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Why I decided to go to Uni to become a Cinematographer - and quit a full time job to do so!


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It looks really cool. If it works for the story or not is up to you. If she has a specific emotional reaction that we can only read if we see her face, then it doesn't work at all. If the emotional reaction comes from not seeing her face, but more from the dramatic lighting, then it works fantastic.

 

Either way, looks cool. Nice job.

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I like the overall look, Miguel. The first is by far the best. Very nice color palette but I would like to be able to see a little more of her...but not too much. Maybe a side-light to give her profile a nice highlighted edge to it.

 

Glad you're enjoying yourself! Sounds like a terrific experience thus far!

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If I wanted a very graphic look with large areas of black in the frame, then the rim-lit shot is very nice, but some very soft dim ambience from one side or above would probably look more natural. I'd also probably let the practical lamp go a bit brighter to make it feel more like the main source in the room.

 

My sentiments exactly… ;)

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Thank you very much all for the feedback on the frames :wub: :wub:.

As I have learnt from all of you through the years I have been reading the forum, it means a lot to me that you stop by and decide that you have 5 minutes to read and post your comments.

 

It seems to me that as I have 6 hours to shoot the whole piece and not a lot of setups I will be shooting it in two ways.

 

I will shoot it as shown above and then I will shoot it with either the fill or the lateral light, I will edit the piece twice (which each setup) and I will give both to the lecturers so they can decide which one is the one that they like the most.

 

At the end of the day is a Cinematography Minor Grad so if I don't experiment now with different fills / no fills / etc and decide what kind of contrast and mood I like the most, when am I going to do so?!

 

A question though: As a cinematographer, would you be concerned about the spillage of the light towards the wall on the profile shot?

I mean, that shaft of light is something that happens normally in the living room (with a little bit lower angle though) as there is a street lamp right to the left hand - side of the window, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't :D but when it does, you see that pattern on the couch.

 

-

 

As promised, the frames from those camera tests I shot on the Alexa the other day.

The wide frame is a lateral dolly to the left and it starts there but it finishes with another background.

 

They are not graded, just the Rec709 curve.

 

Let's start with the wide:

 

Wide

Rec709.jpg

 

Available light with 216 on the windows in front of the young girl.

T2 1/3 in camera.

 

On the day, if we shoot at night, I will have to place either a bounced lateral light or just a bounce (although I don't think a bounce will be enough) for the "Woman" so she is not "in the dark" and it will help me match the close ups too.

 

I was thinking about creating depth by using different colors coming from the inside of the restaurant, I mean:

 

- Foreground, as it is.

- Middle part of the frame, available light.

- Last part of the restaurant, cyan light coming from the inside or by placing some visible tubes on the exterior of the wall, so I have bright spots in the frame and they will give light.

It is a bit risky as I think that they will distract the spectator's point of view so we'll see on the day :).

- Background, in the final position, maybe a practical with a blonde hitting the wall (there is a red brick wall as a background in the final position)

 

And now, the close ups, which served very well for me to see how their faces worked on available light and what kind of approach I will have to do in order to maintain the same light levels and make them look super pretty.

 

I was more interested in seeing the effects of the light than in having the same contrast, however, I think I should have gone for the same contrast so the close ups could have cut well

 

Editing because as I was taking a look at the frame tonight I thought: "What if I hang a celeb / 4 x 4 Kinoflo with depron from behind the girls so I can light them with the "cyan / blue" light as a kicker (which would be interesting to separate them from all the darkness and it is motivated by the line of light in the ceiling), I add a fill light so I I have them both with the same exposure and I cut the light coming from the window so the only light is the one that I put?"

 

That way, when I punch in for the close ups, I have everything more controlled.

 

Young Girl

YoungwomancloseupRec709.jpg

T 2.1 in camera.

 

There is the available light coming from the inside.

 

However, we weren't going to spend that time in the restaurant, we were planning on shooting in the evening time and then moving to another location.. however, directors are the bosses and after shooting the shot we wanted, he decided that he wanted to try different setups.. and the night came and as I had two Kinoflos in the car I decided that I wanted to see if they would work with a face like hers

 

So, usually I would bounce the kinoflos but I didn't have any polyboard :'(, my car is small :D.

