Color Correction

[Alberto Larios-Saavedra]

I have a question regarding color correction and compensation. Let's say that I want to do a shot with a daylight balanced film, but don't have the filter to put in front of the camera. I decide to use CTB (actually 1/2 CTB because I want the image to look a little warm) and want to shoot at a 4-Tstop. Should I put the gels over the lights until I achieve the 4 Tstop, or should I first achieve the desired stop, then put the CTB and then compensate for the loss of it?

Does my question make sense? Does it matter how you do it?

Any help will be appreciated.

 

Thanks,

 

Alberto

[David Mullen ASC]

You always measure the lighting after it has been color-gelled, so no calculation is needed for gel light loss. Normally if the color is correct for what you want to achieve but the light level isn't, you compensate by adjusting the brightness of the light, not by switching to another color gel -- except when you have no choice.

 

An example of when you have no choice is when you simply don't have enough light to get away with using the gel. For example, you may want to put 1/2 CTO on an HMI lighting a wide shot at night as "moonlight" but you find you need that 1/2 stop of light that would be lost by the CTO.

 

But generally you light the set with the color gels you want to use and THEN take some light measurements. Then if the lights are a little too bright, you may add scrims or something to adjust them, or move them back or flood them out a little, or add some diffusion. If they are a little too dark, you may spot them in a little, or move them a little closer, or use less heavy diffusion material on them, etc.

 

There are cases where you want to know how much light the gel will kill -- for example, if you are hanging parcans or lekos for a stage and plan to use some heavy party gels (deep purple, dark green, super blue, red, etc.) and aren't sure how much exposure they will cut.

 

Whatever you do to a light (adding gels, putting it through diffusion, adding scrims, etc.) you usually then take another meter reading before you shoot.