Lighting for clean, noise free result

[GlenRhodes]

Hi everyone.

Just wondering what people recommend for lighting to best create a clean picture, with no video noise. If I want a scene that appears dark, with strong contrasting side lighting, should I light the scene so it's moderately bright, and then iris down in camera, or should I shoot it brighter (with the correct contrast ratio between dark and light) and then darken in post, thus reducing the noise at that point?

I've just found that I've been able to create the look I want on monitor, but when I REALLY look into it after transferring to computer, there's video noise in the black areas (and yes, my gain is set to L). I've found the only way to get rid of it is to darken the whole shot in post.

I understand that lighting is about lighting the areas you want accentuated, and controlling where you want stray light to fall, but I'm just talking about taking that light, and turning it up a whole bunch, shooting it bright, and then darkening in post, so the blacks are truly black.

I've worked in audio production, and I've found that recording more "signal" allows you to turn it down in the end, and thereby turn down the "noise" as well. The same concept must apply to video too?

Thanks,
Glen

 

[Bill_Hooper]

Re: Lighting for clean, noise free result

Yeah, this an area of interest for me too. Have you read this article on DV.com "Lighting the Darkness"? Pretty good I think.

http://dv.com/news/news_item.jhtml;...ckman1002&_requestid=172905&_requestid=420357

You have to register but it's worth it.
Bill

 

[GlenRhodes]

Re: Lighting for clean, noise free result

Yeah, it really does seem to be about giving the camera more light than it needs, and then turning it down later.

 

[acoreasc]

Re: Lighting for clean, noise free result

just be careful not to overexpose too much. When shooting film I always rate the film slower and overexpose to give me a denser negative, that way when I timed the print I can print down, giving me tighter blacks and more saturated color. Video doesn't have the same range as film but the concept should still apply, albeit within a much smaller sphere of information.

 

[filmmaker58]

Re: Lighting for clean, noise free result

Try lighting for the middle exposure range of the camera.  If your faces are around the 4 to 5.6 range when possible, then that should help the darker areas from going to mud.  Where the cameras fall apart is the wide open range of exposure. You should never need to overexpose a scene, just used more light when possible and stop the camera down to the correct exposure.