tl;dr I would love resources, courses, tips, etc. on developing an understanding of set lighting and deciding a direction instead of stumbling into something passable enough. Thankies <333
Lighting is one of those real bastard things that can totally make or break an environment. I have no idea how lighting artists do it, or what they hone in on for specializing. Sure, I recognize general art foundational skills. Composition, luminance/value, color palettes/theory, all that fun stuff. I don't know what it is, but the pros are on another level.
(Note: These are all from games and not TV/film/life purely because they were quick examples I had on-hand. Obviously it's best to draw inspo/reference from things that aren't your target medium too lmao.)
I'm particularly fascinated when I realize a scene isn't actually particularly interesting in itself, but the right lighting setup really does something for me, making all the difference.
Now when I get started on lighting, it's pretty much a vibes-based stumble, almost Monkey w/ a Typewrite Mode, flipping back and forth between grayscale and color until I happen on something that makes me think "Alright yeah that looks good enough to settle on, I got shit to do."
Sometimes this is enough to impress Joe Source Mod Maker, maybe occasionally I approach something that's not too bad. But importantly, I feel like I waste a loooot of time experimenting with stuff I don't really understand in the process. In ideal situations I have a rough goal ("I want this corner to be green from bounce lighting from the pipes", "This door should be center of attention"), but that's usually not the case.
I'd appreciate any insights into the process, study materials/exercises, the sort, that I can look into to guide myself once I'm ready to start dialing in lighting. I'm sure there's other factors I need to develop as well (eg like color grading is also a strange sort of black magic to me, or volumetrics seem to be a bit of a game-changer), and even the field of lighting itself can be broken into categories and contexts. I'm open to anything in general, whatever helps establish a plan jumping in would be great. This goes for general lighting theory/procedure, as well as the more specific implementation side of things.