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Hi,
I apologize in advance if I try to ask the 1000 question on a topic as a new member 😉
Cove Lightning
Sometimes the lights are on the floor, sometimes the lighting comes from the top: Does this have a big impact on bouncing? Or is it just a space thing?Will the unbleached muslin be doubled? So that no lighting can shine through?
I don’t quite understand yet: will the first lighting be set brighter? And the 2nd less? And the 3rd even more dimmed? Or do all 3 have the same brightness?
If RD uses tungsten lighting in the room and daylight shines through the window, does he use a CTO window film (100, 50, 25%?). Or does he “just” put a gel filter on the camera lens? Or deliberately using mixed light?
Thanks if someone takes the trouble to help a greenhorn …. Thank you so much!!!
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There is always talk about CTO/CTB window gels.
What about 1/2 CTO/CTB CAMERA filters? Or do they have too many disadvantages?We mention gels on windows because we’re talking about the color temperature issues when mixing daylight with tungsten practicals. A camera filter would just shift everything in one direction, not reduce the difference between two sources of different color temperatures.
That sounds logical, of course, sorry!
But you write in an earlier post that you tolerate color differences in the image, like Roger.
But how do you deal with color casts (skin tone bluish, orange, etc.)?
Surely you will be trying to prevent that in some way…
Simply by using a white balance?
Or is it more consistent (window example) to work with ½ CTO right away?
Thank you!There is no right or wrong approach. Sometimes you want a color cast or to see a color temperature difference, sometimes you don’t, sometimes you just want to adjust the degree of difference while keeping it. Sometimes you want orange or blue light on faces. I only mention 1/2 CTO gel on windows as a technique some cinematographers use to partially correct daylight towards tungsten rather than completely correct it by using Full CTO or 85 gel. There is no right or wrong approach!
Adjusting white balance on camera is the same idea as using a filter on the lens, it shifts everything one direction or the other, it doesn’t change a difference in color between two sources of light. Now whether you want the daylight to look white, blue, partially blue or the tungsten to look white, orange or partially orange by how you set the white balance is an artistic decision. There is no right or wrong answer. Generally when dealing with this issue, it is both a lighting decision (controlling color balance between sources) and a color temperature setting decision in order to create the look you want. You may decide you like the look of 3200K practicals and 5600K windows with the camera set to 4300K for example.
Thank you very much for the detailed and factual explanation. Many lighting tutorials usually present one technique as the only true one because they are convinced of only one method. But you are right. There is no right or wrong.
Thank you so much for your time!While shooting digital, I don’t use charts daily but when I shoot film, I shoot a grey scale at the head of the roll. When I test a camera, film or digital, I use color charts and grey scales. When shooting tests in prep on a digital camera in order to create the dailies LUT, I often I use a DSC Labs test chart like this:
The point of shooting a chart during production is both to communicate with a dailies colorist and to see later how that chart looks in dailies. It’s very important if shooting film to do this (I think.)
But if you are shooting digital and your dailies is just your log data with a LUT applied, or some additional ASC-CDL adjustments created by a DIT sent to the dailies colorist, then there is no reason to shoot charts if no one is manually color-correcting the footage, just applying the LUT and ASC-CDL values. The charts don’t end up being edited into the movie so they won’t be there for the final color-correction. Maybe it would make sense for a VFX shot as some reference for color and exposure.
Thank you so much for having answered me in such detail. It’s great that you let one share your expertise!
In one post you write that you like “cooler” shadows (not this way reddish). Fill light and keylight should be warmer though….
How big are the temperature differences between the two lighting types?Also, like Roger, do you use a lot of bounce to achieve soft lighting (Muslin, etc.)?
Or do you light, for example, through foils (e.g. Half Soft Frost, etc.) to give the actors softer lighting?Thank you!
Do you have a special preference for soft lighting for the actors? HDR doesn’t make it any easier. Do you have any favorite foils or camera filters that you prefer to work with?No, it depends on the scene, the space, the camera movement, the look desired, etc. I do use Litegear Litemats a lot.
Dear Roger Deakins,
I read somewhere that you don’t use ‘traditional’ 3-point lighting for interview scenes either.
How would you create an interview scene (interviewer and interviewee)? Instead of a traditional softbox? Bounce on unbleached muslin? Or even a curve lighting? Or just a muslin bounce on the side as a key light?
What would you use as a backlight? Practical lights? So that the subject stands out slightly from the background.Or alternatively with 2 ring lights (each on the side of the persons, Rembrandt style)?
Thank you!
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