Would you fix this or let it go?

[Ducatimark]

This is a grab from a local commercial I shot this week.

Using a monitor and with three people checking lighting, we all missed the hard shadow on her right cheek (after many hours of shooting until midnight).

Anyone have any idea of how to fix in post or would you just let it go? Client didn't seem to notice or care, but it's bugging me. It's like having that one bad paint chip on your Ferrari and you don't want the guys at Pebble Beach to remind you of it. Not that I have a Ferrari or go to Pebble Beach, but I think it might be like that.:undecided

This was shot in DVCPro50 with HVX200 through a Letus Extreme/50mm Nikkor lens at 24p.

Thanks for any suggestions!

Mark G
www.newmediadevcorp.com (http://www.newmediadevcorp.com)

[David Saraceno]

what shadow?

:)

[John Froton]

I take it that you mean the hard line between the lit and shaded part of her cheek.

You know ... to me it does not look bad. Unless it's bugging someone that's paying you, I would say it's good the way it is.

[Ducatimark]

Thanks John. I think the client and David saw the same thing, though. I think I'll run with it as is.

[Lez]

Skin Smoother plugin from http://www.digitalfilmtools.com (http://www.digitalfilmtools.com/html/products_main.html)

part of the 55mm filter set

Cheers Les

[Jan_Crittenden]

On a commercial, there are so many looks, hey, I had to sit there and concentrate on which cheek right was to decide what the problem was. Unless the client has a problem, call it a learning curve.

Best,

Jan

[Ducatimark]

I guess I should have said the shadow line under her right eye. But thanks Jan, that makes me more comfortable with it. This is my first shoot for broadcast (not a web production) and I really want to get it right.

Thanks Les for the link. Very cool plug-ins! I do animation work and I see some things I can use there as well.

Best regards,

Mark Gervasoni
www.newmediadevcorp.com (http://www.newmediadevcorp.com)

[Luis Caffesse]

Client didn't seem to notice or care, but it's bugging me.

I'm assuming since this is your first broadcast job that you're probably already giving the client more than they're paying for (seems the way things normally are).

In which case - don't give it another thought, finish the spot and move on.
I can see why it bugs you - but it's not worth fiddling with in my opinion.

Like Jan said, chalk it up to the learning curve.

[THX-1138]

I'm assuming it's just some backlight spill from the talent moving from her mark after the light was set

In any case

If you don't cut to a wide shot you're fine.

It looks like the sun is shining in through a high window or something.



You're shot is properly exposed and is only a mistake if you tell me it wasn't intentional.

[Glen Gustafson]

If you never see anything that bothers you in your work, you are not any kind of artist. That's what keeps it interesting, you are always learning.

22 years ago I had the honor of sitting next to Gunnar Fischer at a Steenbeck at the Swedish Film Institute, where he went through a 35mm print of "Wild Strawberries" and then "The Seventh Seal" and described how he had done the lighting, shot by shot.

He kept pointing out little flaws that still drove him nuts after all these years. Freakin' masterpieces, but I could see what he meant.

He's still living, by the way. Born in 1910.

Just keep up the good work. You're in excellent company if you aren't always satisfied.

[David Saraceno]

If you never see anything that bothers you in your work, you are not any kind of artist. That's what keeps it interesting, you are always learning.


I show stuff we've done, and she looks at and loves it.

I sit there and point out all the problems/issues.

I guess sometimes we need to just smell the roses.

[Douglas Villalba]

I guess I should have said the shadow line under her right eye. But thanks Jan, that makes me more comfortable with it. This is my first shoot for broadcast (not a web production) and I really want to get it right.

Thanks Les for the link. Very cool plug-ins! I do animation work and I see some things I can use there as well.

Best regards,

Mark Gervasoni
www.newmediadevcorp.com (http://www.newmediadevcorp.com)

I think that you are talking about the bags under her eyes. If that is what what is bothering you, no one picked up on it.
What most people saw is the over exposed light coming from a kicker placed to far to the side. I also notice that your fill was to hot also and kept you from seeing an effective and better position kicker too.

When you look at light spots in her eyes you can see that your fill was brighter than you key light.

Just an observation not a critique. Maybe that is the way you wanted it anyway.

Like someone mention before, I am never totally happy with what I do but my customer keep coming back for more of it. :2vrolijk_08:

[Ducatimark]

All -

Thanks for the critique and suggestions. More things to watch for on the next shoot!

I think what happened is that I decided to do a close-up on her for the last line of the commercial. It was late, we were all tired, etc... So of course we didn't bother to move the lights to adjust to the new camera angle and the slight change in the angle the actress was sitting. Lesson learned, take the extra five minutes and check the monitor. I have one of Luis' new Carrion monitors and it really made the difference in spotting overly dark shadows and bright spots on the initial set-up (I was using DVRack HD as well and the waveform monitor). I can't say enough about how great it was having a real monitor on set. A couple of nights later I shot a green screen corporate job and forgot my monitor. I had momentary heart failure. Thankfully I had my laptop and DVRack as a backup, but that is the last time I forget my monitor.

I've posted a couple of other stills from the shoot. I think you can see that the overall exposure and light set-up is much better.

Thanks again all for your posts,

Mark Gervasoni
www.newmediadevcorp.com (http://www.newmediadevcorp.com)