Great images with very cheap lighting

After the software the images just look properly white balanced but not properly lit - that is, there is no vibe of any kind to the look.
 
Yeah, most of what was done to the images could be done with 3 way color in FCP. A good grade is very cool tool, but it is not a substitute for proper creative lighting. Flat, uncreative lighting is crap and can not be fixed in post. The new tools, like Colorista, should be seen as an adjunct to proper lighting, not a substitute for it.
 
Creative use of power windows/vignettes can do wonders in relighting with high quality source video (i.e. RAW).
But the more complicated the scene, the more expensive these wonders get. Proper lighting is often cheaper than fixing, and will look better.
 
CFIlm said:
This makes me wonder if good lighting is necessary
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It is. That's why you see all of the trucks full of equipment and big G&E crews for movies. Producers aren't just spending thousands upon thousands of $$$ on that stuff because they can, it's because often times you need lights for something to look right on screen. And as stated above, it's usually easier and cheaper to get lighting right in camera than in the DI process. I know a colorist who charges something like $800 per hour, and I think he spends roughly an hour to grade a minute of film. Imagine how much more time would be needed per minute of film if nothing was lit properly...
 
Oke so good lighting still important. I was asking since good lighting is quite expensive and the DIY equipment always gets so hot.
 
CFIlm said:
Oke so good lighting still important. I was asking since good lighting is quite expensive and the DIY equipment always gets so hot.
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I don't know that DIY gets significantly 'hotter' than 'real(tm)' pro lights, as there is the strong recommendation for a 'grip' to have a pair of good heat resistant gloves handy for working with lights. (Even my strobe head would get 'hot' from use...).

Things that may be more difficult for the DIY 'grip' truck would be such things as light beam shaping, with say adjustable Fresnel lenses, big wattage, industry standard filters and other modifiers.

To be sure, for any 'hot light' one does not put a untreated for flame resistance modifier near the hot lamp.

Then there's the stands that are needed to mount the modifiers...

The other issue with DIY lights has to do with the color spectrum put out by such lights. One may be able to make some 'small' adjustments for spectral spikes, such as the well known 'green' of common fluorescents, and who knows, for many lights 'close enough' is 'good enough'. It's not like you have someone viewing that knows that 'brownish' scarf really is more red than 'brown'...

The only real problem 'color' is human skin complexion. Get that 'near right' and everything else falls into 'don't care' for the most part.

How many times have you asked yourself 'was that a teal colored car, or just light blue car under green lights???'... I never have... further, the various color of objects in a scene will change the human perception of the various colors in relationship to each other...

If all that 'justification' doesn't work... zap the color with a color mixing filter and make the film 'B&W'... add a bit of 'film grain', and eh wala... avantgarde...
 
There is bad lighting kit and good lighting kit. The good stuff offers better quality of light, so you can use it as an artistic tool, and not the blunt hammer of nasty work lights. Proper equipment gives you choices of hard or soft edged beams, even or peaky response from edge to centre, heat resistant knobs so you can adjust them without burning yourself, and the ability to have accessories fitted. They blend better with other lights and produce excellent results. Work lights provide illumination. Period. In that video you linked to, I have to agree with the others. There were defects, but vastly over emphasised ones.
 
Not only quality but speed, speed, speed.
An experienced grip with a full complement of gear can rig a light perfectly that will look amazing while the DIY guy is trying to figure out how to gaff tape some barn doors on his clamp light. Time = Money.
 
David G. Smith said:
A good grade is very cool tool, but it is not a substitute for proper creative lighting. Flat, uncreative lighting is crap and can not be fixed in post.
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If you can't do what you want with Levels, Curves and Hue/Saturation, then any available plugin won't help you much more than simply using the presets that comes with it. These three plugins comes with any good NLE and one should know how to use them. Just like you should know how to light a scene, frame a shot and all the other basis.
CFIlm said:
I was asking since good lighting is quite expensive and the DIY equipment always gets so hot.
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DIY equipment? You mean 500w Halogen work lamps? I've done a DIY CFL setup and it gets warm, but never at the point of burning like Halogen.
Some pictures available (with details) on hv20.com.
j1clark@ucsd.edu said:
For most DIY'ers there is no money, just time.
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Money comes when building it. Time comes when shooting stuff.
 
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