It makes perfect sense because of the inverse square law. If we're motivating our light to make it feel realistic, then the light we're using to expose with needs to appear to obey the same laws. I honestly never thought about it that way before, but it makes sense. Great video!!
Franchement merci , j'ai vraiment appris quelques chose , et c'est vrai quand tu dis que personne d'autres n'en as parlé ! Bref je me suis abonnée, continue ton super travail , et super chapeau btw 😎🙌
I have to admit, when I heard "here's a tip that no one is talking about.." I was immediately sceptical. But a few minutes later I'm pleasantly surprised😎 What a great tip! And like all great advice, it's so damn obvious once it's pointed out😂Great stuff, thanks for sharing!
I personally love motivated light but also I always think back to that story from Lord of the Rings when someone asked the DP where the light was coming from and he said “the same place the music does”. I think the masters can supersede a lot of the common tricks and rules we fall into, including motivated light!
Ahah great answer ! 😁 Of course, as you said rules are made to be broken once you master them. And also I guess that when you're doing a sci-fi movie, you dont really look for realistic. It always depends, as I said you must do what's best for the story.
I’m definitely a new subscriber, thanks for your help and practical explanation, you have a bright future! (But not brighter than the light source hehe)
Awesome advice! It’s always in the details and that 1% improvement that makes the difference between ‘get it done’ and ‘get it done the best it can be.’ thanks for sharing this Danny , waiting for Ep02❤
1% better = to 100% better! The magnificent episode is very well spoken and described and case proved. Well done! What are you working on these days? Any exciting feature film projects?
ahaha nice comment! Thank you! You don't always need equipment, you can always rent it. That's what cinematographers do anyway, they don't own anything most of the time. (But it's easier to have some if you want to practice tho)
Thank you for sharing. Especially the examples from Fincher movies are very interesting. It´s called "short side" or "far side" key light, which creates the so called Rembrandt-triangle on the cheek closer to camera. This style of lighting was practically introduced by Rembrandt in his paintings. It is one of the best and most expedient ways to create the illusion of depth and three dimensionality in pictures. - Using neg fill is in many cases already enough to create the effect.
Actually It happens more and more to see front lighting in movies, I'm always wondering why, as it doesn't look as good as far side key. But on the other and you can quickly get stuck by only lighting in one way. So I need to experiment a little bit more before doing an episode on it. How do you feel about short side lighting?
@@DennySaladino most cameramen i know have never heard of the framework or far side key. i met on recently who is also into it. it really felt like a secret brotherhood. there is rarely an occasion where front lighting is really useful. it is just lazy lighting cause it is easier to place the fixtures just next to the camera, i guess. and many cameramen are afraid of shadows.
I have an book called "Set Lighting Technician's Handbook" from the 80's which I just began, and inside they talk about far and near side key, it's not a new thing. (People I work with usually have no clue about it neither 😬) On the other side the term "framework" is only from wandering dp isn't it?
I actually stoped what I was doing and took the time to open my apple notes and wrote a note on this. Amazing video!, and loved that you did the test. Hope your channel grows fast! Channels like yours inspires me to start my channel too. PS. How do you record and draw on the stills while showing the false color?
Thank you very much, this is a really nice comment! 🙏🏼😊 For false color I have an plugin in Davinci Resolve. For the drawing my workflow is terrible, I take screenshots into photoshop, but I need to find a better solution, maybe I'll try it directly on resolve next time
Meaningful lighting doesn't need to always be motivated by realistic sources. And even in naturalistic styles, cinematographers will routinely change the entire direction of lighting between reverse shots of a dialogue scene to better serve continuity of the mood of whats in frame, rather than appease one person focused on analyzing the accuracy of physics of a location when most of the audience will be taking in the story. Of course it has to be done carefully to not stand out as FEELING wrong. Your video does teach important points about the initial skillset of replicating realistic light! Although if you honestly think this is a topic not taught in film schools or other online videos... you'll be pleasantly surprised if you go to any film school or look up any online cinematography courses.
I agree with everything you said here! And thank you for the constructive comment! Actually I've planned to do an episode about how cinematographers change the lighting to maintain continuity. But usually, even if the lighting changes, you still got a sense of what motivates the light in the wide shot, which bring meaning to the rest. I could be wrong but that's what I notice most of the time. And I'm also talking about my experience, because I went to a film school in brussels, and all I knew was that I had to expose a light caucasian skin at 1 stop over middle gray 😅
@@DennySaladino Haha I see. Yeah thanks for taking my feedback well :) I am inclined to always point out exceptions to rules. Looking forward to your future videos!
