Net Filter Pinwheels too distracting?

[Juan Swartz]

I'm going through a diffuser/Janus Kaminski phase right now and attached two pieces of veil net to the back of my lens for daytime shooting (during daytime I use a Fader ND so I can't attach my Classic Soft) but we ended up shooting at night and I didn't want to take the net off and figured it be a good experiment. There were tons of sources causing flares galore and during shooting I was just thinking the whole movie is ruined because everyone will be distracted by the enormous rainbow pinwheels. Turns out no one noticed, I even pointed it afterward and they said they didn't know what I was talking about. Which is really surprising to me, because even in AI or Minority Report there's never pinwheels this huge and glaring and I notice. So this post I guess isn't so much a question about a problem but an example of how much you can get away with.

 

Average Night in the Mall Parking Lot

[David Mullen ASC]

Sure, I've seen just as heavy net flares in Kaminski's movies:

 

 

 

I thought what you did was pretty good; the net was obvious but it wasn't too distracting and the image wasn't too mushy -- it didn't veil over the actors' faces much or anything like that. There were only a couple shots where it looked a bit heavy.

[Juan Swartz]

I geeked for minute realizing you watched our lame little movie, I almost feel I should apologize for wasting your time, but I'm really grateful you did.

 

It's surprising the flares from the sun and the street lamps are the same size, but I suppose it makes sense, size/perspective wise they're relatively the same.

 

If anyone is interested enough it's possible to turn this into a post all about net filter pinwheels/other image effects, posting pics of tulle vs. stocking ect. Though it certainly doesn't seem as helpful as this one , about all the different diffusion filters.

[Roberto Hernandez]

Sorry to reply on such on old topic but I love that effect. I think it makes the image look so interesting and stylish! Does anyone know if Kaminski used nets behind the lens or on frames in front to achieve this look in films like War of the Worlds, Minority Report, A.I., etc? And will using veil netting from a fabric store be any different than stretching out a stocking? how will different color fabric/stocking effect the overall look of the image?