Question about Contrast

aravance

aravance

Well-known member
Is it good to capture footage with a high contrast ratio as opposed to not having much in way of highlights?

I've been scared in the past to capture footage without any highlights, and I'm just wondering if that is a healthy fear or an irrational one.

For example, we were using the m2 for an interior scene and didnt have enough light. it appeared in the waveform monitor as mostly in the blacks and lower midtones. So I opted to not use the m2 for contrast sake.

But could I have still shot with the m2 and then improve the contrast in post? (bring up the highlights, crush the blacks, etc.)

Thoughts?
 
I think shooting flatter, and brighter is better, just as long as its no over 90% white is better , because bringing the mids and blacks up will not look to great, bringing brighter areas down will look much better in the end, because the data is there in the highs (as long as its not fully blown out) in the dark areas, the data really isnt there so itll come up looking like compression artifacts.

thats in my experience.
 
I always try to get the greatest contrast range I can.
I hate flat footage. I'll crank my master ped down to get rich blacks and I set my zebras at 100% then set the exposure until they just go away.
 
its probably just up to what you want those specific shots to look like in the end then no?
 
That's the way I feel about it. What I like, you may not and vice versa. It's all about personal taste.
 
n8ture said:
I'll crank my master ped down to get rich blacks and I set my zebras at 100% then set the exposure until they just go away.
Click to expand...

That's what I did with my DVX, and what I'm doing now. I just put the lens cap on, and cranked the MP down until the meter read 0%, and have left it there, and so far I have yet to be unhappy with the contrast range.

Saturation on the other hand is another issue- one that I'm still playing with. (I haven't nailed down any specifics on that one yet.)
 
Good responses. Yeah, unfortunately for the shoot we didn't rent a generator and the 1k's were blowing the fuse in the house we were using. So because I could never get the footage bright enough because I was using the m2, I opted to shoot without it.
It was a tough choice, but I think it was the right decision in order to capture brighter footage that I could bring down in post.
 
235: good idea about getting the blacks to be black without the noise, i need to try this out
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top