Very good video, mate. Even more so with English not being your first language. Great stuff, well explained and insightful (and still coherent and clear at x1.5 speed!)😎💯👍🏽
This was SUCH a great video - it made me think. The movies that you’re referencing have colour grading - and we’re viewing false colour with the final grade. I wonder what the LOG false colour looks like from these movies VS the final grade and if the theory still holds true
Thank you very much! Great thinking! I would guess the theory still holds true because color graded or not, the lighting ratios stays the same as it was set by the cinematographer. But it would for sure be great to apply false color to the original footage to see how close the final image is to what was captured on set.
@ totally - the ratios would remain the same you’re right. I’m always interested in how much the grade pushes the exposure of the images down. Sometimes I exposure for skin, sometimes I expose for the brightest part etc.
I used to expose to the right to have a "cleaner image", but since an episode on the deakins podcast I changed it. He said to be the closest to the final image you want to achieve, even if it's dark, it's dark, your image won't be noisy unless you try to bring more exposure in post, it totally makes sense I think.
thanks for not describing everything as "cinematic", you describe things better by saying "realistic", "motivated", and lighting based on mood / in function to the story. Well done
this is wonderful! i love the concept of motivated light. and that example from Sicario at about 8:30... if her face was brighter "it would have looked like crap".. that is personally how i've always felt about outdoor flash photography in low ambient light, where the natural ambient light and the light on the model's face look completely different and disconnected. to me it really looks like poo.
so keep face highlight green instead of pink/light gray in false colors. For these type shots do you recommend a spotlight lens that is around 19 degrees or 36 degrees for bounce? Subscribed!
I think it depends, in the "sicario" exemple the face is not even in the green. So it really depends on the mood you're trying to get. For the spotlight question, 36° is a wider angle beam and result on a bigger part of your bounce material touched by the light. With a 19° you would have to back up the light quite far, if you have a tiny room it will give you a hard time. Also the 19° gives you way more power, as it focuses your light in a little area. So they both have pros and cons.
Subscribed! A question, how do you think this relates to interviews? As a beginner it is a bit confusing, because I also sometime hear people say that for interviews the face should be among the brightest parts of the image to lead the viewers eyes...
Thank you! Great question! First of all, everything shouldn't follow this technique, only if what you want is realism. I'd like to answer with another question, in the example with Jake Gyllenhaal did the window took your attention? Or even in the set up of myself with the practical behind? If I was talking you wouldn't look the lamp instead of my face, would you? 😁 In my opinion the problem would occur if there was a huge difference of exposure between the subject and the practical. In this case yes it could be quite distracting. Also there other things that can lead you eye to the actor (framing, leading lines, depth of field, lens choise,...)
@@DennySaladino Because in the 80s and 90s they alse did motivated lights but it was usually not natural. Very strong separation from the background, bright hair line, rich colors. And it was very cinematic and beautiful.
Love the content but can’t really understand what u are saying ( my bad ) what if I want to keep my iso at 100 but had a light source which looks natural ???
Is it because of my english or the way I explained it? Because I still don't know if I have to write subtitles on the next videos. Your iso doesn't have nothing to do with natural lighting, I was simply lowering the exposure of my iso to lower the exposure of my window.
Hey ! Your video was great , not talking about the English or the subtitles , everything was perfect . Loved the vid . My confusion was what if u just wanted to shoot the video at 100 iso . So should I be lowering my key light to the windows light quantity!
Great! thanks for the feedback! Yes if I got the question right, you should as you said lowering you key light, in order for it to be less powerful than the exposure of the window. What I did wrong tho is to show the entire window, and even the sky. In the one from prisoner you can't really see the window actually, which makes it easier to expose.
It's a youtube feature which allow you to upload 2 or 3 thumbnails that are constantly alternating for a few days, and based on the results, the more attractive one is chosen
It is terrible advice to tell people to change the ISO. It is not practical for your image. Lowering your ISO will most likely add noise. Every shot you showed was highly colored and not an image that was done only in camera, but I digress.
