Rick Wise
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COW Coin
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Whether or not one wants to reduce contrast for a close-up is a judgment call. One might want to increase contrast, leave it the same, or reduce it. If the wide shot has a lot of contrast, I’d leave it the same. Depending on the shot and angle of light, I might slightly close down the iris or slightly scrim the key and maybe also the fill — or not. More judgment.
Rick Wise
director of photography
San Francisco Bay Area
part-time instructor lighting/camera
Academy of Art University/Film and Video (grad school)
https://www.RickWiseDP.com -
There is no way you can stop down other than to have more light, or else push the camera to a higher relative ISO. If you anticipate you will need more depth of field at some point in the scene, your best bet is to light the scene from the start with sufficient light for that f/stop. For those shots for which you want a more shallow depth of field, you can add an ND filter on the front sufficiently dense to allow you to open the iris; ND3 = 1 stop, ND6 = 2 stops, ND9 = 3 stops. However, most NDs add a bit of color since few are genuinely “neutral.” That makes matching the shots between those shot with an ND and those without a bit difficult.
It may make more sense to stick to one f/stop all the way through. Part of the DP’s job is to anticipate the demands of the entire scene. Does a key prop need some light later in the scene? then make sure it has that light in the master, etc. Ditto for depth of field.
Shallow depth of field is a function of three things: f/stop, distance (field of view), and focal length. At a given f/stop, and the same field of view of the key subjects you do not gain depth of field by going to a wider lens or gain a more shallow depth of field by going to a longer lens. When you keep the same field of view and go to a longer lens then you have to back the camera up, effectively returning the depth of field to what it was before. Equally, when you go to a wider lens, you now have to push the camera closer to keep the same field of view, effectively returning the depth of field to what it was before. (However, you will see a wider view of the background than you saw with the long lens.)
At a given f/stop if you keep the camera at the same distance and switch to a longer lens, you will now have a more narrow field of view and also a more shallow depth of field. You can make the depth of field even more shallow by moving the camera closer to the principle action, opting for a smaller field of view.
Finally, at a given distance and a given focal length, opening the iris makes the depth of field more shallow and of course stopping down makes the depth of field deeper.
Rick Wise
director of photography
San Francisco Bay Area
part-time instructor lighting/camera
Academy of Art University/Film and Video (grad school)
https://www.RickWiseDP.com -
The excellent SF Chronicle TV critic raves about Boardwalk Empire. He concludes
One sign of any series headed to greatness is the immediate sense that there’s a dense, broad grouping of well-drawn characters. There’s a vibrancy to the stories in each “Boardwalk Empire” episode. With echoes of the gangland mentality of “The Sopranos” and the frontier recklessness of “Deadwood,” HBO seems to have found in “Boardwalk Empire” a fertile, sprawling new franchise series.
Perhaps the New Yorker‘s reviewer is all wet — or right on…. The point about trying to NOT paint by the numbers remains.
If anyone wants to learn more about actual painting by the numbers, do a GoogleSearch for Paint by the Numbers. Lots of info. (“Every man a Rembrandt!”)
Rick Wise
director of photography
San Francisco Bay Area
part-time instructor lighting/camera
Academy of Art University/Film and Video (grad school)
https://www.RickWiseDP.com -
I missed the part of the original question about using the same f/stop on all lenses in the scene. It is common on feature sets for the DP to work at the same f/stop regardless of lens. It’s a good way to control the look of the scene. When you switch from a wider lens to a longer one you do get a change in depth of field when the camera remains at the same distance. However, overall, it’s a good practice. It just takes more care and time than adjusting iris to lights. Here you adjust lights to iris. Having a light meter makes doing so a whole lot easier — provided you know how to use it.
Highly recommended: learn the Zone system, and buy a Pentax Digital Spot Meter. They are no longer made but available on eBay and at some vendors. The Pentax is the only one that you can use easily with the Zone system. You just need to add a do-it-yourself Zone sticker in the right place. (I have a print-out file I can send anyone who needs it — just don’t ask for it out of curiosity, please.) Prices for the meter seem to range from $300-$750. Do NOT buy one modified by Zone Vl. However, Zone Vl’s leather holster for the Pentax is terrific and very hard to find.