 

One of my friends happened to have a piece of 216 in her car though and that is what we used to diffuse the light coming from the windows.

So we took the 216 off the windows and put it on the kinoflo which is giving the "blue" light (A piece of peacock blue that I had in my car just in case you are interested), you can see the position (left side of the frame)

 

The other kinoflo is giving the little lateral kick light in the hair, without it, the hair became very dark and there was no separation between the hair and the background in the right side of the frame.

 

What I think I will do on the day is the following:

I will augment the light coming from the interior of the restaurant so I have a good T Stop and then I will create a soft blue light coming from the lateral a little bit overexposed, and of course, I will light the hair as it is in the frame.

 

Overall, I think that her face reacts very well to a lateral light and will look even better when we have the right light coming from the interior of the restaurant.

 

Woman

OldwomancloseupRec709.jpg

T2.1 in camera.

 

Different woman, different setup.

 

The inside of the restaurant is the available light and then I had the same "blue" kinoflo for her.

 

And I placed the other kinoflo very far away in the camera axis to fill her face by just 1/2 stop.

 

However, it is my opinion that her face is very very difficult to light because of the shape of it.

I tried the kinoflo in the right side of the frame and it didn't look good either (maybe because it was direct) but I think she needs to have "her" light and I will need to do lighting tests with her so I discover what angle is the best one to light her.

 

-

 

What I see is that in order to match the wide and the close ups I will have to get the same contrast in both shoots (nothing new I know ha!!), but the light will have to be a bit different

 

I didn't want to put the kinoflos very close as they were very very obvious and it was killing me so maybe I will go for a big Rifa Light or a bounce flagged on the day.

 

And a couple of tests in the Dun Laoghaire Pier:

 

Untitled_115.jpg

 

Untitled_111.jpg

 

T64 in the lightmeter, T11 1/2 in camera because I didn't have the right ND's (college has up to ND9 but they are combined with the 81EF so I had ND9 + 81EF)

The first one is a 40mm the second one is a 135mm.

 

The short - film will be shot in 4 days and I hope that it will be shot with a combination of anamorphic (C series if I'm lucky enough so don't shoot anything on them until I have finished haha) and spherical lenses (PVintage), and the sequences with both girls will be anamorphic.

 

I want to try a pantyhose on the back of the lenses (in both, anamorphic and spherical) and I will be testing 1/2 Glimmerglass for the Woman too.

 

As the director wants a "dreamy" look with contrast -_- I was thinking about setting up the Alexa in 1280 and creating the contrast with light (yeah!)

 

-

 

By the way, the camera operator on these camera tests was the person who re-kindled my passion for cinema: Greg McGuinness, one of the best 2nd AC in Ireland (and better person) who introduced me to all the Vikings crew and who was my 1AC in the period short - film I shot for this director.

 

He wants to become a camera operator and I said: Let's start shooting so! :)

 

I usually operate myself because of two things, I enjoy operating a lot and I'm European :D so the cliché is that I have to operate myself hahaha.

 

However, It seems to me that being able to see the whole picture from the outside is a very important process of the cinematography learning curve, even for one day, it allowed me to be more focused on seeing how the light reacted rather than having to light, trying to operate and making sure that everything was on focus at the same time (among other things).

 

We will see what I end up doing though in the future!

 

As always, any comments are more than welcome! :wub:

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  • 4 weeks later...
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Hello again!

 

The director edited the little camera test and I graded it (not too much to do though) so it is online for you to see it if you want to!

 

http://vimeo.com/119228911

 

On the other hand, I have been working on the new Jim Sheridan's movie as a dailies 2nd AC, The Secret Scripture, and I am amazed!

The gaffer James McGuire is magnificent and a lot of questions I had to ask I asked them to him and he was very very kind to answer them all, he gave me a masterclass on interior / days (which is something I have been worrying about for quite a while now) when we were changing set ups and it was marvelous.

