Cinematography, Lighting, and Composition - Frame-by-Frame Stop Motion: The Guide to Non-Traditional Animation Techniques - page 77

Fig 5.15 Shot of a professional
rheostat.
What size lights should you use? Generally, the same rules that apply
for live-action lighting apply to stop motion but on a smaller scale.
Instead of using a 650 watt bulb for a key light, you might consider a
150 watt bulb. Most stop motion is on a smaller scale, so overlighting
can be a problem. The only real exception might be shooting done in a
studio with pixilation of people or additional lighting needed for “out
in the field.” Since the subject matter is larger, you need to cover more
ground. It is logical. Lamps that have Fresnel lenses for focusing and
softening the light are very helpful. There are many brands, and it is not
necessary to pay high prices for these lamps. You can find lamp housing
with barndoors, which are used for stage lighting, and the cost is less
than the traditional movie lighting brands. LEDs (light-emitting-diodes)
are another wonderful, if slightly expensive, alternative to miniature
lighting of objects. They are bright, often colored, cool in temperature,
and highly efficient. The color temperature of lights used to be an issue
when shooting film, because the film labs would develop the film based
on daylight temperatures. If your lights were warmer than 3200 foot
candles (the lighting measurement standard for daylight), then the film
would come out yellow and red. Now, when you shoot a dslr camera with
any light, you can see what the final image is immediately and adjust any
number of controls, like white balance (in manual mode), to correct for
the color imbalance. There is also the postproduction color correction
option (especially if you have raw files).