John Sharaf
Forum Replies Created
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Andrew,
The lighting on these three portraits are pretty straight forward, and you really should be able to deduce it yourself, just trust your instinct and skills.
Obviously they created a black limbo space, probably by blocking all the windows and turning off all the practical lights, if not in a windowless studio.
The key comes from the camera left and is a semi-soft source to minimize nose shaddow. What shaddow you do see under the chin reveals the height and direction of the key light and the minimal fill (if any). Maybe a white card.
The backlight is from straight behind, except for the bald guy, where it has been lowered and moved to the off key side, to minimize the shine on the top of his head.
Finally, a spot of blue light is projected right behind the subject to create the color effect and seperation from the blackness.
When you’re trying to “figure out” the lighting plot of a particular shot, look first at the shaddows; they’ll tell you the whole story.
JS
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They are erased or “painted out” frame by frame.
JD
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Bob,
Grip equipment suppliers have long ago replaced “lead-shot” sandbags with “stainless steel” shot bags. They are more expensive, but have no environmental hazard. I suggest you do the same!
JS
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Hi Dan,
Yes, I noticed the same thing recently when I was trying to setup a EX1 and EX3 to match. What I did was create the setting as PP6. The other thing that blew my mind was that the controller was locked out of the matrix settings and using the menu version was like operating in the blind; you could not predictably aim the hue/sat adjustments in multi matrix. If Sony is to advertise the use of the RMB750 with the EX3 camera, it is incumbent on them to create a software upgrade!
JS
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Make sure the camera menu genlock setting is on “external”
JS
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It’s the filter wheel!
JS
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I have four of these cameras since last spring and used three of them last summer on a feature doc in France where we burned through more than 200 discs. We did have one failure similar to what you describe, where the disc would not eject and the manual override did nor allow it to be removed either.
Sony US directed us to Sony France who sent us to a local repair shop in Paris who exchanged the “trolley” and reported to us that it was a known issue with bad mechanisms in early models (although at that time there were already several thousand units in Europe).
We’re still waiting for reimbursement of about $4000 from Sony US (6 months later!) as the camera was under warranty and they agreed to pay for local repair, and I can report that even with heavy use since, I have not had another deck failure.
JS
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Sounds like a backfocus issue. If you can’t fix by resetting backfocus return camera to dealer or Sony for repair.
JS
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The flicker on the slo mo footage is from HMI lighting which even in the “flicker free” square wave mode will flicker at certain frame rates. Essentially the slo motion is so slow that you’re seeing the lights in the period in which the are “off”. Same thing with fluorescents.
JS
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Jim,
EX1/3 lenses are “real” lenses, just like those you use on the 2/3″ cameras you mention, and they conform to the same laws of physics and mathematics, except of course you’re using a “wider” lens with a longer depth of field to cover the same field of view, this the origin of the dilemma to begin with!
My point is that to back way up and use extreme telephoto sized lenses for portraiture tends to flatten the faces and create an unusual effect. That is why for example in 35mm still photography “portrait” lenses are the 85 and 105mm focal length. These sizes put the camera at an ideal distance to the subject to fill the frame with head and shoulders, while not foreshortening the look and to be at a comfortable “working” distance. I find that with 2/3″ cameras this converts to about 40mm and I’d guess that in 1/2″ it would be about 28mm.
Intuitively, and by observation I believe the best way to accomplish the goal of “fuzzing up” the background where there is a limited amount of physical depth therefore is to bring the subject closer to the camera and increase the distance from the subject to the back wall. A closeup of a person is usually meant to convey an intimacy, similar to talking to someone in real life when they are standing next to you; when you make that shot with an extreme telephoto lens it’s an entirely different effect.
Furthermore, when you compare the depth of field (using charts in the ASC Manual) for example of a 50mm lens at 6′ and a 100mm lens at 12′ (both wide open at F1.4), which both have the same “field of view” (about 2×3′) they also both have the same depth of field, which is about 4″, so there is not really much to be gained by backing up and using a longer lens. in fact I just tested my “theory” and of course I’m right:
Assuming the available distance is 15′, putting the subject at 5′ from the camera throws the back wall (15′ away) way more out of focus than if the subject is 10′ from the camera and the lens is twice as long.
Try it yourself!
JS
JS