Hudson Practicing Lighting

[J.R. Hudson]

Tonight I am feeling under the weather; so I'm working on lighting. I'm using the "Hudson Ghetto I can't Afford Lights So I'll Use a Couple Cheap Brooder Lamps and a Mirror". I spent way too much on film stiff last year; so my wife has kind of curbed the expenses for awhile.

Before you scream "The grabs are grainy!" I know; I love it.

This first one I was trying to keep the outside in acceptable exposure levels using an ND Grad; the light source on my sons face and red of the loveseat is a 400W Twisty Florou Daylight Balanced (So they say). Without the little Florou there is literally no light on him.

This second one I tried keeping the Exterior in acceptable exposure levels while bring alot more light into the picture. The light on the white wall is the little florou sitting on the ground and the light on the loveseat and my son is a mirror reflecting the outside back in; the HUNTED grabs recently submitted used a mirror extensively and all this yap about light kits and here is my free solution.

This is the florou on the floor covering the entire white wall in the background. If you look closely you will see the shadow casts are completely off from where they should be; still, I am happy with the result. A Mirror shines reflects the outside onto the loveseat and my son.

Anyway, with MATTC practicing his lighting nightly; I decided to do some practicing tonight. I'm off to mimic candlelight and will post more in awhile.

 

[Bill_Hooper]

Thanks, John. Personally, I feel like the reflected light on the left side of your son's face in the second grab is odd color temperature wise. When I first saw it I thought -hmm - yellow light. Then I read your description and now I know why - it's the reflected sunlight. Maybe this is what you were going for but it didn't strike me as natural.
But again, thanks for posting them.
Bill

 

[J.R. Hudson]

Thanks for looking Bill. I was going for the look; mimicking what was going on outside but I can totally see what you are saying; I was using a 5600K PRST and didn't have time to WB; my son was getting impatient (Damn talent). It comes across as very warm.

Funny if you look at the 3rd grab; the light on Jared is refelcted from the actual sunset. The light on background wall is a Daylight Florou which looks more natural. Most likely due to the color temp discrepancy?

 

[Rich Lee]

i like the first one...are you turning the gain up to get the grain?

 

[J.R. Hudson]

No not at all; I find the way I shoot it is naturally inducing grain oombined with my postage work. I know some might argue "Ewwwwwww..." but in all honestly? I love it; anything that is like 21 Grams I am digging; gritty or S16.

I confess I am trying to find that fine line, ya know?

 

[J.R. Hudson]

Here are some Candlelight mimicry; same setup; Reflecting a brooder warm florou and holding a small warm over the table; I aint saying its perfect; Im trying.

.

 

[J.R. Hudson]

And then here's my final for the night; my first attempt at Chroma Key using my kids Falcon (INpired by D Jim).

 

[10s]

:thumbsup: I like it, now you need to stick your sons head in the window looking out driving the ship and make a poster...he'll know you're the coolest dad ever and show all his friends.

I Like the grain... i like that look also.

 

[J.R. Hudson]

Thanks 10s; I decided tomorrow night I am going to attempt the Falcon rocketing through space using the old school ILM technique. I'll go into the garge, turn out the lights, light up just the Green Screen and the Falcon whereas everything else will be pitch black...

Then use my Dolly to Dolly in/out for the travelling effect. Stay tuned.

 

[kai]

i'm digging the 2nd couch shot. Very slick look.

 

[J.R. Hudson]

Thanks Kai! And it's just a mirror; a cheap Target HMI (How's the little monkey?)

 

[STORYTELLER32]

Lookin' good Hud! Me likey da grain. Was all of that in camera grain? If not, how much did you add in post? Nice frame for 2:35:1 there too. Did you try and print that back to tape to see how it plays on your TV? And the falcon shot was cool too. If you color grade the falcon it will blend with the space scape better, but it looks like a really successfull test.

This is feeling under the weather?

 

[PDX_DVX]

I always get yelled at to stay in bed when I'm sick and have the urge to experiment with my DVX....

 

[Bigmagic]

Johm I'm a total newbie but I like the second grab as well. I didn't care for the greenscreen, I've seen too many of those done well at Star Wars fan film sites. Good as usual.

 

[Sirius_Doggy]

the light on Jared is refelcted from the actual sunset.

Your son's name is Jared? Man you really are a dedicated DVXuser.com er.. :grin:

 

[MattC]

Anyway, with MATTC practicing his lighting nightly; I decided to do some practicing tonight.

LMAO!! Love the candlelit scene bro! Normally, I'm not big on grain, but I like it there.. On the couch I would work on controlling the light more (but you know this is all so subjective). Mostly I'm thinking of the third shot down where we can see the wall and the statue, and its shadow. I would probably try to flag the light off the wall while keeping your son lit in the same fashion. I find my eye drawn to the wall and not your son.

Tonight's assignment? Put your kid IN the falcon!!!

Matt

 

[alpi69]

i like the mirror´s effect on the second grab. although logically his face shouldn´t be lit by the same light i am sure in a film it would give the right impression of light.

i didn´t even notice too much grain....

 

[MattC]

Really? I see a ton of grain in these images. But that's what John shoots for. He's going for that S16 vibe, and nails it pretty damn well.

To quote this thread: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=40653

Grain is rarely visible in a film, unless shot on 16mm or projected to a massive size. Wanna check? Watch a DVD copy of any major 35mm film - how much grain can you see on your nice big 40" TV? That's right - none!

Grain IS important! But adding it to video won't help any... The advantage of grain structure in film over pixel structure in video is that grain is randomly distibuted throughout each frame (as the emulsion is simply painted onto the celluloid). Pixels, on the other hand are always neatly arranged in rows. The effect of this is to alter the perception of resolution when projected (taking into account the persistance of vision), as the pixels can literally be seen (even on a small scale digital projection) due to their constant rendering in the exact same place, whereas with film the grain moves with each frame, creating a higher effective resolution over a few frames. This also helps acount for the "softer" look of film, despite it's higher resolution. It is organic and analogue in it's nature.

 

[J.R. Hudson]

Thanks for looking everyone; On the middle couch grab; it is definately not from the motivated light source but still has that perceptin of working I think. We will scrutinze it to hell and back, but the average audience I think might think it is from the blinds. A better shot I think would be to move the mirror around to the left?

I do like the grain.

I posted this same grab in MATTC's thread. This is my current 'vibe' I like. It isn't pretty (well, she is)

ST32 ?

What do mean about Color Grading the Falcon? Tonight I am going to attempt to make it fly; really move not jsut a star field (The falcon, not Naomi).

I consulted with one of our Guru's here on DVX and I need to work on establishing the motivated light source and keeping in mind is it hard or soft (again the lighting, not Naomi)

 

[MattC]

I can't speak for ST32 but I think the falcon is to clean white and plasticy. The key is good, but the toy looks like a toy. To be honest, I would do this as art direction and change the model, not try to do it in post. An airbrush, some paint and your in business. If you don't want to go that far, pick up some dry graphite and a nice fluffy make-up brush (TIP: do NOT borrow your wife's). Then start to "distress" the Falcon.

I still want to see you or your kid in it...