 

Greg McGuinness gave me my first chance in Ireland and Andrew O'Reilly (1st AC) gave me hope and I'm really happy I met him :)

 

I think that I have been annoyed with myself since I entered uni because of a lot of things and the pressure of becoming a dop, after working with Jim Sheridan and his astonishing crew (Andrew amongst them) I can't be happier, I love being 2nd AC and as long as they want me to be 2nd AC I will be one because it is something I am passionate about and something I do very well, I have no intentions of becoming 1AC though which is the most difficult job in the world ha!

 

I know that becoming a dop takes a lot of time and luck and as I am not in a pressure anymore and I am happier than ever working as a 2nd AC I don't mind if I ever make it or not, I know I will keep shooting short - films for my friends and scripts I like but I don't need to be a dop anymore nor pretend that I will become one, realizing that was very difficult and tough but once I did it felt as if I had thrown out a grudge I had been carrying for quite a long time now!.

 

Anyway! More work on the feature tomorrow and bringing the final chapter of my thesis on Thursday, I think I will upload the thesis once it is finished so you can flick through it!

 

Have a lovely day all!

Best.

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  • 4 weeks later...
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It is always sad when you finish a movie and the last month in The Secret Scripture has been amazing so it makes things even sadder!

I did not want to finish the movie and if I ever have the opportunity to work with Jim Sheridan later on in my life, I will leave anything I am doing to join the crew.

 

I better put the little teaser I edited for the project I had to shoot for college (the one at night)

 

https://vimeo.com/120536160

 

I will put up the previous tests online as soon as I get Final Cut installed again so you can compare (I like the tests the most but I learnt a lot through the whole process).

 

University has been interesting as I had to hand my thesis (in English of course) and it was a bit of experimenting on how to word phrases to sound more academic.

 

The final title is Architectural Style in Noir Cinema and as a result of the different researches I became even more interested in architecture (which is one of my passions too) so it was a fantastic time to explore the relation between Architecture and Cinema and understand how you, as a cinematographer, can produce more interesting images by using the architecture to create a mood for your character (or a lack of it).

 

So now for the rest of the year, as I am not going to shoot anyone else's grad, I am going to focus on watching the key pieces of the cinema, from the beginning of the cinema to 2015.

Suggestions as to what to watch are more than welcome, I know that I want to watch all the New French Wave and the Italian Realism, as it is something that I have a lack of knowledge on and I want to solve that.

 

I am also prepping a short - film that I have to shoot so the teachers can mark me and give me a grad, I do not know if I will be able to shoot it and have it finished by May 8th (deadline) because I found the locations but I need to work a bit more on the script.

 

The story focuses on the life of two people, a single female farmer in the rural and isolated Ireland and a security guard who works on the night - shift.

It is a 4 / 5 minutes visual piece, no dialogue and with different tones.

 

I want to shoot the farmer section on 35mm and use natural light and practicals, I also want to shoot it hand - held, altogether will create a feeling of being connected to Earth and how rough is to live in a remote place.

 

The security guard section will be shot on digital (either with the Alexa or the Redone, I don't mind) and I will use colours and tracks to make it look like something more relaxed and the opposite to the farmer section. I am still thinking about shooting it on anamorphic or just spherical as the previous section.

 

Some of the locations are the following ones, with the colours I would like them to have:

 

Untitled4_1.2.1.jpg

 

Untitled_1.1.1.T.jpg

 

Untitled_1.1.2.T.jpg

 

L1011200.jpg

 

L1011181.jpg

 

L1011159.jpg

 

L1011156C.jpg

 

 

And that's all!

 

Have a lovely day all!

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  • 4 weeks later...
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It seems to me that I am advancing in this "cinematography" thing step by step which is very good.

 

I was asked recently to shoot a very visual short - film here in Ireland, I met the director a couple of times after reading the script (which is quite interesting) and when I agreed to shoot the project he asked me: How much do you want for shooting this?

