dark lighting

Matt Gettemeier · March 19th, 2005, 07:58 AM

Barndoors drawn tight... or else snoot your light with aluminum foil. All you need to do is focus your light by having it really close to the subject (just out of frame) and snoot/flag.

If you get your subject several stops lighter then your background... the background should black out fine.

I've shot video to simulate an on-stage vocalist... in a small WHITE bedroom by putting a 300w fresnel on the singer... Obviously there was so much spill everywhere that the whole room was lit up... even with barndoors drawn... but the DIFFERENCE in exposure was so high that the background STILL went black when the cam iris was closed down to properly expose the singer.

Wayne Orr · March 20th, 2005, 04:38 PM

"Streaks and Tips" was originally used as a fast hair color product that was picked up by gaffers and grips as a way to dull down shiney objects. S&T comes in different colors, but dark brown and black are most commonly used for our purposes. The product comes in a spray container, and you spritz it on whatever object is causing unwanted reflections. Or, in this case you would spray it on the camera side of a light bulb that is in the shot to knock down its output to the camera, while leaving the actor's side of the bulb clean so he gets the full output. You probably would use a 40-60 watt bulb in this case. Don't overdo the spray, just take it down so you don't have that sharp source in the lens. It can be wiped off.

You can find "Streaks and Tips" in most grip supply houses under "expendables." (Expendables are those items that tend to get used up in the course of a shoot, such as gaffer tape, lighting gels, diffusion, etc.)

Wayne

Matt Gettemeier · March 20th, 2005, 06:53 PM

I hate to state the obvious, but spray it on BEFORE you turn the light on... Hot light plus S&T equals excellent special effect... just be sure the cam is running if you get that bulb HOT before trying to control it with S&T.

Wayne Orr · March 20th, 2005, 07:48 PM

Thanks for adding the word of caution, Matt.

Adam Winger · March 21st, 2005, 03:42 PM

well believe it or not i blacked out the whole van with some black vinyl stuff i got from a fabric store about 50 bucks worth of the stuff. it worked out pretty well. only problem i had was on the last shot when he was walking out of the van you can obviously see the background but i tried to make it look like the interior was sapost to be black i even velcroed some to the doors inside so they were black. came out pretty well and got the effect i wanted. now my problem is when i was trying to get a little bit better color in post i turned up the brightness and contrast which has a great color to everything but makes the talents skin look like it has a orange tint to it. any suggestions?

Jimmy McKenzie · March 21st, 2005, 05:07 PM

Now you are working against the grain. Literally and figuratively. The whole idea of isolating your background to black at the lens by using professional lighting and perfectly placed practical lighting is so that the moire and grain don't appear in post. Now you're turning up the B/C in your NLE!
Yeeks!
You can further colour correct to shift a group of hues, colour pass etc., but this is getting destructive.
It's all about the movement of the cam and lighting, lighting, lighting.

Adam Winger · March 21st, 2005, 07:00 PM

yea i noticed it was getting grainy the light was good i was just being fussy trying to make it better. with a little adjustment it looked a little better with no grain.

Wayne Orr · March 21st, 2005, 07:17 PM

Jimmy is absolutely correct, Adam; it's all about the light. You'll begin to understand this as you shoot more footage. But back to your problem.

"Brightness & Contrast" are the worst way to adjust footage. Just trust me on this, because it gets into a long tutorial on color correction and how you lose information by diddling with B&C. What you want to do is adjust "Levels." In FCP, there is a marvelous three way color corrector, and hopefully you have FCP of something similar. Here is how I would do it in FCP:

Open the clip in the viewer. In Tools, open the Waveform. Tear it off and drag it somewhere so you can see the viewer.

Go to Effects, Color Correction, Three-Way CC and apply to clip. Click "Visual" to open the three color wheel controls.
Go to the Waveform. Look at the black background. It should be at or very near zero. If not, go to the extreme left control in the Three-Way CC, which is the "Black" level control. Beneath the wheel is a line with a mid-point. Slowly move the line to the left to lower the black level until it reaches zero or close to it.

Next, look at the area outside the van. If you see a white object that is illuminated, it should be close to 100% on the waveform. If it is not illuminated, or there is no white area in the picture, just adjust the far right slider till the areas of the picture that should look bright, indeed look reasonably bright. Adjusting brightness may raise your Black levels, so you need to go back and forth with the tweaking.

Next, look at the subject's face. Does he look to be correct, exposure-wise? If not, adjust the slider on the Mid-tones, the one in the middle till he looks good. Again, you may have to adjust the other two.

When you have the overall exposure looking good, it's time to fiddle with the color. If only the face looks orange, then you will adjust the color wheel on the mid-tones. Drag the control in the center of the color wheel toward the blue color. Slowly. Till you get a good flesh tone. Done.

Wayne Orr, SOC

Adam Winger · March 21st, 2005, 08:12 PM

i was just messing around to get it a little better. my lighting wasn't awesome because i don't have the best equipment and i know i am not doing it the best way but i am doing the best with what i have. now onto your demonstration. i have premiere pro and i think they ahve something simillar to what you are describing i will have to look for it and give it a try.