Hi! Why do you say lowering your ISO will add noise? By Lowering your iso you lower the electrical signal of the sensor so it's the opposite from what I know. If you have more knowledge please share it. Also I don't get the point about the colorgrading part.
It makes perfect sense because of the inverse square law. If we're motivating our light to make it feel realistic, then the light we're using to expose with needs to appear to obey the same laws. I honestly never thought about it that way before, but it makes sense. Great video!!
Thank you!🙏🏼 Yes exactly!
Well shown. And you're right - I haven't seen a discussion on this specific topic before!
Subscribed, so chill and smart. Never considered this before. Love Deakins references.
Thank you for the compliments! 🙏🏼
Franchement merci , j'ai vraiment appris quelques chose , et c'est vrai quand tu dis que personne d'autres n'en as parlé ! Bref je me suis abonnée, continue ton super travail , et super chapeau btw 😎🙌
Mon accent m'as trahi? ahah
Merci beaucoup pour ton commentaire! Et mon chapeau te remercie aussi! 😁
I have to admit, when I heard "here's a tip that no one is talking about.." I was immediately sceptical. But a few minutes later I'm pleasantly surprised😎 What a great tip! And like all great advice, it's so damn obvious once it's pointed out😂Great stuff, thanks for sharing!
It is! right? ahah Thank you for your nice comment! 😁🙏🏼
I’ll second that! When you started talking about motivated lighting, I ALMOST clicked off… glad I stuck it out, you’re totally right!
I'll try to better introduce the subject next time, thank you for the feedback! 😊
Fantastic video! I appreciate you taking the time to make this. It’s very helpful to me.
Thank you very much! I appreciate you taking the time to comment, it's also very helpful to me 😁
Cool, learned a few things, thank you!
It's what I wanted, thank you! 😁
I personally love motivated light but also I always think back to that story from Lord of the Rings when someone asked the DP where the light was coming from and he said “the same place the music does”. I think the masters can supersede a lot of the common tricks and rules we fall into, including motivated light!
Ahah great answer ! 😁 Of course, as you said rules are made to be broken once you master them.
And also I guess that when you're doing a sci-fi movie, you dont really look for realistic.
It always depends, as I said you must do what's best for the story.
@ Totally agree! Great video
Thank you! 🙏🏼😊
Great information, thank you!
Thank you very much! 🙏🏼
Simply exceptional information. Thank you so much.
Thank you very much! it Means a lot! 🙏🏼
Great video! Great work!
Thank you very much man! 🙏🏼
seems so simple, but very helpful...subbed
Thank you! 😊🙏🏼
This is a dope video, please come out with more!
Thank you!! I will 😊
🌍 Strong... really educational !!!
🥰
I’m definitely a new subscriber, thanks for your help and practical explanation, you have a bright future! (But not brighter than the light source hehe)
😂😂 I loved it! Thank you very much!
Denny this video is a master class in motivated light! Keep up the good work, Much love from Tennessee
Thanks you su much! It means a lot! 🙏🏼
Awesome advice! It’s always in the details and that 1% improvement that makes the difference between ‘get it done’ and ‘get it done the best it can be.’ thanks for sharing this Danny , waiting for Ep02❤
Exactly! Thank you! 😁🙏🏼
Great video!! Thank you so much for sharing this
Thank you for commenting this 😁
Deni I really enjoyed your little indie film in the desert called "Dune"
Oh yeah? thank you! It was something quick in my backyard, playing with worms and stuff.
Bro I learned more in this video about lighting than I have in like idk four years of studying film XD
Really? ahaha thank you for saying that ! 😁
1% better = to 100% better! The magnificent episode is very well spoken and described and case proved. Well done! What are you working on these days? Any exciting feature film projects?
Thank you very much for the kind words, it means a lot! 😊 Actually I've never worked on a feature film, only short ones for now. Do you?
This is the most valuable tip so far I got , from tones of videos I watched instant sub🎉🎉🎉
Really? wow thank you for telling me this!! 😁🙏🏼
Really a good observation.
Thanks! 🙏🏼
Great piece of content 🙌🏼
Thanks a lot! 🙏🏼
Subscribed! Even though I don’t have any lighting equipment yet lol
ahaha nice comment! Thank you! You don't always need equipment, you can always rent it. That's what cinematographers do anyway, they don't own anything most of the time. (But it's easier to have some if you want to practice tho)
Game changing stuff. THANK YOU!
