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Lights or Not
The other day I had to shoot some jerseys in the locker room. Didn’t have much time to be in there so I couldn’t light them. Just available light which I don’t like (too flat)
I was messing around with it in X and was able to get a more dramatic look that I prefer. Not that you couldn’t do this in other programs, I just used this one.
I used a glidcam to shoot it and one of the challenges that brings is keeping my own shadow out as I’m moving around and trying to get close to the subject.
That’s not a problem when I light it in post, causing me to think about weighing my options of sometimes shooting flat from the start.
It would really depend on the situation, but I never even considered thinking that way years before.
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20 Replies
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Based on trends I saw at NAB toward RAW workflows migrating toward video from the stills industry, I suspect that our future holds not only more than 12 stops of latitude to do more of the kind of “post lighting” you’re talking about here – but the kind of large rasters that allow us to push in to create useable re-framing options in post.
All this is certainly changing how I think about shooting in the field.
It’s not necessarily shooting to “fix it” in post – it’s more shooting while being mindful about what’s possible in post.
FWIW.
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Bill –
What you propose is not unlike what the greats in photography, Ansel Adams, Walker Evans, Man Ray, all did (they had no choice of course, because the technology was fixed at the time). They shot for a negative which would give them the most latitude in the printing process – the print was everything!
Their greatness lay in what they did in the darkroom after the negative had been produced.
Joe Bourke
Owner/Creative Director
Bourke Media
http://www.bourkemedia.com -
Indeed. Dodging and Burning was a analog darkroom process that’s now also digital.
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It’s true. I worked on a show that interviewed Ansel Adams’ son, Michael. When asked what Ansel might have thought about modern tools, he said that Ansel would have loved Photoshop. Michael said that he did a ton of “post-lighting” work in the dark room. He’d use his hands to block out areas of light when developing the print. The key to Ansel’s genius was that he knew how to shoot efficiently using the correct filters, film stock, ISO, exposure, etc so that he could give it the final look and make the image pop in the darkroom.
Michael Garber
5th Wall – a post production company
Blog: GARBERSHOP -
Isn’t this par for the course for shooting on film? Exposure, focus and framing in the field and then grade to your liking in post? Obviously that’s an oversimplification as everyone (dir, dp, wardrobe, art department, etc.,) has to be on the same page in pre-pro as far as what the final look of the film should be.
A few years ago when I started grading a magazine-style TV show I really got into post lighting. The field lighting was typically pragmatic and unpredictable (sometimes an interview would be outside and other times in would be in an office the size of a closet) but in post using Color I helped shape the lighting to look more purposed. On the wide shots it was harder but on the close-ups I was usually able add separation between the subject and the background, giving the shot a sense of depth it lacked before.
Like in Tony’s example, a little bit of love can go a long way in taking a shot from ‘meh’ to ‘niiiiice’.
With more cameras coming out (and at cheaper prices) that have wide dynamic range and recording in raw or lightly compressed codecs the option for more people to light in post will be there, but I think the downsides to raw (storage requirements, processing power, etc.,) will keep a lot of people shooting in H.264 based codecs.
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[tony west] “sometimes shooting flat from the start”
Both of those images look nice.
have you tried a ring light?
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I still prefer to get lighting right during the shoot whenever possible, but I’ve done miracles with Magic Bullet Looks when it’s not.
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David Lawrence
art~media~design~research
propaganda.com
publicmattersgroup.com
facebook.com/dlawrence
twitter.com/dhl -
I have to say that I’m amazed at the low light stuff I’ve been working with off of Red Epic. Late dusk. Early dawn.
And in slow motion …
Really astounding stuff with great detail and low noise that just would not have been possible before.
Franz.
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[Franz Bieberkopf] “I have to say that I’m amazed at the low light stuff I’ve been working with off of Red Epic. Late dusk. Early dawn.”
Recently I worked with some RED stuff natively in Color and the extra control you get is awesome. From a grading perspective it’s great. Until you go to render it all out, lol.
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[Richard Herd] “have you tried a ring light?”
Thanks Richard,
I have not used that specific light but
I find that if I have a top light on my rig when I move into the subject the light becomes a little too intense.
Also the extra weight on the rig is a workout.
I shot it with an F3 and that camera needs very little light. I have really been enjoying using it.
Have you had good results with the ring light?
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