 

That was such a very strange question that I did not know what to say so I told him: Look, this would be the very first time that I would get money by working on a short - film because usually short - films are not paid.

He looked at me in a really funny way.

Besides writing he is a businessman and he couldn't understand that somebody would do something for free, especially when people are giving a lot of time towards something.

 

So, after talking a lot about it I said: Ok, my rate as a 2ND Ac is €350 / day and you want me to shoot for 4 days plus meetings, prep and post. It is a short - film so I would say €1000.

800€ for the shooting and 200€ for the pre and post days.

 

He was more than happy to hear that and there we go, my first paid short - film! and the very first one which as a bit of budget, €15000 (however, the director wants a lot of things ha!)

 

I will be lighting spaces in exterior daylight with cinema lights and cherry pickers in this one so it is very exciting as I am usually more into using the sun, mirrors and bounces, however, the director wants a very classical approach (kind of "Cinderella", the new one :D) and as we have discussed a lot of things by now lighting with lights will be happening (and also it helps that Ireland has such a unstable weather so I can light consistently all the time)

 

On the other hand, I will be shooting the "two girls" short - film, "Tidings" sometime in April / May.

We went to see the only missing location (a house) and the house we found is amazing, I loved it.

 

I took some photos thinking about some frames that we wanted to create and when the director and myself show them we said: "This is the one"

 

You can see some of them below.

 

L1011477.jpg

 

L1011478.jpg

 

L1011496.jpg

 

L1011479.jpg

 

L1011492A.jpg

 

L1011498.jpg

 

L1011499.jpg

 

L1011501.jpg

 

L1011504.jpg

 

L1011507.jpg

 

 

I will be lighting the daytime interior of the house just with the sun, using mirrors and bounces.

I also will be putting a pale blue silk on the ceiling so I can get more light with a bit of colour creating a tone in the shadows (which should be some sort of blue anyway but I have to test that with the actress so I might change the blue to a pale cream)

 

I will be testing shooting on anamorphic with Lomo anamorphic lenses and my Redone for the interior of the house since we cannot put anamorphic lenses in the Alexa that the college has (it is 16:9).

I want to test anamorphic because I think it will make a lot of sense to create a space of solitude and oppressiveness, however, chances are that it won't work.

 

I will test it anyway! :)

 

Do you remember that camera test that I showed you regarding the short - film?, well, we got a trailer now too!

 

Tidings - Trailer

https://vimeo.com/123938394

 

 

And that's all for now I guess! Feel free to comment and criticize! everything is more than welcome!

 

Have a lovely Eastern.

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  • 3 weeks later...
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Happy days!

 

I got an email recently from a director who was looking for a person to help him shoot his very first short - film.

He attached a small trailer that caught my attention from second 1.

 

All shot in black and white, interesting frames and very "noiresque" cinematography so you can see why I was attracted to it.

 

We exchanged a couple of emails and I decided that we needed to meet up so we could get to know each other and talk a bit about the film and everything else.

 

Well, I just came from the meeting, which started at 3 and lasted until 9.30, an amazing meeting where he knew everything that he wanted but he was also very open minded about things that I could bring to the project.

 

Again, he asked me how much I was expecting to earn and I was amazed by that question (again) as it was the second time that I heard it in a month in a short - film!

 

I wanted to write this little introduction because I am starting to see a trend in short - films.

 

People (directors / producers) who come from a different background than "artists" expect paying a salary to a person they employ because that person or those people is / are going to help them bring their ideas to reality.

 

Also, these people are usually in their 30s / 40s / etc and as they have worked in businesses they know how to manage the business part of the filmmaking process.

They are also more organized and work harder than "artists / students" because they want to put all they have in their projects!

 

And I think that is absolutely fair to be paid because you are investing your own time and some times by missing paid projects and you need to be a business too and you need to make money out of projects.

 

Talking about short - films I absolutely agree with helping a friend for free or if the project is really really really good and you think that is going to give you a chance to experiment with something that you have not done before but the director or the producer cannot find the money at all because at the end of the day you will get something else.