Thank you very much Natalie ! 😊🙏🏼
Nice video Thank you 🙏
Thank you very much! 😊
This is great!
Thanks!!
Love the video and love the personality! Just subscribed. Brilliant work. ✌️
Thank you very much! It means a lot 😊🙏🏼
Tres bon ça, subscribed.
Merci beaucoup ! 😁🙏🏼
Thank you for sharing. Especially the examples from Fincher movies are very interesting. It´s called "short side" or "far side" key light, which creates the so called Rembrandt-triangle on the cheek closer to camera. This style of lighting was practically introduced by Rembrandt in his paintings. It is one of the best and most expedient ways to create the illusion of depth and three dimensionality in pictures. - Using neg fill is in many cases already enough to create the effect.
Exactly! I've planned to do an episode on this aswell, even if there's already a lot of videos on the subject.
@@DennySaladino do it anyway. For my part, I am always interested how other film guys deal with this.
Actually It happens more and more to see front lighting in movies, I'm always wondering why, as it doesn't look as good as far side key. But on the other and you can quickly get stuck by only lighting in one way.
So I need to experiment a little bit more before doing an episode on it.
How do you feel about short side lighting?
@@DennySaladino most cameramen i know have never heard of the framework or far side key. i met on recently who is also into it. it really felt like a secret brotherhood. there is rarely an occasion where front lighting is really useful. it is just lazy lighting cause it is easier to place the fixtures just next to the camera, i guess. and many cameramen are afraid of shadows.
I have an book called "Set Lighting Technician's Handbook" from the 80's which I just began, and inside they talk about far and near side key, it's not a new thing. (People I work with usually have no clue about it neither 😬)
On the other side the term "framework" is only from wandering dp isn't it?
Great lesson. Please Do more lighting tutorials
Thank you! I will 😊🙏🏼
What an awesome video man. So many great tips!
Thank you very much! 😊🙏🏼
Beautiful video, thank you!
Thank you very much! 😊🙏🏼
Great video mate, really great information - love your vibe.
Thank you very much man! It Means a lot🙏🏼
thank you for the 1% well doe!!!
Wow!!! fantastic🎉
Thank you very much! 🙏🏼
just from watching 1 minute and 40 seconds i subscibed, because A, image quality is great and i am a 1 percenter.
So cool! Thank you! 😁
Love this channel 🚀
Thank you! 😊
Very informative 👏 👌
Thank you for the feedback! 😊🙏🏼
Love the breakdown, thanks!
Thank you very much! 😊🙏🏼
I actually stoped what I was doing and took the time to open my apple notes and wrote a note on this. Amazing video!, and loved that you did the test. Hope your channel grows fast! Channels like yours inspires me to start my channel too.
PS.
How do you record and draw on the stills while showing the false color?
Thank you very much, this is a really nice comment! 🙏🏼😊
For false color I have an plugin in Davinci Resolve.
For the drawing my workflow is terrible, I take screenshots into photoshop, but I need to find a better solution, maybe I'll try it directly on resolve next time
Very good observations, something to keep in mind for sure. Your shot at 3:01 is fantastic.
Thank you very much! 🙏🏻☺️
Great content. Subbed for more.
Great content! Really helpful 🔥Subscribed!
Thank you very much! 🙏🏼😊
"Seeee yooooohhhh in the next one." Is this some sort of verbal freemasonic handshake amongst the initiated of the framework secret society?
I love this comment so much! 😂 It is!!
👏🏻 Keep those videos coming
I will! Thanks! ✊🏼
Meaningful lighting doesn't need to always be motivated by realistic sources.
And even in naturalistic styles, cinematographers will routinely change the entire direction of lighting between reverse shots of a dialogue scene to better serve continuity of the mood of whats in frame, rather than appease one person focused on analyzing the accuracy of physics of a location when most of the audience will be taking in the story.
Of course it has to be done carefully to not stand out as FEELING wrong.
Your video does teach important points about the initial skillset of replicating realistic light!
Although if you honestly think this is a topic not taught in film schools or other online videos... you'll be pleasantly surprised if you go to any film school or look up any online cinematography courses.
I agree with everything you said here! And thank you for the constructive comment!
