Bradley Stearn

I'm DOPing a short film this week, just got back from the first shooting day of 4. It's a drama/thriller short film set in one house, for the duration of one night in the world of the narrative. The main rooms we are shooting in are small bedrooms, and a tiny bathroom. Today I had one of those days where I wasn't happy with any of the shots, I knew why I wasn't happy, but I just couldn't figure out 'how' to fix the shot and make it the standard I am always going for. I'm guessing I'm not alone with this, like anything in the world, you have good and bad days. For example, one of the scenes was a tiny 8x8foot (if not smaller) bedroom, of our main actress on her laptop whilst laying on the bed. With the kit I have available, I was able to raise a 2kw blonde just high enough from the exterior to light the room, which is on the first floor. This usually works for me for larger rooms, however with the room being so small, the light was just thrown and bounced all over the place. It would be interesting to figure out how you would light a similar scene? If you could have any lighting kit what would you chose to do this? Another scene I struggled with a lot was a day for night scene in the small bathroom. We had to tin foil all of the windows to cheat that it was night time, which meant I could only light from the interior. There isn't even a way of getting a light into the bathroom from the exterior even if we were shooting at night. The bathroom was fully tiled with white shiny tiles, so whatever light I had in the room just bounced everywhere once again. I went for a blue gelled LED to give the bathroom a blue tint, and the 2kw with CTO 1/2 on the landing outside the bathroom, to create some colour depth when the bathroom door is opened by the character. Once the character was in the bathroom, her close-up was just flat/boring in terms of lighting. I tried adding a warmer LED to add some contrast, however even at the lowest intensity, this was bouncing everywhere and creating even flatter light on the subject. Absolute mayhem! I guess it would be interesting to hear about similar experiences, and maybe how you solved them.

Try looking at a set of Lite Panels sola LED ENG. Im not entirely sure, but my guess is that being LED, they are cheaper than Dedo lights. From experience, they offer a similar quality of spotted light, with the flexibility of having a wider flood if needed.

Thanks for the response Stuart, appreciate it. I recently shot a scene using No Straw to create a morning sunlight quality in a living room. Would be great to hear your thoughts on the shot http://bradleystearn.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/daylight-interior-lighting-setups.html

I own an old Ianebeam 2kw. It works great, and so far this year it has been used on an almost weekly basis on the shoots that I work on. I was wondering if anyone knows of somewhere to purchase safety mesh/glass to put into the light, as the moment it is just fully open, and that worries me a little! I would never use this light in a tight space, I have mainly used it to light interiors from the exterior, so it's always placed away from actors/crew. It would be nice to complete the light with some safety mesh, or even a scrim for safety.

I just watched a short film on Vimeo, and really liked the natural lighting, so natural I almost questioned whether artificial lighting was used at all. I was wondering what your thoughts where on how you think the shots are lit? My thoughts for the bedroom scene are that they gelled the windows with CTO or CTS to cheat the appearance of 'warm' light shining into the room, whilst keeping the interior lighting very cold. Potentially using HMIs or daylight corrected tungsten lights for the interior? I can't seem to share the screenshots as the image sizes are too big. The film can however been seen here on vimeo:

I'm gaffering on a short film this week, and had a basic selection of gels to chose from for the shoot from our university. I've got the standard CTB/CTO gels to use on our lights. I was looking for some CTS (Straw) to use on tungsten units as morning sunlight, however for some reason all I could get was No Colour Straw (Rosco #804). It seems to still produce a nice light with a slight yellow tint, which suits a morning sunrise. I was wondering what the different between normal Straw gel, and No Colour Straw gel is? I bet it's so minimal, but it would be good to know!

I was just reading a blog post by Shane Hurlbut, and he discusses using High Pressure Sodium lighting. Blog post can be seen here. My questions are, how do you achieve the green colour temperature that sodium lights give off? If I was to shoot with tungsten lighting sources, what gels would give me this kind of colour temperature? What kelvin would you shoot at to achieve the green lighting, whilst maintaining tungsten skin tones? I look forward to reading the replies. I am a big fan of the background colours in the posted shots, so would be great to hear how you all would achieve this look!

Hi everyone. I was wondering if anyone has had any experience working with par lights for cinematography. I recently invested in some open face redhead lighting, a 650w and a 2kw blonde, both Ianiro lights. I am wanting to purchase some par lights for a more direct/harsh light that I can use for bouncing off poly board/other objects. I am looking at the Par 36 pinspot light, designed for stage lighting, but I was wondering if anyone has used this specific light before? Is it possible to get 3200k bulbs and 5600k bulbs for it?

Hi Douglas. I was wondering if you still have any copies of your book available? How much if so including postage to the UK?

