Stephen Lewis

Thank you Stephen and David! I definitely have a lot to learn about controlling spill/using flags. I realized the production was probably very deliberate about the dark green color of the walls in that cabin... it certainly helps create mood and background separation... And great idea about using nets draped over bounce to control ratio, I need to file that away in my memory bank.

I really like the photography in this short film / commercial https://youtu.be/-AFIiVl2RNc I’d love to know how the exteriors were captured... they obviously shot in backlight but the shadows on the girl and the table/plates/food aren’t too dark. How is this achieved? Also of interest is the moody interior shots with the man sitting at the radio (00:35) I love the soft lighting wrapping around his face yet the background/walls aren’t awash in light which helps create depth and separation. How is this achieved? Obviously the window to this left is contributing something but it seems too small to five that side quality of light wrapping around the face?? Whenever I’ve tried to light an interior shot like this i’ve used a large softbox or bounced into a white bed sheet and ended up with a very flat and boring image... the talents face looks nice but the light isn’t “dramatic” or specifically drawing the eye to the subject. Thanks for your time...

Those are very small and fiddley. Not big enough to I'm thinking 24x36 or 30x36 frame. Is there some brilliant little bit of grip equipment that would let me rig a frame to the center riser if a c stand or light stand?

I'm doing food shoots in tight spaces like kitchens and dining areas in restaurants. I have some Clar Luxpando LED panels which i love but since they are panels and don't have bowens mounts I can't just slap a softbox on the front. To minimize the footprint of my lighting gear, can you recommend a way to rig a diffusion panel to the lightstand itself? Some of these areas are pretty tight and I'd love to avoid placing a c-stand with diff for each light.

Thanks Tom, Yeah, I think these are all good points and I will learn from them. The assignment was a pretty quick one. We had three hours to shoot the whole thing and the location was standard for all groups in the class so we couldn't have altered it very much. Yes the eyelines are definitely messed up. I disagree about the music though, I think it works as is, but that's just a small thing. About the guy's face, you thought it was just too harsh, could have used a bit of fill? Thanks for the comments!

No takers? Please, it is only 4 minutes: I would really appreciate some harsh criticism here. Thanks.

Here is a film noir short film I shot with 3 other people for a production class at UCSB. Shot on a Canon XHA1 HDV camera. Graded in Magic Bullet. Used a couple of 650w fresnels and a little handheld spot light. Tell me what you think, be honest! Thanks http://www.vimeo.com/4585992 -Steve Lewis