So I have been testing footage with my t2i with visioncolor and M31 lut. Some shots I have gotten to look really well clean and cinematic. A few shot no matter what look very grainy or just bad. I used 320 native iso but I was thinking it just wasnt enought light in the area or maybe too much contrast when you shoot can cause this. Any advice on how to keep shot clean. I wanted to invest in some flourescent lights. Is this a good idea. Prepping for an action or horror short film just testing my camera out to make sure I can achieve a cinematic look.
Clean Footage??
- Thread starter Mr.VVS
- Start date
DPStewart
Veteran
You probably need better exposures.
The light meter on DSLR's is pretty basic and doesn't tell you the whole story sometimes.
Meaning that if 80% of your shot is under-exposed but the remaining 20% is really hot - then the meter is going to say it's right on the +-0 mark. But that is classic BAD EXPOSURE technique.
You may have heard of using an external monitor that has a "false color" function. What that does is show you the relative ratios of how exposed to light the different areas of your shot is. Really, if you have some areas that are dark and some that are really hot - you probably need to either add WAY more light to your dark areas, or move to a different shot location altogether. This is a major part of the art of photography and cinematography.
This is probably why you're getting noisy areas even though your meter said you were ok.
Generally speaking, ALL lighting is good. The point is to have enough of it!
Here's a quick easy test to do regularly - if you can tell you have some bright areas in your shot, like the sky or some brightly lit wall or a light - then before you hit record move the camera a little to exclude the bright part and see if you meter now says you're underexposed. THAT tells you that those portions of your frame are indeed underexposed. BINGO!
To fix that you have to either ADD more light to those areas, or reframe the shot entirely.
The light meter on DSLR's is pretty basic and doesn't tell you the whole story sometimes.
Meaning that if 80% of your shot is under-exposed but the remaining 20% is really hot - then the meter is going to say it's right on the +-0 mark. But that is classic BAD EXPOSURE technique.
You may have heard of using an external monitor that has a "false color" function. What that does is show you the relative ratios of how exposed to light the different areas of your shot is. Really, if you have some areas that are dark and some that are really hot - you probably need to either add WAY more light to your dark areas, or move to a different shot location altogether. This is a major part of the art of photography and cinematography.
This is probably why you're getting noisy areas even though your meter said you were ok.
Generally speaking, ALL lighting is good. The point is to have enough of it!
Here's a quick easy test to do regularly - if you can tell you have some bright areas in your shot, like the sky or some brightly lit wall or a light - then before you hit record move the camera a little to exclude the bright part and see if you meter now says you're underexposed. THAT tells you that those portions of your frame are indeed underexposed. BINGO!
To fix that you have to either ADD more light to those areas, or reframe the shot entirely.
Thank God for DPStewart. You are the man!!! Thank you so much. I been pretty much understanding the camera movements, framing, and camera angles part which im still learning. The coloring and lighting part seems so complex sometimes it makes me want to throw my camera lol. Do you have any work or a website that has some of your work or more info on cinematography.