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Why do I get no highlights on the face of this Model?


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Hey all,

I hope you're having a good Sunday.

I have been shooting 16mm film with a female Model, and I cannot get any highlights on her face - even though I have 2 big softboxes (24X36") in front of her and a ring light. Therefore I have a ton of light - but I have zero highlights - which also means I cannot push highlights in post. There are none in the log footage - so clearly I can't push them in post.

 

I have tried under-exposing, normal-exposing  and over-exposing my film. Still zero highlights. I am trying to replicate this look with J LO - where her face is "burnt" - because the highlights were pushed to the extreme in post. If I try to do that, it does not work, because I have no highlights in the original footage.

500T film.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Here is a shot under-exposed, normal-eposure and over-exposed.

 

 

UNDER1.jpg

OVER1.jpg

NORMAL1.jpg

JLO-2.jpg

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Sounds like you're lighting flatly... You'd want to set up a nice overall exposure, your base, beauty stuff, and then over-expose just one side of the face.

You say you are "under" and "over" exposing; but what is your contrast ratio? What are you reading for your high-light and your mid, and your shadow off of your meter? And, then, what are you setting your exposure based on?

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Hey Adrian,

thanks for your input.

I set my camera based on the exposure reading that I get right in front of the Model's face. In this case F11. My background was reading at F8. The studio is well lit from ambient light so everything else except the girl was F8. She was at F11.

 

 

 

 

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That's your problem, that's taking an average reading and exposing everything to average out. What you would really want would be for your highlight side to be overexposed by  two, three or four stops and your Shadow side to be at your exposure level. 

For example; Shadow @2.8(your exposure set at 2.8) and highlights reading at a 5.6 or 8 

even then you'll push the highlights higher in post.

 

you could also keep shadow at a 2, expose at 2.8 and highlights at a 5.6/8 for a little bit 2 contrast 

 

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So, are you saying my background is too lit compare to the girl?

 

If I keep my exact same lights in front of her (her face will still be at F11), and I lower my ambient light, so the meter will now read F4... will I get highlights in her face? Right now I have none.

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It's noting to do with the background. It's about the key and fill sides of her face.

The background is irrelevant to what you are trying to achieve on her face.

Though you would want it as bright as your exposure so she doesn't disappear into darkness. Let me try to whip up a visual

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Hope this makes some senseJLO-2.jpg.5a6f6d505d00c65f7f1bc15bd3a69fa3.jpg.03c70103d228f4c10285d95acc7d18e0.jpg

The lighting for the highlights is over exposed relative to the "shadow" side of the face that you would expose for.

 

Note the numbers are arbitrary. You need to meter you key/fill/kicker and background lights separately. In this case we are exposing for our "fill" so that the key light over exposes and blooms (probably helped by a diffusion filter as well because female talent)

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Yes it's very clear now. Thank you so much for taking the time to make a diagram.

I was trying to light her face from the front so there's no shadows under her chin - and everything is soft. That's why I put two equally powerful softboxes on each sides. But it appears it wont get me that "glowing" look. How does J LO not have shadows under her chin? I just tried in my studio with a mannequin with similar lighting you mentioned and the shadows are pretty harsh under her chin. On film, it may not be as bad.

For the meter reading technique you described, do you use a spot meter then? Or do you use an ambient meter and use your hand to block the light coming from the other side - as to not influence the side you are reading? Because the meter has a dome shape, it has similar reading from shadow side to highlight side.

 

Also, you mentioned diffusion filter for female. Is that on the lens? What are the names of them?

 

 

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I use either meter, but I tend to incident and cover. Though my meter (zoom 508) has a retractable dome; others have an interchangeable disk.

Numbers were just an example; experiment. It might well be a 2:1 ratio (e.g the "shadow" is a 2.8 and the "bright" is a 4)

Also I'm sure she was lit with frames of diff to help spread. (Maybe a beauty dish?) 

She also is being filled in by her environment/show card/many other things than 2 lights more than likely. If you look at the setups for typical glamor magazine photography you can get an idea if what's around her to fill in under chin. 

 

There are very many diffusion filters. 

I would start with a promist personally, but that would be something to really test. 

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You'd have to define what you mean by highlights on the face. If you mean the cheeks being hotter, etc. then you'd want to use make-up that is less matte or add some sheen with make-up so that you get some brighter reflectance from the lights. But also a highlight shows up better in contrast with a shadow so you need to be a little less soft and flat (unless the skin has enough shine to cause some highlights even in flat frontal lighting.)

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Thanks David.

I will look into makeup too.

But in the case of J LO, the "burnt" look on her face is also showing on her arm - which makes me think it's not the makeup but rather the lights. 

What brand/type of softboxes are you guys recommending for this type of work?

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to me it looks like the face is underexposed. You prob want to overexpose a portion of her face 1-2stops.

also this is very much about make up and sheen. you want the lights to be reflected by her skin.

your model is also white and white people don't really reflect light unless they have a lot of makeup/product on. Jennifer Lopez's complexion is also apart of the look.

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12x12 is in feet; it's a large frame, 4x4 is 4ft by 4ft, and 410 / 251 (what I meant to type) are diffusion gels (opal and 1/4 white respectively)

The 12x12 might be full grid or maybe bleached muzz; both diffusion fabrics.

 

Also yes makeup is a huge factor, as is overall production design of cool v warm tones

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Just to illustrate Adrian's point, try turning off one of your main lights. Maybe the ring light as well. If the studio walls are white there may be enough bounce to act as fill. Otherwise as said the other light needs to be much weaker.

You mention ambient light- do you mean daylight? If so try to exclude it.

You can try these things out with your manikin and a digital camera.

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Then definitely turn off those lights. That random fill is making it difficult to judge the effect of your main lights.

I think it's fair to say that one light usually determines the mood of a scene, or at least a very small number. In the J-Lo image it's the fairly hard key to her right. And get rid of that ring light as well!

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Keep in mind that soft low-contrast lighting can look great in a high-resolution film or digital image, it's just that 16mm, especially if faster film is used, is not that sharp so it needs contrast to create dimensionality.

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I agree with everything that was said. However, if i look at the background on the JLO video, it seems well exposed - with a similar exposure to the subject. I could be wrong.

Which is a real head scratcher.

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