Lighting Tests

[Gohanto]

This is my first time really concentrating on lighting with decent equipment (helps these are for a trailer so I didn't have to keep track of the story as a director, just got cool shots instead) and I was just curious if I could get some feedback on what you think.

The alley shot was natural light (didn't have long enough power cords, but I liked the way it turned out)

The two close-ups are done with a 300W practical lamp through diffusion and a 250W Lowel Pro-light behind.

Knife shot done with just the Pro-Light.

Window was the Pro-Light behind the actor and a 300W practical on a dimmer in front with a blue gel.

Thanks,

 

[Gohanto]

These are pre-CC

 

[MalcolmOng]

Looks great, albeit a bit noisy for the alley shot. Looked like you used some gain

 

[10s]

You might want to try and get a little eye light for the CU of the guy, just enough to give a tiny reflection on the pupil. It adds a touch of personality/soul.

Try one set-up with and another without, and see the difference, then choose.

 

[J.R. Hudson]

For the dudes skin tones I'd aim for close to 80 IRE

Seems all of your light is on anything but the talent

 

[Gohanto]

JR -
How would I aim for a certain IRE?
And I don't quite understand your 2nd comment. The only light in any of those shots not aiming at an actor is a blue background light in the camera shot, and even then I had a light already on him. Could you explain a little more clearly please?

Thanks.

 

[Gopher_Greene]

Starting from left top to bottom right.
Its hard to find your object here. The forms all blend together making the eye consiciously search for meaningful forms, is that your objective?

This shot is a bit unbalanced, your object is frame left with an up angle (tough he is lit from above removing some of his towering presence) So placing him to the left of the frame and the brgiht light to the right of the frame is an effort to balance, and it almost works. The light is just a bit overpowering and solid so it throws the frame slightly weighted to the right keeping me from giving my full attention to the actor. If you dimmed the light a little and put lines in it (that would point straight towards your actor) I think you'd have a much more effective frame.

This shot alone has little meaning, It takes a while to recognize thats a knife, and oh there's blood there as well; Thats do to the odd angle and ECU of the shot. If this is the last shot in sequences that started wide then it's ok but what detail of the knife are you trying to illustrate? I was looking at it thinking what the signifigance to the story is such an ECU needed to tell?

On the actor's close up you lost your matte in CC. Color noir is quite the rage right now, but you have to be very conscience of lines. Because of the high contrast in noir type shots lines pop up everywhere, there are some very distinct lines here pulling to the bottom right of the frame. This competes with the actor and may have me (the viewer) looking toward the bottom right frame in the next shot. The eyes are going very dark here, is this a dead man walking?

Finally the frame in frame shot. When you setup a frame in frame you should apply the rules of thirds to each frame individually. This shot seems a little uncomfortable to me (meaning my eyes won't settle anywhere) this is due to the objects positioning, If you cheated the actor a little camera right and down it would be much easier to concentrate on them. Also that vertical bar going through the eye is bothersome. It makes me think that someone is inside trying to kill them, or they're desperately trying to escape, so if thats the meaning it's ok.

This is all meant as constructive criticsim, all in all your shots are of good composition and have very interesting elements. Good luck with your project.

 

[eofeapr]

These are the tips and critiques from someone who knows ,,,,,,
I'm glad I read it, I just learned some good things...
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Gohanto I hope you'll agree and run with it