March 19th, 2005, 07:58 AM	#16
Matt Gettemeier Major Player Join Date: May 2003 Location: St. Louis, Missouri Posts: 936	Barndoors drawn tight... or else snoot your light with aluminum foil. All you need to do is focus your light by having it really close to the subject (just out of frame) and snoot/flag. If you get your subject several stops lighter then your background... the background should black out fine. I've shot video to simulate an on-stage vocalist... in a small WHITE bedroom by putting a 300w fresnel on the singer... Obviously there was so much spill everywhere that the whole room was lit up... even with barndoors drawn... but the DIFFERENCE in exposure was so high that the background STILL went black when the cam iris was closed down to properly expose the singer.

March 20th, 2005, 04:38 PM	#17
Wayne Orr Major Player Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Northridge Ca Posts: 734	"Streaks and Tips" was originally used as a fast hair color product that was picked up by gaffers and grips as a way to dull down shiney objects. S&T comes in different colors, but dark brown and black are most commonly used for our purposes. The product comes in a spray container, and you spritz it on whatever object is causing unwanted reflections. Or, in this case you would spray it on the camera side of a light bulb that is in the shot to knock down its output to the camera, while leaving the actor's side of the bulb clean so he gets the full output. You probably would use a 40-60 watt bulb in this case. Don't overdo the spray, just take it down so you don't have that sharp source in the lens. It can be wiped off. You can find "Streaks and Tips" in most grip supply houses under "expendables." (Expendables are those items that tend to get used up in the course of a shoot, such as gaffer tape, lighting gels, diffusion, etc.) Wayne

March 20th, 2005, 06:53 PM	#18
Matt Gettemeier Major Player Join Date: May 2003 Location: St. Louis, Missouri Posts: 936	I hate to state the obvious, but spray it on BEFORE you turn the light on... Hot light plus S&T equals excellent special effect... just be sure the cam is running if you get that bulb HOT before trying to control it with S&T.

March 20th, 2005, 07:48 PM	#19
Wayne Orr Major Player Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Northridge Ca Posts: 734	Thanks for adding the word of caution, Matt.

March 21st, 2005, 03:42 PM	#20
Adam Winger New Boot Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: ma Posts: 13	well believe it or not i blacked out the whole van with some black vinyl stuff i got from a fabric store about 50 bucks worth of the stuff. it worked out pretty well. only problem i had was on the last shot when he was walking out of the van you can obviously see the background but i tried to make it look like the interior was sapost to be black i even velcroed some to the doors inside so they were black. came out pretty well and got the effect i wanted. now my problem is when i was trying to get a little bit better color in post i turned up the brightness and contrast which has a great color to everything but makes the talents skin look like it has a orange tint to it. any suggestions?

March 21st, 2005, 05:07 PM	#21
Jimmy McKenzie Major Player Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Waterloo Ontario Posts: 721	Now you are working against the grain. Literally and figuratively. The whole idea of isolating your background to black at the lens by using professional lighting and perfectly placed practical lighting is so that the moire and grain don't appear in post. Now you're turning up the B/C in your NLE! Yeeks! You can further colour correct to shift a group of hues, colour pass etc., but this is getting destructive. It's all about the movement of the cam and lighting, lighting, lighting.

March 21st, 2005, 07:00 PM	#22
Adam Winger New Boot Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: ma Posts: 13	yea i noticed it was getting grainy the light was good i was just being fussy trying to make it better. with a little adjustment it looked a little better with no grain.

March 21st, 2005, 07:17 PM	#23
Wayne Orr Major Player Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Northridge Ca Posts: 734	Jimmy is absolutely correct, Adam; it's all about the light. You'll begin to understand this as you shoot more footage. But back to your problem. "Brightness & Contrast" are the worst way to adjust footage. Just trust me on this, because it gets into a long tutorial on color correction and how you lose information by diddling with B&C. What you want to do is adjust "Levels." In FCP, there is a marvelous three way color corrector, and hopefully you have FCP of something similar. Here is how I would do it in FCP: Open the clip in the viewer. In Tools, open the Waveform. Tear it off and drag it somewhere so you can see the viewer. Go to Effects, Color Correction, Three-Way CC and apply to clip. Click "Visual" to open the three color wheel controls. Go to the Waveform. Look at the black background. It should be at or very near zero. If not, go to the extreme left control in the Three-Way CC, which is the "Black" level control. Beneath the wheel is a line with a mid-point. Slowly move the line to the left to lower the black level until it reaches zero or close to it. Next, look at the area outside the van. If you see a white object that is illuminated, it should be close to 100% on the waveform. If it is not illuminated, or there is no white area in the picture, just adjust the far right slider till the areas of the picture that should look bright, indeed look reasonably bright. Adjusting brightness may raise your Black levels, so you need to go back and forth with the tweaking. Next, look at the subject's face. Does he look to be correct, exposure-wise? If not, adjust the slider on the Mid-tones, the one in the middle till he looks good. Again, you may have to adjust the other two. When you have the overall exposure looking good, it's time to fiddle with the color. If only the face looks orange, then you will adjust the color wheel on the mid-tones. Drag the control in the center of the color wheel toward the blue color. Slowly. Till you get a good flesh tone. Done. Wayne Orr, SOC

March 21st, 2005, 08:12 PM	#24
Adam Winger New Boot Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: ma Posts: 13	i was just messing around to get it a little better. my lighting wasn't awesome because i don't have the best equipment and i know i am not doing it the best way but i am doing the best with what i have. now onto your demonstration. i have premiere pro and i think they ahve something simillar to what you are describing i will have to look for it and give it a try.