A shot where Lester and Ricky share a cannabis joint behind a building came from a misunderstanding between Hall and Mendes . Mendes asked Hall to prepare the shot in his absence ; Hall assumed the characters would look for privacy , so he placed them in a narrow passage between a truck and the building , intending to light from the top of the truck . When Mendes returned , he explained that the characters did not care if they were seen . He removed the truck and Hall had to rethink the lighting ; he lit it from the left , with a large light crossing the actors , and with a soft light behind the camera . Hall felt the consequent wide shot " worked perfectly for the tone of the scene " . Hall made sure to keep rain , or the suggestion of it , in every shot near the end of the film . In one shot during Lester 's encounter with Angela at the Burnhams ' home , Hall created rain effects on the foreground cross lights ; in another , he partly lit the pair through French windows to which he had added material to make the rain run slower , intensifying the light ( although the strength of the outside light was unrealistic for a night scene , Hall felt it justified because of the strong contrasts it produced ) . For the close @-@ ups when Lester and Angela move to the couch , Hall tried to keep rain in the frame , lighting through the window onto the ceiling behind Lester . He also used rain boxes to produce rain patterns where he wanted without lighting the entire room .