Rick Wise
1
COW Coin
Forum Replies Created
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Joe, those are all lens filters, not light filters.
In this case, the questioner needs to know what kind of color correcting filters to put on his CFL lights to match “tungsten,” though he has not yet specified if he’s talking about true 3200K lights or something else. This Lee table, https://www.leefilters.com/lighting/technical-list.html, is a starting point. Oddly, Lee considers “daylight” to be 6500K, not 5600K.
As noted elsewhere, we have to pay attention to two color axes: red-blue, and magenta-green. The CFLs will emit a green spike, so probably he’ll need around 1/4 minus-green (magenta)(Lee 249) to correct for that issue. As for the red-blue, some form of CTO, probably 3/4 strength (Lee 285, or else both 1/2 CTO and 1/4 CTO.)
Rick Wise
Cinematographer
San Francisco Bay Area
https://www.RickWiseDP.com -
Do you mean you plan to mix those CFLs with true, 3200K tungsten light?
Rick Wise
Cinematographer
San Francisco Bay Area
https://www.RickWiseDP.com -
You could go on tweaking this forever, but hey, for what you want this video to do, I think you’re just about there. Myself I’d add some shadow shape(s) on the background, and a bit of Smith-Victor eye-light. But lighting’s what I’ve done almost all my life. Your mission is to teach martial arts. So I’d say, get back to doing just that!
Rick Wise
Cinematographer
San Francisco Bay Area
https://www.RickWiseDP.com -
I mean right above the camera. I would suggest a light you can dim. I prefer a cheap Smith Victor 90UL (https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/48733-REG/Smith_Victor_401007_90UL_Adapta_Light_500_Watt.html) with an ordinary household bulb, a Smith Victor snap-on diffuser, and an inline dimmer. I bring up the intensity until there is just a hint in the eyes, both eyes.
By the way, I registered at your web site for some free martial arts instructions. At the age of 78 I’m a tad old for that kind of stuff, but knowing how to stop a fight with an instant choke is a nice additional tool to walk around with. Hopefully I’ll never need to use it. Thank you!
Rick Wise
Cinematographer
San Francisco Bay Area
https://www.RickWiseDP.com -
One more note, about the background. Instead of flat illumination, you could add a cookie to a light hitting the wall. The closer the cookie is to the light, the softer the shadow.
Rick Wise
Cinematographer
San Francisco Bay Area
https://www.RickWiseDP.com -
Your subject (you?) has fairly deep-set eyes. So now the light is not quite reaching into them. I’d drop the key just a bit, just enough so that the eyebrow doesn’t shadow the eye. Or, add a very small light just over the camera on a dimmer. Bring it up just enough to lift the eyes a tiny bit.
I agree that a closer crop might work better. And going with a green screen and keying in backgrounds could be lots of fun. Caution: You may have trouble with green spill onto the subject in such a tight space. But if you have the time, worth trying. In such a case, add a bit of minus green (magenta, probably 1/4 strength) to your backlights to counter the green contamination.
Rick Wise
Cinematographer
San Francisco Bay Area
https://www.RickWiseDP.com -
Thanks for the Genaray review. As for your new screen grab: Looks better but:
–note the shadows at the bottom of the frame. Why?
–Key still not high enough.
–Try moving the key further to the side, away from the camera to achieve more of a ‘Rembrandt Patch” look. Look that up if you don’t understand the term.Rick Wise
Cinematographer
San Francisco Bay Area
https://www.RickWiseDP.com -
In post you could easily pull down the exposure a notch. Nothing on the face appears to be at clip.
Suggestions:
–raise your key quite a bit higher to drive the nose shadow down at a steeper angle. But not so high that your subject’s eyes no longer catch the key.
–reduce your exposure until the hot side is around 60 IRE; alternatively, if you have zebras on your camera and you can set them to 70, adjust exposure so that there is just a HINT of zebras in the hot spots, usually the bridge of the now and a bit of forehead. Then reduce the fill side a bit; you have almost no difference between key and fill. But this is just a matter of taste.
–The background seems to be at clip in the area behind the subject. You might want to even out the lighting on the background so that it is consistent. Alternatively, darken it considerably and add some sort of pattern with a light through a cookie of your devising.I see that you are using the Genaray LEDs. I have been intrigued by their round design. Are you using them raw, or through some diffusion? How do you like them?
Rick Wise
Cinematographer
San Francisco Bay Area
https://www.RickWiseDP.com -
I have no hands-on experience. The specs state a CRI or around 85. That suggests there is either incomplete color and/or a green spike. the spike can be handles with 1/8 or 1/4 Minus-Green, but incomplete color cannot be filtered very well. Maybe a phone call to them could elicit an answer to those issues, unless you get only a salesperson.
Rick Wise
Cinematographer
San Francisco Bay Area
https://www.RickWiseDP.com -
Hopefully you learned about the Zone system at the Academy of Art (where I teach.) That will help you to understand how “shadow” can be anywhere from pitch black to fully textured black, usually a range of 3 f/stops. Equally, on the high side, Zone Vll is fully textured “white” but there are increasing shades of white going all the way to clip (Zone X.) The world is not contained in seven zones. Take a spot meter outside on a bright sunny day and see how many degrees there are from pure black to pure white.
Seven-stop cameras compress all that rich details of light into a few zones, losing all the detail out there. Your “secret sauce” is a very conservative way to approach lighting. When you have a camera that can embrace 13 stops you have lots of room to play, creatively. Try it. You’ll like it.
Rick Wise
Cinematographer
San Francisco Bay Area
https://www.RickWiseDP.com