 

However, earning a salary is something that you should do while working on a short - film or an "indie feature" and I have realized that you look more professional by asking for money.

 

So, I am very happy that I am getting paid short - films because that is a good starting point. Hopefully it continues like that in the future but we will see what the future has to bring!

 

On the other hand, I am going back to Spain for a couple of weeks to work on an Adidas commercial with a fabulous cinematographer who is also a member of this forum! David Devlin :) Small world! :)

 

It will be interesting because after working with him I will have worked with all the Spielberg crew but with Spielberg himself! maybe someday! :)

 

Have a good day!

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  • 2 weeks later...
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As every single cinematographer and director in the world have websites I decided to create one in order to showcase my different things.

 

And I spent two years polishing the design of it until I was happy to release it.

 

Here we go!

www.miguelangelvinas.com

 

I know my work is not very good but I have a lot to learn and I'm super passionate so hopefully that counts and maybe someday I will be shooting commercials as a cinematographer!

 

Have a lovely day all!

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I'm writing this right after coming home from wrapping the last commercial I worked on here in Madrid.

 

3 weeks where I have had the pleasure to work again with my Spanish friends (I never knew that I was missing them so badly until I started working with them again the other day).

 

3 weeks where I have had the absolutely honor to learn from the super talented and kind David Devlin whom I learnt loads from (his use of anamorphic lenses is beyond amazingness!) and also from the fantastic Sebastian Weiland, car commercial's cinematographer who has a magnificent and interesting eye when talking about framing.

 

As "car commercials" and "sports / rough commercials" (think about Carhartt / Nike / Etc commercials) are the things that I would love to work on as a cinematographer, it is always encouraging knowing that your kind of photographic vision is not that far away from the "super big league cinematographers" and that you could develop something maybe not similar but close enough in your mind.

 

Both of them told me that the most important thing was to shoot things with people that you can learn from, people that you respect, and Sebastian told me: If you want to shoot car commercials go and shoot a couple of spec car commercials and send them all over the Internet! (which I'm going to do!)

 

It is (for me) also amusing to see the relationship between directors / cinematographers on set when shooting commercials which, I consider it is different from the relationship built on set in a longer project (documentary / feature..) and while watching how that relationship works you can learn a lot, something that I am always willing to do.

 

On the university side, Tidings, the short - film which is going to be directed by Eoghan McQuinn had to be delayed as the production does not have the amount of money needed for shooting so I had to postpone the project which created a bit of craziness in college.

 

However, as the college itself did not provide me with any short - film to shoot as a cinematographer so they could give me a mark, the "heads" said that it was ok for me to defer my main project until the production can get the money to shoot it.

 

As a thought, I am starting to say no to shoot short - films quite often nowadays, mainly because they are unpaid, sometimes because the project itself doesn't speak to me and sometimes because I think that the locations are not going to work and there is no choice but to shoot there.

 

On the other hand, I know that shooting a lot is a good thing, you keep working, you learn new tricks and techniques, you know new people who might know some others, etc.. but I feel as if I could not give a 500% of myself in a project that I don't like 100%

 

Any thoughts about this? would you shoot anything even if you don't like the script?

 

Now, back to Ireland to prepare 4 spec car commercials which will be shot (hopefully) in June and July / 1 spec clothes commercials which will be shot in June (hopefully with the Alexa at 3200ASA and 1600ASA and anamorphic lenses in daylight, just to experiment!) and the different short projects I have in the backlot for July / September.

 

A couple of busy months ahead with no paid projects ha! :)

 

By the way, I think this thread will last for a couple more of months as uni will be finished at the end of June!

 

Maybe I will rename it after that :)

 

Have a good day all!

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  • 3 weeks later...
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I thought I would give you an update on the cinematography side of the things.

 

I have been booked until September in several short- films:

 

- Scared Of Crows, directed by Enda O'Connor and produced by Janette Lynch

- The Observer Effect, directed by Garret Walsh and produced by Kathy Horgan

- Mal, directed by Daniel Corcoran and produced by himself

- The Trap, directed by Shane and produced by himself

- Exhalación, directed by Al Díaz and produced by Al Díaz and Gracia Querejeta.