(The email below is no longer in use. Go to my web site and click on the email link.)
Rick Wise
director of photography
San Francisco Bay Area
and part-time instructor lighting and camera
grad school, SF Academy of Art University/Film and Video
https://www.RickWiseDP.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rwise
email: Rick@RickWiseDP.com -
Exactly 15′ seems very difficult. Another source for any of these items is Studio Dynamics, https://www.studiodynamics.com/category/Designer_Muslin-6. Most of their muslins come in 16′ wide, but a few in 15′.
Rick Wise
director of photography
San Francisco Bay Area
and part-time instructor lighting and camera
grad school, SF Academy of Art University/Film and Video
https://www.RickWiseDP.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rwise
email: Rick@RickWiseDP.com -
Todd, actually moving the light closer by 1/2 the distance it was increases the light intensity by TWO stops. The “Inverse Square Law” applies here. When you move the light 1/2 the distance it was you invert 1/2 to get 2. Square that, and you get four: you now have four times the amount of light, which is a change of two f/stops. (Each time you double the light, the change is 1 f/stop.)
Equally, when you double the distance of the light, you take the inverse of 2 which is 1/2. Square that to get 1/4. You have cut the amount of light by a factor of 4 which translates to two stops less light.
The math is a tad harder when you measure by 1/3, or 3 times the distance, etc., but it works just fine.
For more info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverse-square_law
Rick Wise
director of photography
San Francisco Bay Area
and part-time instructor lighting and camera
grad school, SF Academy of Art University/Film and Video
https://www.RickWiseDP.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rwise
email: Rick@RickWiseDP.com -
At this time it appears that ALL LED units have a very imperfect color spectrum. They all, as far as I know, have a green spike. FloLight claims a CRI of 93. Kinos have a CRI of 95. You’ll need to add some minus green. I’d shoot a test with 1/8 minus green added to the front of your LED and see how that works. Not enough correction? Double it up to minus 1/4 etc. until you get a better balance.
Unfortunately, adding the minus green will not totally resolve the difference between the light of your Kinos and any LED unit. LEDs have a discontinuous color spectrum. You will find truer color reproduction with the Kinos. I don’t know which parts of the color spectrum are missing. You may want to experiment with also adding a light straw gel to improve the look. Keep on experimenting with various light tints until you are satisfied. Using a human face to test your gels is a good idea. You could get a more accurate picture if you had a good color chart and a way to look at the image your camera takes with a vectorscope.
As for the dead bulbs, you might want to start by contacting either the company from which you bought this unit or FloLight itself.
Let us know how you resolve the dead bulb issue, as well as what works best for color correction.
Rick Wise
director of photography
San Francisco Bay Area
and part-time instructor lighting and camera
grad school, SF Academy of Art University/Film and Video
https://www.RickWiseDP.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rwise
email: Rick@RickWiseDP.com -
Thanks, Todd!
Rick Wise
director of photography
San Francisco Bay Area
and part-time instructor lighting and camera
grad school, SF Academy of Art University/Film and Video
https://www.RickWiseDP.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rwise
email: Rick@RickWiseDP.com -
Did you try speaking directly to LitePanels about your problem? Sounds like you had a significant malfunction and they should take care of it.
Rick Wise
director of photography
San Francisco Bay Area
and part-time instructor lighting and camera
grad school, SF Academy of Art University/Film and Video
https://www.RickWiseDP.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rwise
email: Rick@RickWiseDP.com -
Sounds like you’ve got this under control. Yes, shoot high speed, then in post speed it up for normal playback, then progressively slow it down. If your final display is on TV or the internet, 30p will probably look smoother. Shoot a test.
Rick Wise
director of photography
San Francisco Bay Area
and part-time instructor lighting and camera
grad school, SF Academy of Art University/Film and Video
https://www.RickWiseDP.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rwise
email: Rick@RickWiseDP.com