Rick Wise
1
COW Coin
Forum Replies Created
-
Thanks! Very good to know.
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 -
How about Gearshift for $50, or NewBlue AVCHD Upshift for $80?
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 -
The Paris film school, le fremis, is the successor to l’I.D.H.E.C., which I attended many years ago. Go over a take a look. Ask questions of students. Poke around.
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 -
Post an example.
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 -
I suggest you do a little homework: measure the light output of your current rig at the usual distance from the subject. Then check the specs of various LED lights. You will almost certainly want to diffuse any LED so consider the resultant light loss here too. Should give you a ball park.
Alternatively, go to a rental house and test there.
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 -
You may know all this: If you can carry with you a 6×6 silk, that will help you a lot. Place it as close to the subject as you can. The light that illuminates your silk would ideally be 45º off axis of the interviewee’s look, away from the camera, and 45º above the eyes. Those angles are starting points. With a subject who has deep set eyes you may need to reduce the angles. With a very flat face you may want to increase them. Then fly a second light diffusion half way between the light and the silk. The object is to get a soft wrap into the shadow side, with the shadow-side eye illuminated and most of the rest of the face in shadow. Then bounce the key into the shadow side to taste. Such a setup is very comfortable for most people and should prevent squinting.
Try to position the interviewee so s/he does NOT have a window behind. But if you are forced to deal with a window, a clean 8×8 double scrim placed as far back as possible while still covering the frame will help knock down the background. Some overexposure out the window looks good. Sometimes you can place a large plant or some other appropriate object blocking a good part of the window. Consider sheers / drapes / blinds. You could also fly an ND gel behind the subject so that it reduces the light coming in the window. You say your gel is too small to cover the whole window — so fly it closer to the subject at a place the covers the frame. Reflections of the gel can be a problem, but most such problems can be solved.
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’s point about ebay is definitely a way to leverage your $300 for a much better tripod…. unless you are pressed for time, in which case unless you find a deal quickly, you are stuck buying new.
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 -
Both are Chinese knock-offs. Here’s a brief overview: https://www.studiodaily.com/studiomonthly/currentissue/8857.html. A Google search for each will tell you a lot more about them. To my eyes they do not appear to be a good long-term investment. Obviously, the legs are only half the story. The head is the other half. Unless the head allows you to make butter-smooth pans and tilts, they are next to useless except for a lock-off.
Myself, I’d decide what my budget is. Then go to BHPhotovideo, type into the search box, “complete tripods with heads”, then sort by low to high, and go up to your ouch-point. The cheapest starts at just over $12. There are 15 pages of complete tripods to pick through. Starting page 12 prices are around $230. You’ll find lots of Benbo pods. Some tripods have multiple user reviews, which can be of help.
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 -
I suspect the reason that no one has chimed in is that this topic has been discussed over and over and over again. Have you done a search in the Cow database for “lighting kit”? Try that. Also try BHPhotovideo.com and type lighting kit in the search box. Then set the order from least expensive to most. Work your way up. Try BOTH.
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 -
There have been many, many posts on this topic. Try searching this forum in the “search” box top right.
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