red light levels peaking

R

Rev_Jeff

Member
I've been shooting live bands in my area, and at 2 different venues I've had problems with the red stage lights... The rest of the stage lighting I could pull off without too much of a problem, but for some reason the red lights are a pain...
Examples:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgvhc82fkToand
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvMF_P_JAts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgvhc82fkTo

The second one isn't as much of a red, but it's still too bright...
I've tried changing the iris, but then I can't get the guys in the darker areas. I've also tried changing the master pedestal setting, but I didn't want to go too far with that, because it wouldn't have the contrast I want in the image... and the color temp setting of course doesn't help either...
I've been realizing how amazing the human eye is lately.
 
I completely understand and feel your pain. I too have had the same problem. For example, I was doing some shooting in my living room and there was a red fleece blanket on the back of the couch. I was loosing detail and getting pixelization around the edges of only the red blanket. everything else was fine. You could turn down the chroma some but then you will loose the good colors from everything else, not just turn down the red. I dont know. If you find out why this is let me know...Ill do the same for you.

Matt
 
I use curve adjustments in post to pull down the red. Unfortunately, that's just how light works. And yeah, it's easy to take the eye for granted until you have to that stuff manually.
 
youve also got a lot of overmodulation splatter in your audio. unless youre typically getting audio from the board post show, i HIGHLY suggest you look into a mike with higher sound pressure tolerance. i use the shure vp88 and it works GREAT!

have a look:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rB7Rq2uPda8&feature=related

LOUD show, ears rang for 2 days and not an ounce of splatter in the footage.
 
but when you use the curves in post, does it bring back any of the detail in those areas? I guess it would be ok if the iris was set lower, but then the dark areas wouldn't show up... hmmm... don't know what to do...
Thanks for the microphone suggestion, that was another question I was going to ask, even tho I'm going to start getting recordings from the sound guys. Is the mic on the HVX supposed to do that anyway? I thought it might be broken and I was going to have to get it repaired...
 
I have not tried it yet, I just tell the light guy to go easy on the reds, but couldn't you white balance with some of the red on to tone it down? just a thought.
 
no stock on camera mic is going to be able to handle a loud rock show without splattering.

ive tried several and finally settled on that vp88. also fun that its stereo. i use it even when i expect to get post show cd from the sound guys. you never know when the sound guys might screw up the disc (or the mix) and you always have your mic track as backup.
 
There is no easy way to do this. I have shot more rock concerts that I want to admit to, from the
Stones to Metallica, from Wham to Janet Jackson. The secret is, that it is a co-operation between the DP and the lighting director of the show. Concerts lit for an audience are rarely shootable right off. The camera is not as forgiving as the human eye. The lighting director has to compromise for the shoot and reduce the contrasts, trusting the DP to keep the integrity of the show in post. Sound is also another issue, the best is always to have a seperate recording done in sync with the shooting. The alternate is to take a feed from the mixing board, but realize that live sound is never going to be as good as a professional multitrack recording.

I realize that all of this is great if you have a huge budget, but it is to illustrate the lengths we had to go to to get a good product. If you are just a couple of cameras with no budget try to shoot with as flat a settting as possible and reintroduce contrast and saturation in post. Once its over or underexposed its gone. As for sound try like hell to get the mixing board to let you put a recording device up there even one that records to flash drive will work just make sure that you set the levels correctly. Then just use the onboard sound as guide track to resync the recorded sound from the board. I hope this helps a little for you future endevours.
 
After I start talking to the venues more, I don't think sound is going to be a problem... but the lighting is a pain.
Thanks a mil for the advice guys...
btw, does that popping in the mic actually HURT the mic? I mean, if you can blow a speaker......
 
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