 

3 out of 5 are paid with good rates, although one of them might not happen if they don't hit the required target on Fund:it.

 

The good thing about them is that I won't have to provide anything (nor my Red nor my lenses) to shoot them (but on Exhalación because the director is my friend) and they picked me because of my skills and artistry, which is good!

 

I was also picked to shoot a trailer of a movie called "Fatal" and, again, it is well paid so hopefully it will work, we will make the trailer happen and we will shoot the feature in Ireland next year.

 

I also have some other things in the backlot but they are not secured yet and might not happen, fingers crossed they will happen! :)

 

I went to London for some days because I had a meeting with an agency (a really really good one!), they were very supportive and they told me that they liked my job and wanted to sign me in as soon as I had a couple more of things.

 

I know they say that to everybody else but it was kind of reassuring :)

 

Hence, I am going to work my ass off and get signed in to grow as a cinematographer.

 

I find interesting that there are no seminars in Europe which are similar to the ASC Masterclass, being Europe one could say that we could have more chances to attend to one of those because we are several countries but as far as I know the Cinematography Societies are not very involved in teaching out of some schools (if any) which is a pity because there are really good cinematographers over here (as you know) and it is my understanding that the Cinematography Societies should be involved in the training and the education of new cinematographers.

 

I have been thinking a lot about it and if I ever make it and have a successful career I would love to be able to teach how I would shoot something or just sharing my experiences in seminars as well as bringing interns to sets as much as I can.

 

A lot of people were very kind to me when I was an intern and all the way through my filmmaking career and I would love people to have the same opportunities as I had, time will tell so! :)

 

A photo from Kent in the UK by the way!

Leica M8! ;)

Pb061.jpg

 

Have a good day!

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As every single cinematographer and director in the world have websites I decided to create one in order to showcase my different things.

 

And I spent two years polishing the design of it until I was happy to release it.

 

Here we go!

 

www.miguelangelvinas.com

 

I know my work is not very good but I have a lot to learn and I'm super passionate so hopefully that counts and maybe someday I will be shooting commercials as a cinematographer!

 

Have a lovely day all!

 

Het Miguel. Great website!

 

My only advice would be, in addition to having all the separate "narrative" clips, put them into one complete reel. You have enough quality work there to have one page of your website devoted entirely to your reel.

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Thank you Bill!

I have been thinking about getting a reel or not for quite a lot of time.

 

The problem that I see with reels is that 90% of the reels I have seen look like a "music video" of your best shots, rather than focusing on the narrative aspect of you as a cinematographer, and usually they are very boring.

 

I understand that it is a good thing to have tho, maybe for 2016 when I finish all the things I have in the backlot and can add more variety! However, I will be looking at creating a 1 minute reel, short and sweet!

 

Have a lovely day! (and thanks for the advice!) :)

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The problem that I see with reels is that 90% of the reels I have seen look like a "music video" of your best shots, rather than focusing on the narrative aspect of you as a cinematographer, and usually they are very boring.

 

I totally agree. Once I have enough for a reel, I'm not planning on adding music to it. Let the images speak for themselves.

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That would be an interesting reel to watch Bill! :)

I would say I'd share with ye a test for one of my oncoming projects.

 

You have seen that window and that frame before (at night) but I never shot a test in daylight!

 

A027_C019_0602U3.0000310F%20Readings.jpg

 

Have a good day!

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  • 3 weeks later...
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Another test for the same project, where I have a lot of windows and my lighting package could be 1 joker and 1 celeb, 2 jokers or nothing at all so I wanted to know how far I could push the redone mx in one of my rooms which have a massive window

 

I would be happy with 2 jokers, I could bounce 1 out of the windows and add the other one direct through a light diffusion to create a harsh beam of light and add a moving branch so the light is alive.

 

Again, I would be happy with 1 joker and 1 celeb as I could use the celeb to backlit the people in some sequences and that would be really handy, still undecided tho!

