GH4 For discussion; nicely shot skin tones and discussion around how he obtained them.

I didn't really care for the way that looked, but I respect that it's a subjective decision and it was achieved with thought and study.

The skin tones seemed somewhat sallow and over-smoothed. I can think of potential situations where I might aim for that look, though (apocalyptica, depression-era tales, period war films).

Thanks for the link
 
Quickly testing these settings myself, my initial impression is that I like them. I was worried it would be too contrasty, but it gives images a nice three dimensionality, and I find if I lift the shadows a bit the detail is still there and pretty clean. The skin tones aren't too pink and the saturation boosts nicely in post. I wouldn't go by the white balance in his footage, it might not have been set properly.
 
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I put them in my GH4...
I have the usual Cine-D settings (but without too much of the totally wound out -5 thing) I also have a Natural Setup as well (both in C1 and 2).
I just put his in exactly like he described, and shot some footage comparing the skin tone tests against my other profiles.

I have to say I was stunned at the difference, skins lost that pinkish orange look, the highlight falloff was way better and the contrast was a lot better, it really was a massive improvement...and I have owned the GH4
for many months a done a slot of tests and shoots on it.
I also shot a nice close up of a Les Paul guitar with a lot of shine on it from the window (knowing that...this kind of shot really stresses the highlights) the result? beautiful!! it really had a cinematic look to it because the
falloff was nice and smooth even tho the light was very contrasty.
All I can say is try it!!! YMMV ...but for me...this really is a big step forward.
 
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astromann said:
I put them in my GH4...
I have the usual Cine-D settings (but without too much of the totally wound out -5 thing) I also have a Natural Setup as well (both in C1 and 2).
I just put his in exactly like he described, and shot some footage comparing the skin tone tests against my other profiles.

I have to say I was stunned at the difference, skins lost that pinkish orange look, the highlight falloff was way better and the contrast was a lot better, it really was a massive improvement.
Click to expand...

Was screwing around some more and what was interesting to me was that if I lowered the contrast from his setting, the pink orange skin tones start to return. No wonder everyone is complaining about salmon/orange skin tones as they are all shooting at the recommended Cine D with contrast at -5. I am also still stunned by how clean the blacks are when you raise them up with these settings and how much detail is lurking in there. It seems counterintuitive, but I think it's better to get a flat look by shooting with these settings and flattening it in post than to shoot flat and increase the contrast later.
 
Very interesting settings. I've been using Natural before at around -1 for everything. In the video from that link, I like the color of the skin tones at 1:47 (kid eating the burrito). Everything else seems a little too white/pasty?
I tried the settings and was fiddling around with it and I think I prefer it on Portrait +3, 0, 0, -2, -1.
I didn't like it with +4 or +5 contrast. Changing the sharpness didn't really do too much so I just left it at 0, and then lowering the saturation down to -5 was just too white/dead-looking to me. I guess that can be changed with adding more saturation in post, but for out of the camera look, I think -2 was better.
 
CSFilms said:
Everything else seems a little too white/pasty?
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In its defense, I think this was shot in central Europe in the middle of winter....

After taking some time to revisit this and fiddle around with those settings, I think the guy may be on to something. With a slightly warmer white balance, it takes on a rather nice look
 
Did a lot of comparisons...I really think his find is exciting...I was hanging out for V-Log (LOL!!) but seriously I really think he has got something there and my hankering for V-Log has taken a back seat.
I did a bunch more comparisons on skin tones...and what it does is really shift everything to a nice golden undercurrent in the color which really adds a classic cinematic warmth out of the box, I am pretty over the moon about this.
It gets rid of that boiled crayfish/salmon skin look that the Gh4 has at times, as well as somehow softening the contrast on blending areas...yet it darkens shadows while retaining details.
And as Batutta said...the blacks retain detail, I did a landscape test this morning into the bright sky, trees and dark shadows on a wooden balcony at UHD...a pretty wide shot...the results looked very black in the shadows tho...but the rest looked great,
however in Premiere I raised the shadows and the details in the wood were there and no real nasties, I then downsized to 1080p...great!!
I also A/Bd this scene shot with natural and Cine-D...and somehow the Portrait settings looked more dimensional especially in the contrast of far off trees, Cine-D makes them look too one dimensional for my liking...the whole effect is more 3d as opposed to that 2d ish washed out look that Cine-D and even Natural often gives.
Overall...this will be my go to setting from now on for a lot of stuff....great work !!!
 
astromann said:
I did a bunch more comparisons on skin tones...and what it does is really shift everything to a nice golden undercurrent in the color which really adds a classic cinematic warmth out of the box, I am pretty over the moon about this.
It gets rid of that boiled crayfish/salmon skin look that the Gh4 has at times, as well as somehow softening the contrast on blending areas...yet it darkens shadows while retaining details.
And as Batutta said...the blacks retain detail, I did a landscape test this morning into the bright sky, trees and dark shadows on a wooden balcony at UHD...a pretty wide shot...the results looked very black in the shadows tho...but the rest looked great,
however in Premiere I raised the shadows and the details in the wood were there and no real nasties, I then downsized to 1080p...great!!
I also A/Bd this scene shot with natural and Cine-D...and somehow the Portrait settings looked more dimensional especially in the contrast of far off trees, Cine-D makes them look too one dimensional for my liking...the whole effect is more 3d as opposed to that 2d ish washed out look that Cine-D and even Natural often gives.
Overall...this will be my go to setting from now on for a lot of stuff....great work !!!
Click to expand...

agreed 100%, I'm very happy with the initial results I'm seeing!

a big thanks to Michael for sharing all of his legwork for us.
http://vimeo.com/medgyesi
 
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Yep..I thanked Michael on Vimeo and also thanks to you for putting this link here.
I am going to do my best to make it so other people get to try his settings, I have experimented for a long time with various settings along with the usual
settings that some more well known DP's recommend, and I like these the best, as I said earlier...its like a different camera.
So I will spread the word around as far as possible and people can make up their own minds on this, but I personally am convinced his settings are in line with what I like.
 
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I tried his settings briefly last night, but realized I had hue at -1 instead of -2. I pulled them into premiere and thought everything looked extremely desaturated. Maybe putting saturation at -3 would be better. Just my initial thoughts.
 
tiki988 said:
I tried his settings briefly last night, but realized I had hue at -1 instead of -2. I pulled them into premiere and thought everything looked extremely desaturated. Maybe putting saturation at -3 would be better. Just my initial thoughts.
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Yes it's desaturated, and the OP made the point that he'd rather add saturation in post than subtract it. Adding it in post has yielded pretty nice results for me.
 
so what is the magic here? HUE at -2, or a combination that moves the skin tones higher and lower in the color scheme of things?
Have not tried it yet, because I still notice more things wrong with MY FILM MAKING than with the camera
(IE perfect color is the least of my filming problems!)
 
wwjd said:
so what is the magic here? HUE at -2, or a combination that moves the skin tones higher and lower in the color scheme of things?
Have not tried it yet, because I still notice more things wrong with MY FILM MAKING than with the camera
(IE perfect color is the least of my filming problems!)
Click to expand...

I think it's the raising of the contrast in this mode. When I lower it, the pink/orange skin tones return.
 
Even on the GH3 which doesn't have hue adjustment in the Photo Styles menu, these settings get rid of the orange/pink skin tones.
 
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