James Lahaise Posted July 18, 2023 Share Posted July 18, 2023 Hi there, I got my hands on an Alexa LF a few weeks back and did some gel tests at home with what I had available. This wasn't the most technically accurate way of testing but I had the camera and some bits lying around and thought I may swell try some stuff at home. I key'd my partner with a 650W tungsten head, with Deep Red & some yellow gel (not sure official name as these were off cuts I got from one of the first shoots I worked on and have no label) and put a couple layers of steel blue as a back light to test it out. I set the camera WB to 3200K and tested at exposing for middle grey, a stop over and a stop under to compare. I think the slightly over exposed version and then graded down came out the best, but I still find the skin tone to be a little flat or overly smooth? Is this to do with the wavelength of red light being reflected by the skin ? Any practical and technical advice would be appreciated! Also have to mention my partner was having an awful time WFH for her job and to make matters worse I was playing around lighting her with different gels with two tungsten heads on... So that's why she looks less than impressed in the photo haha Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member David Mullen ASC Posted July 18, 2023 Premium Member Share Posted July 18, 2023 Faces shot under red light are not that sharp on film either, it’s just hard to get good detail when only one layer of film or one-quarter of the pixels are receiving information. With film you have grain though which gives some texture in lieu of detail. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Lahaise Posted July 19, 2023 Author Share Posted July 19, 2023 Thanks David! Would this be the same with various colours, exposing the neg/sensor to one colour on the skin would lose some detail on the skin? Or is red particularly sensitive to this on skin? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member David Mullen ASC Posted July 19, 2023 Premium Member Share Posted July 19, 2023 Red is probably the worst in both film and digital and green is probably the best for sharpness and grain/noise. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Lahaise Posted July 20, 2023 Author Share Posted July 20, 2023 Thanks for your responses! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Osaji Posted July 20, 2023 Share Posted July 20, 2023 On 7/18/2023 at 2:44 PM, James Lahaise said: How do one achieve deep saturated hues like this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Lahaise Posted July 20, 2023 Author Share Posted July 20, 2023 I used a tungsten light with a deep red gel (may have doubled up) and also some yellow gel. Don’t have the exact names as these were off cuts and they weren’t labelled. I over exposed by a stop and then brought it down in the grade. I haven’t added any saturation but I do have a 35mm emulation LUT for the Alexa that I applied before bringing the levels down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Osaji Posted July 20, 2023 Share Posted July 20, 2023 You mixed the red and yellow gel? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Lahaise Posted July 21, 2023 Author Share Posted July 21, 2023 I did yeah, I was experimenting with the gels I had on hand to see how they looked and which combination produced the best colour! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Osaji Posted July 21, 2023 Share Posted July 21, 2023 What difference did it make compared to using red alone? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Lahaise Posted July 24, 2023 Author Share Posted July 24, 2023 I don't have a recorded test of just the red, bit of an oversight in retrospective but it was just an instinctive thing I wanted to try and my thinking was that by adding a touch of yellow it would bring it more towards orange and away from magenta. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now