 

Maybe 2 jokers and 1 celeb :D

 

On the other hand, I should be an actor, that's me in the frame :D

 

Guess the lighting setup in this one! :)

 

Have a good day!

Reading%20tests.jpg

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It's quite peculiar measuring light in terms of iris settings. But it's one to which we've become accustomed.

 

In reality the iris setting isn't a measurement of the light, but a recommended iris setting (a camera setting) that a light meter makes, based on a measurement of the light at a single location.

 

So in an image overlayed with iris settings, each one is saying that if you were to set the iris at the value displayed, that location in the image would be rendered mid-grey. But it tells you nothing about anywhere else in the image. Each iris setting excludes every other, because there is only one iris. If you were to read a distribution of such settings literally (a camera capable of an iris for every pixel !) you would have a completely grey image.

 

The concept of exposure values (EV readings) would be a much better one for quantifying a distribution of light. Because what you really want to know is the relative variation in light, across the image in terms of stops rather than iris settings.

 

Would save having to convert iris settings back into stops, ie. back into a measurement of the light.

 

C

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The concept of exposure values (EV readings) would be a much better one for quantifying a distribution of light. Because what you really want to know is the relative variation in light, across the image in terms of stops rather than iris settings.

 

As in foot-candles?...

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Carl,

 

I might agree with you.

When I learned still photography and lighting for still photography we used to measure light in EV's.

 

However, I think that T - stops are more useful for me in terms of evaluating the light in a moving picture because I tend to light in my imagination with a T - stop set in the lens and I can understand how bright or dark is going to be a location when lit based on that information.

 

For example, if you take a look at the picture, the T stop in camera is 4 1/2 and the measures are based on that T stop as you know! :)

 

What I need to do next is starting to measure light in FC but I don't know if there is any advantage on doing that nowadays where you see exactly what you are getting in the camera.

 

It seems to me that it would be really valuable for night sequences and day sequences where you have to put a light on a cherry picker and you need to place it in the right location or else you are screwed!

 

Or maybe if you need to bounce a light and need to know exactly the quantity of light that you need.

 

As I said, it is my next step :)

 

Bill,

 

More information on Exposure Values (EV's) on the following links (although I'm pretty sure you know it already):

 

http://www.picturecorrect.com/tips/understanding-exposure-value-in-photography/

https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=Exposure_value

http://www.digital-photo-secrets.com/tip/19/exposure-value/

 

Have a good day.

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What I need to do next is starting to measure light in FC but I don't know if there is any advantage on doing that nowadays where you see exactly what you are getting in the camera.

 

Actually, one of our instructors at the ASC said that with digital, he measures the light readings in foot candles. I still think the light meter needs to be pulled out regardless of how much you are seeing on the monitor.

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It would be very interesting to hear the reasons behind getting readings in FC as opposed as in T - stops :)

 

I also think the light meter is a fantastic tool and it is one that I need to have at hand.

 

Hence, if someone wants to chime in, feel free to join the conversation!

 

Have a good day!

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It would be very interesting to hear the reasons behind getting readings in FC as opposed as in T - stops :)

 

I'm only speculating, but I imagine it's more about just getting some kind of luminance reading so you know where you are light-wise, and not tying yourself to a single stop since that's tweaked through the monitor so much these days.

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Yeah when it comes to lighting you're interested in the distribution of the light. Is it too hot here. Is it too dark there. And adjusting the lights accordingly. And you work it in terms of the film's latitude, which is in terms of stops (or one you'll have converted into such if it was originally in a log10 scale).

 

Because we think in terms of stops. Even if we're reading aperture values. Between f/2.0 and f/2.8 we'll read it as difference of one stop. We're interested in that difference and that difference being in terms of stops. We mentally convert the difference in f-numbers into such. It's how we are able to get the lighting perfectly right.

 

And a meter that already provides readings in that format is far more convenient. I find. But most of the time it doesn't matter. One becomes used to reading f-numbers anyway.

 

I haven't worked in foot-candles but I imagine that would be similarly convenient.

 

C

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