighting just for his event.

I think the lighting at the Olympia is decent, but the staging is too busy during the finals. (I think they still do plain black backgrounds for prejudging, as they should.)

[BartPimpson]

Great post by Bart

Wow, goat tier memory dude.

I actually wish I hadn't discovered the blue/gold thing, because it's ridiculously overused in Hollywood. Nearly every big movie now heavily relies on blue/gold contrasts. Damn it guys, there are other colors on the spectrum.

[NVious]

Playing Devil's advocate here (although I do think NVious is right bc sometimes the lighting is just god awful), it sometimes has to do with the fact that promoters want to individualize each stage. So that means different lighting, different background, backdrop, etc. If every bodybuilding show had the exact same thing, it would get dull. Then again, it would make picture comparisons much better.

This is really the only reason I could crap out that makes the IFBB not look careless lol.

It comes down to priorities, what would you personally want as a venue host:

Either to have amazing lighting that makes the athletes look epic

or

To have people and pictures show that it was YOUR venue, even if it comes at the cost of the athletes and washes out their details

I'd think the IFBB would want to prioritize the athletes, but lol you know

[Larfleeze]

Wow, goat tier memory dude.

I actually wish I hadn't discovered the blue/gold thing, because it's ridiculously overused in Hollywood. Nearly every big movie now heavily relies on blue/gold contrasts. Damn it guys, there are other colors on the spectrum.

[img]http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/blueorange500_229.jpg[img]

Same, this has driven me nuts ever since I had it pointed out to me

[Portsmouth UK]

british grand prix 2011 had it nailed IMO

[AdamantiumYoke]

Flex Wheeler 1995 Pro Ironman Invitational Pics (first contest since car accident)





1998,Flex Wheeler,Ironman Pro

[littlemike23]

It was good yeah but everybody looked great under it. Which makes me think it wasn't perfect. If that even makes sense to people. It washed a lot out.

[IngeKJ]

I still think '09 Olympia is GOAT lighting

[BartPimpson]

I liked how the lighting was at the AC 2010 prejudging. Nice and subdued. Not overpoweringly bright or contrasty.



The AC 2011 also had good lighting. Not crazy about the coloured side lights. A cute idea, but you can see why nobody's really done it since.

[Larfleeze]

Branch looked awesome that year ^

His arms have seriously regressed since then

[Unbiasedfan]

[img]http://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-MuSM1-eQi1Q/TXi9ZSvTFKI/AAAAAAAAABE/WkXwMtF2wYc/s1600/branch

thick

[Haraldo]

I still think '09 Olympia is GOAT lighting

This.

[KouRon]

Can't believe no one posted this already...

99 Grand Prix lighting is GOAT IMO

[Unbiasedfan]

^

A better representation of that light:



Some ironman pics have the same camera filter applied. I think that is a classic case of too many shadows, and it shows when levrones lats are shadowy in the bdb.

[Larfleeze]

[MaKaiser]

^ Quite an insane FDB.