I had another attempt at cloud time lapse today. This time I 'twisted' my lens off to avoid flicker, I think it worked :)

Went back to the radio tower that I shot the stars at last week, and had an attempt at shooting the clouds this time. I have decided I intend to make a time lapse montage at the end of summer. Thoughts on this? Shot using magic lantern, 2 second intervals, 1/100 exposure, ISO100, F16

Two cloud time lapses I shot yesterday. Thoughts? I shot using a canon 600d, 18-135mm lens, magic lantern, 2 second intervals

I had a second attempt at shooting a starscape time lapse. I took advise from last time, such as shooting with a wider lens (18mm instead of 50mm). I am aware the time lapse video is very short, I want to back out tonight and do another star time lapse because I really enjoy producing them. I also put together a startrail photo which I am fairly proud of. The flicker on the tower is from cars driving by, I am not sure if I like the flicker, but I guess it adds character to the image.

My first attempt at a light streak car time lapse. Details: Magic Lantern V2.3 on Canon 600D DSLR w/ EF-S 18-135mm zoom lens. 5 second exposure at 7 second intervals. What do you think?

I received a Canon Super 8mm camera for Christmas I have never shot on film before, so I cannot wait to start filming with Super 8mm. I also got Kodak Ekta 100D, I am aware it is not being produced any-more so I am fairly lucky to get my hands on a reel. Any tips to be given on shooting with super 8mm? I have always been a digital filmmaker I wrote a short overview of the camera and my first thoughts on my blog, which can be seen here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lgaze07QYNw I am applying for university in london for 2013. I am doing all types of cinematography and photography to use in my portfolio for my application. I am trying to get together different shots for a wildlife cinematography section. I shot the above video in spain with a chinon 200mm f/3.5 m42 lens on my canon t3i dslr using an m42 to eos adapter. What do people think of the shots?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oitq9NXQxCk&feature=plcp I was given an Ensinor 500mm f/8 mirror lens, I bought a M42 to EOS adaptor so I could use it with my Canon EOS camera. I was struggling to focus, not sure if its because it isn't the sharpest lens, or if I was just bad at focusing. I'm assuming it is just because it isn't the sharpest lens though. It's amazing how close I get to things with this lens, with my normal lenses I would have just walked away from the opurtunity of filming these dragonflies.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArSpFeEkGPM Above is my second attempt at making a cycling time lapse with the gopro camera. I used mode P1 this time to get a smoother look than what P2 produced. Any feedback please? My P2 test can be viewed below - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GU3rEhgKg3E

Hello again everyone! I hope you liked my first time lapse video. I made another time lapse using the gopro yesterday as well, this time testing the P2 mode and the handlebar mount on my bike. I think I should have used P1 mode, as the video is a bit too jumpy,I will test P1 another day. What do you all think of it then? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GU3rEhgKg3E Thank you Red Spectrum Pictures

My first attempt at doing a proper time lapse with photos, and the built in intervolemetre in the GoPro HD Hero helped me out a lot. I had the camera take a photo every 5 seconds. What do you all think of the video? I have literally just shot a second video on the same day which is a cycling time lapse, I will probably show that later in the week. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UZ5idP6-fM

I am a student, so thought this forum section would be suitable for a post like this. I got a GoPro HD Hero camera the other day, and couldn't wait to do some tests with it, my first video is testing the underwater capabilities in my mates swimming pool. What do people think? I know the video is short, sorry about that http://youtu.be/mNzZDvp_G-A?hd=1

I am selling some camera gear on my blog to help fund for a new microphone I am saving up for. Currently I have added a Lensse MidX Stabiliser for £39.99, an Audio Technica ATR6250 microphone for £19.99 and a Revue pan and tilt head for £9.99. Click here to go to my blog to find out more for each item.

I just uploaded a new test video using the same adapter, but with the Ensinor 500mm f.8 multi-coated mirror lens

A very quick edit with shots I got using my old M42 lens on my EOS Canon 600D dslr with a cheap M42 to EOS adapter from ebay. I thought the results where very nice, and the bokeh looks quite good. I definitely recommend to any Canon DSLR user to get some M42 lenses with the adapters to EOS to add to their lens collection. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTzQrtaMrzg

Last year I got into cinematography as a hobby more than ever, so I decided to edit together a quick showreel of shots that I captured last year and liked. I am only a beginner, so please do not criticize me for not being the best, however I would love to hear criticism on how I could improve from what I have done. The shots with the pillar frames were from 2010, and were from a short war film I shot for fun, it wasnt very good however I am proud of it myself. I am currently studying film and media at sixth form college, and both subjects are giving me more opportunities than ever to do filming, so I have noticed improvement with what I have filmed in 2012 much more than everything from 2011 in my reel below - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kReFtB9widc