rob norton
Veteran
Nice! Long live the area 48. Link?
Is the COB 300D powerful enough to expose for windows in interview shot?
- Thread starter Lkorver
- Start date
Nice! Long live the area 48. Link?
doubledark
Well-known member
an interesting video by Luke Serveld
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Oitct6gmhs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Oitct6gmhs
ozmorphasis
Well-known member
Thanks for posting. Love Luke's videos.
The moral of the story, I guess, is that if you want the ratios between key and BG to look like the M18 shot, then you need more than three 300d Mk2's with fresnels. More like four. That's $4880 worth of led lights (with 4x fresnel attachments). Of course, way more versatile in terms of breaking them up and/or dimming, but also more work when using as a single source.
Run&Gun
Veteran
Almost $5K worth of LED's AND another $5K HMI(3x 300d II's and a Joker 400 HMI).
doubledark
Well-known member
another lighting gem from Luke Serveld https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tuwyAk-UJo
Link for the frame grab or the Area48?
At the end of the video, after the credits he shows the results of just one 300D with the fresnel. Looks like plenty of light to my eye, am I missing something? Guess the tradeoff would be a harder shadows/more spotty with just one light punching through one area of the diffusion, hard to tell with the mask on. https://youtu.be/1Oitct6gmhs?t=333
morgan_moore
Major Contributor
Yes the 'one light' bit is not well explained - it would seem hes got rid of the diffusion but the light quality on the talent still looks soft.
It is not clear that he has used the correct shot.
It is not clear that he has used the correct shot.
Peter C.
Veteran
I thought what he meant is by keeping the diffusion the same and adding a fresnel, it boosts the light output while yielding harder light. I also assume you get less coverage which you don't see here since it's only head shoulder of one subject.
So the problem was the client wanted the view of the airport in the shot. But the light of the window on a sunny day over powers your the lights on the subject and there were three suggestions:
1. gel the window. but for a large window the labor and cost wasn't worth it.
2. increase the light output on the subject. The cost of the lights need and the subject has to endure the brightness. I've found when competing with the sun the lights must have little to no diffusion to be powerful enough.
3. green screen. Film the room exposed for the window. Then film the subject in front of a green screen. This option wasn't talked much about but I imagine additional time and complexity made it undesirable.
4. You ended up pulling down the semi transparent shades on the window. I guess people often will scale things back to the simplest solution.
5. Film him when there was less light on an overcast day/early morning/late afternoon.
6. Change your approach by filming an establishing shot that shows the airport or walking into the conference room then cut to CU MU of the interview where the background is blown out or position him so the window isn't behind him. Now your window light is working for you to light the subject.
So the problem was the client wanted the view of the airport in the shot. But the light of the window on a sunny day over powers your the lights on the subject and there were three suggestions:
1. gel the window. but for a large window the labor and cost wasn't worth it.
2. increase the light output on the subject. The cost of the lights need and the subject has to endure the brightness. I've found when competing with the sun the lights must have little to no diffusion to be powerful enough.
3. green screen. Film the room exposed for the window. Then film the subject in front of a green screen. This option wasn't talked much about but I imagine additional time and complexity made it undesirable.
4. You ended up pulling down the semi transparent shades on the window. I guess people often will scale things back to the simplest solution.
5. Film him when there was less light on an overcast day/early morning/late afternoon.
6. Change your approach by filming an establishing shot that shows the airport or walking into the conference room then cut to CU MU of the interview where the background is blown out or position him so the window isn't behind him. Now your window light is working for you to light the subject.
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ozmorphasis
Well-known member
It is definitely still shooting through the 6x6 and even with mask you can see that the softness is pretty much the same, so I don't think he changed anything in terms of distances, adjustment on fresnel (flood), etc.
However, if you jump back and forth between that shot after the credits (One 300D mk2 with fresnel) and the one at the very beginning (300Dmk2 at 60% with the reflector dish/55 degrees + the Joker 400), they look identical to my eyes in terms of exposure and ratio between key and BG. I would not want to shoot with that ratio as the BG looks too distracting and doesn't showcase the talent enough because it is too hot once you expose the skin correctly like he did.
We didn't get tests of every possible gradation in between the two main setups in terms of adding one 300d mk2 at a time, but basically there are two "looks" here. Both work, but I much prefer the one where the BG can be toned down a bit more relative to key. That was achieved with either an M18, or the equivalent of 4 Aputures (3 300d's + Joker 400, since I am assuming that one 300d with fresnel is comparable to a joker 400, again as is demonstrated by the comparison between the first setup at the beginning of the video and the last one after the credits).
That said, it's nice to see that the shot is possible with a single 300D mk2, with only a few areas of the frame totally blown out (the roof of some buildings in bottom right frame, etc).
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I asked him in the comments, his response: "The single 300d was still going through the same half grid at the same difference, just a different stop on the camera... that I didn’t record. Crazy, right?"
rob norton
Veteran
I meant link to any results though I might be asking too soon.
Ah, here's the A camera angle. Area48 through diff with neg fill opposite. Skin tones looked great with the in-camera LUT on the monitor, but I can't seem to get the grade where I want it, fairly new working with canon raw + c300mk3. Luckily this is going through a proper color workflow.
ozmorphasis
Well-known member
Looks great to me. Have you considered cooling off the rest of the room and windows a bit just so skin tones aren't competing so much for the same warm tones? The screen above his head is not ideal, but after shooting a bazillion board room talking heads, I totally understand the limitations in finding a perfect composition.
My favorite thing about these board room shots is the reflection patterns off of the table. Always adds a nice texture to the frame, but again, I'd prefer that they contrast the skin a bit more by having them cooler. Of course, that's totally matter of taste. Your shot looks great.
rob norton
Veteran
Looks great! Nice coffee cup prop/actual cup of coffee.
For the last shot with just the single 300D2, I think the lamp is only at 60%, as he dials it up for a few seconds to what I assume is 100% and blows out the subject. So there's still room to get a better ratio/tone down the background if you go full blast on a single 300D2. But of course, give me the flexibility of the M18 any day.
Peter C.
Veteran
Looks fine. I'm nit picking here:
1. You're shooting down on him a little. I would have lowered the camera.
2. I would have put the key on the opposite side and used the window fill.
3. I don't like the black tv screen and the horizontal line on the wall. My eyes are drawn to them. I understand it's difficult filming on location. Like other said if the foreground/background ratio. Using things like hair light helps add separation from the background. I think you were fortunate to be able to get away with using only one light.
1. You're shooting down on him a little. I would have lowered the camera.
2. I would have put the key on the opposite side and used the window fill.
3. I don't like the black tv screen and the horizontal line on the wall. My eyes are drawn to them. I understand it's difficult filming on location. Like other said if the foreground/background ratio. Using things like hair light helps add separation from the background. I think you were fortunate to be able to get away with using only one light.
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ozmorphasis
Well-known member
No, he is adjusting exposure at the camera, not the fixture. You can tell because the entire frame gets hotter, including the buildings and all. But yes, M18! ; )