Chris Mirden

Ahhhh!!! I take back what I said on this particular shot. But I've passed the time window to edit my post. I watched the whole video and you can see there is no window in the shot towards the end. Whoever shot this just seems to like creating very large soft light sources. The shot where they couple are walking outdoors is also lit with a very large soft source.

I agree with what everyone previously said. But I would not be surprised if there was also big windows in addition to the lights. And the location might have been chosen in part for having good natural light. Just a guess. When I try to figure how something was lit I look into the eyes and look at the shape and size of the light/s reflected on the eye balls. It's easier to do with still images but it helps with cinematography too. I used to do it all the time while studying other people's portrait photography when I was learning. I could figure out if it was a soft box, an umbrella or a window, etc. The light you can see her eyes looks pretty big and square and coming from her right, high up. It looks like a vary large window to me (unnatural lights have very defined edges and shapes). That might explain why you see shadows on her left in the background but not on her right. The window light might have been soft but to bring up the light on her left - where the window light was losing its power another light might have been used to balance it out. Just a huge guess on my part :) However it was lit.... a lot of light was used.

I remember hearing somewhere along the line that to achieve a truly natural lighting look you need a lot of artificial lighting equipment :wacko:

Yep. There is already a polarizer on the lens in the shots I posted. I have only ever used polarizers for shots like this - when I want to see the driver inside the car. Polariziers have really saved the day a few times. But I really don't have much experiance with them and I'm not sure if they are affecting the sky too. I think if the reflector was big enough that would most likely work. But it might get tricky with the car at speed and the "wind" factor at 25mph. If it was sunny and the sun was behind the car, I think a modest sized reflector would do the trick. I have 2 lights [link below] that are extremely bright. Even outside at 5 feet in daylight you can't look at them. I looked at some Rosco lights that were bigger and about $300 dollars and these are much brighter. I'm going to try them and see how it comes out. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004TJ6JH6/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00

It's a good idea. I thought about it. But I have never tired to use a filter like that to fix a bright sky problem before. In this shot I think the filter might show becuase as the car moves down the street a lot of building on the sides enter and leave the shot. I think the grad filter might be really obvious at that point. I did put it in Resolve to see what could be done and actually found a fix..... almost. I found if the sky was blown out completely I could bring it down a bit and suddenly the overexposed white turned gray and it just looked like a gray overcast day (it's a good trick to remember). Which would be perfect. I was thinking of reshooting it with the aperture OPEN even more to do that. It would then lighted up the driver and be perfect... but then I found there was another problem. There are a lot of telephone wires that come into the shot too and when the sky is really overexposed they start to disappear [see picture below - top left] so doing that would not work. I think what I'm going to try to do is move the seat up so the driver is closer to the window. With the wide angle lens I think the "cheat" wont be so notable. I also am going add 2 small $40 LCD light that I have to the sides of the camera. Without and diffusion they are actually very bright. Even outdoors. I'm not sure if they will add much light inside the car in daylight buy I'll try. Also earlier in the day the sun (although it will be behind clouds) will be in front of the driver, instead of at the side - so that might help. I'll post new pics from the reshoot. Just waiting for another overcast day......

Another great explanation of what you are researching can be found in Ansel Adams' book #2 "The Negative". Adams basically invented the "Zone System" which is what spot metering is. He was dealing with B & W negative still film but it is the foundation of of spot metering. The book is still very much in print and very much worth the read. One more thing to keep in mind is that exposing for negative film is almost the opposite as exposing for digital film when it comes to if you should overexpose or underexpose when in doubt. Film is much more forgiving at the high end (overexposing) and digital is not. With negative film you almost want to over expose 1/2 a stop and will typically have no problem darkening the image. But with digital, when you overexpose or "clip" the film, that's it. The information is gone - you can't bring it down. And conversely if you underexpose film by mistake, it's card to bring it up - because with it you will also bring up the grain (which looks like digital noise). I made the HUGE mistake of shooting an entire 16mm film about 1/2 stop underexposed because I was concerned about overexposure. You don't want to make the same mistake I did. (If you are shooting positive film - like a lot of what 8mm is) Then go for the best exposure you can, it's not the same as negative film - and your approach might be a bit more like shooting digital ...... sort of :)

As you can see in the frame I tried to open the aperture enough to give some detail to the face of the driver but not too much to blow out the sky - and failed on both counts. The sky is clipped in parts and the driver is far too dark. I need to stop down about 1 stop for the sky - but I then need to throw some light on the front of the driver. I don't want to put the light inside the car - that would be easier to do but I have never liked the results when I have seen it done in situations like this, so I'm looking for a light I can mount above the camera which will give enough light to make this shot passable - as long as it's bright enough that the audience doesn't say to themselves "Wow, I can hardly see the driver". Maybe just 2-3 stops. The camera is about 4 feet from the driver. The shot will be filmed when it's overcast. I've looked at the Rosco Lite panels and that seems like an option but I'm not sure how big a light to get. ALSO I'm new to LED lighting so I'm not sure which brand to buy and I'd like to find the best bang for my buck. In the link below a guy says Nu World lights are exactly the same as Rosco but almost half the price. Basically - what are my options for a strong LED panel light that is not too expensive?? I can spend up to $500. And ideally I'd like the light to be rectangular and no larger than 9" x 12" .... if that is possible. Maybe it's not for how bright I need it. I can't go too big because I'm filming in a crowded part of Venice without a permit and while about 5 cops saw the car and driver - none had an issue with it - but I don't want to push it by putting too big a light on the rigging. Thanks! http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?181382-Rosco-Litepad-pricing-is-a-ripoff!!!!-Read-this-if-you-want-to-save-a-ton-of-cash

Thanks! I'll check those places out!

I meant *alternatives Hello, I'm just starting to buy grip equipment and I'm trying to find some places to buy used. I know about Ebay of course but I thought there might be some Ebay-like websites that specialize in grip or stores in L.A. or Southern California that might sell used stuff (I'm located in L.A.) I'm also looking for ideas for clever alternatives to "official" grip equipment. For example I can buy rods at Filmmaking Stores in L.A. for 10 dollars but maybe there are places not related to filmmaking that sell metal rods that work just as well - but are only a couple bucks each. Other items I'm looking for that I'm wondering if might be found for sale at non-filming stores that I'm looking for: Car suction cups with 1/4 or 3/8 inch mounts Cheese plates C-clamps with baby pins (Although I'm guessing probably that is specialty - but maybe a place that will weld pins to C-clamps and the overall end cost would be cheaper than buying a Mathews new, for example). Or any other items that people have found to work at a fraction of the cost. I'm doing a lot of car mounts and lighting. Thanks in advance for any help!!!