[Rob-Webster]

A good place to start would be to go to the location at Dusk and shoot a few reference stills.

 

Figure out if you need to shoot towards the horizon where the sun is setting and how you can design the blocking to work in your favour.

 

Start by avoiding the things that are impossible to recreate

[Rob-Webster]

If you want a texture shadow look then you really need to protect that area when you expose.

You can lower the ISO to move the dynamic range into the shadows. You can create a LUT that brings the image down a stop or two, and over expose the image slightly to get more detail in the blacks.

You could also go the other way and create a denser darkness by compressing the shadows. All depends on the type of “dark” you are trying to create.

[Rob-Webster]

I think contrast ratio is one of those things you learn, and then it becomes instinctive.

[Rob-Webster]

I would also like to add, if i may, that calculating contrast ratios or using a more instinctive approach (as Roger described) is a totally personal thing. You have to find the right approach for how you see things.

 

I suspect that if you treat contrast ratio dogmatically and try to light every shot at a 4:1 ratio (for example), you will A) Spend forever looking at numbers and not considering the image, and (B) End up with a very boring looking film.

Contrast ratio, in my mind, is more like a guide, its an area to aim that rather than a strict mathematical decision

[Rob-Webster]

The new EL system is a fantastic method to standardise how we rate exposure across different sensors.

 

As mentioned before the traditional IRE scale does not correspond equally to logarithmic exposure on each camera system so its not really that useful apart from telling where things are clipping.

[Author]

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