Teal & Orange

L

leaftors

Well-known member
Are you supposed to gel the lights separately or can you use one temperature and split the colours in post?

I just don't understand how the software separates skin tone from the background without masking.

http://imgur.com/a/1XEbT

side question: what do you think the stop difference is between background and subject?
 
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You do qualify skin. Or you can simply let skin shadows go teal, if you so choose, and do a split toning grade.
Creating color separation through lighting and production design is good though, and gives further options.
 
You have to gel or use different sources while shooting. It doesn't have to be extreme while shooting, you can exaggerate the look in post. The important thing to know is that in order to tweak in post, you need to have some difference to start with (unless you want to sit and key frame masks that won't be as good anyways).

I can't see the pictures you posted, but I remember the look from Hugo (and other films like Mission Impossible that has the same palette).
 
High1ander said:
You have to gel or use different sources while shooting. It doesn't have to be extreme while shooting, you can exaggerate the look in post. The important thing to know is that in order to tweak in post, you need to have some difference to start with (unless you want to sit and key frame masks that won't be as good anyways).

I can't see the pictures you posted, but I remember the look from Hugo (and other films like Mission Impossible that has the same palette).
Click to expand...

http://imgur.com/a/1XEbT

So if I had all my lights (key, hair, bg) rated at tungsten, would 1/4 ctb on background lights be enough?

Or what if I rated the camera to 3200 so it would read the light on the subject white. And then 1/2 ctb'd the background light?

Are you saying, in order to separate the lights easily, they have to be dif colour temperatures to start off with?

And what are the limitations? E.g. would you be able to turn the skin tone purple and then the background red (exaggeration)?
 
So if I had all my lights (key, hair, bg) rated at tungsten, would 1/4 ctb on background lights be enough? - Yes, that should be fine to get enough separation to then tweak it more in post.

Or what if I rated the camera to 3200 so it would read the light on the subject white. And then 1/2 ctb'd the background light? - I think this is probably the best way and standard way to go, keep the face skin tones "normal" because it's not always possible to make the skin tones normal if you for example shot em all in red light.

Are you saying, in order to separate the lights easily, they have to be dif colour temperatures to start off with? - Yes, exactly. - Now, depending on cameras and format you shoot in, RAW, for example gives you much more room to tweak colors. You can basically then "key" that blue light and make all "blue light go green" without affecting the orange.

And what are the limitations? E.g. would you be able to turn the skin tone purple and then the background red (exaggeration)? - Limitations lies in the camera and format, and how good your colorist is. So best thing is to try to get the look close in camera, and tweak in post.

What cpc said is also what I think is made on those specific pictures you showed.
 
It is really a guess without knowledge of the transfer curve used, but looking at the first shot, and assuming normal white for the frames of the pictures on the wall, I'd say about 2-2.5 stops between subject key and the right side of the background, with the background falling off some more from right to left.
 
you know basic color theory is that if you push something cold the brain reads everything else as warmer. Just a thought- put in your back pocket to use or not.

also its clear as day that 75 percent plus of that color pallette is in the art direction in these shots---- look at all the browns and blues (brown is desaturated orange- again, color theory), the clothing likely started out as a cool gray, or at least a mid-gray (not warm) with the thought that it would be pushed into cool, etc. There's NO object in the frame that works against that pallette. Just another thought.
 
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