Actually I've planned to do an episode about how cinematographers change the lighting to maintain continuity.
But usually, even if the lighting changes, you still got a sense of what motivates the light in the wide shot, which bring meaning to the rest. I could be wrong but that's what I notice most of the time.
And I'm also talking about my experience, because I went to a film school in brussels, and all I knew was that I had to expose a light caucasian skin at 1 stop over middle gray 😅
@@DennySaladino Haha I see. Yeah thanks for taking my feedback well :)
I am inclined to always point out exceptions to rules.
Looking forward to your future videos!
Of course, I like those kinds of comments, as long as they are constructive as yours is.
Looking forward you pointing out exceptions to rules then 😁
Very good video, mate. Even more so with English not being your first language. Great stuff, well explained and insightful (and still coherent and clear at x1.5 speed!)😎💯👍🏽
Thank you very much for the feedback about my english, I wasn't sure if I had to put on subtitles, so thank you for your great comment! 😊🙏🏼
This was SUCH a great video - it made me think. The movies that you’re referencing have colour grading - and we’re viewing false colour with the final grade. I wonder what the LOG false colour looks like from these movies VS the final grade and if the theory still holds true
Thank you very much! Great thinking! I would guess the theory still holds true because color graded or not, the lighting ratios stays the same as it was set by the cinematographer.
But it would for sure be great to apply false color to the original footage to see how close the final image is to what was captured on set.
@ totally - the ratios would remain the same you’re right. I’m always interested in how much the grade pushes the exposure of the images down. Sometimes I exposure for skin, sometimes I expose for the brightest part etc.
I used to expose to the right to have a "cleaner image", but since an episode on the deakins podcast I changed it.
He said to be the closest to the final image you want to achieve, even if it's dark, it's dark, your image won't be noisy unless you try to bring more exposure in post, it totally makes sense I think.
Very good!
Thank you! 😊🙏🏼
keep up the great work!
Thanks a lot! ☺️🙏🏻
thanks for not describing everything as "cinematic", you describe things better by saying "realistic", "motivated", and lighting based on mood / in function to the story. Well done
Thank you! 😁🙏🏼
Nice bro 👍 good job make more videos new subscriber ❤
Thank you very much! I will! 😊🙏🏼
GOOD CONTENT u got my sub
Thank you man! 😊🙏🏼
Great Great Tip 👌 Subbed
Thank you! 😁
this is wonderful! i love the concept of motivated light. and that example from Sicario at about 8:30... if her face was brighter "it would have looked like crap".. that is personally how i've always felt about outdoor flash photography in low ambient light, where the natural ambient light and the light on the model's face look completely different and disconnected. to me it really looks like poo.
Thank you!! I feel the same 😁
great quality.
Thank you ☺️🙏🏻
so keep face highlight green instead of pink/light gray in false colors. For these type shots do you recommend a spotlight lens that is around 19 degrees or 36 degrees for bounce? Subscribed!
I think it depends, in the "sicario" exemple the face is not even in the green. So it really depends on the mood you're trying to get.
For the spotlight question, 36° is a wider angle beam and result on a bigger part of your bounce material touched by the light. With a 19° you would have to back up the light quite far, if you have a tiny room it will give you a hard time. Also the 19° gives you way more power, as it focuses your light in a little area. So they both have pros and cons.
Great video! Sucked me in from the beginning!
Thank you! Really nice to read that! 😍🙏🏼
Subscribed! A question, how do you think this relates to interviews? As a beginner it is a bit confusing, because I also sometime hear people say that for interviews the face should be among the brightest parts of the image to lead the viewers eyes...
Thank you! Great question!
First of all, everything shouldn't follow this technique, only if what you want is realism.
I'd like to answer with another question, in the example with Jake Gyllenhaal did the window took your attention? Or even in the set up of myself with the practical behind? If I was talking you wouldn't look the lamp instead of my face, would you? 😁
In my opinion the problem would occur if there was a huge difference of exposure between the subject and the practical. In this case yes it could be quite distracting.
Also there other things that can lead you eye to the actor (framing, leading lines, depth of field, lens choise,...)
@DennySaladino thanks, makes sense!
You watched the wanderingDP Exposure course, right ?
I haven't seen any of his course, but I watch every videos he makes! He's the best!
I consider subscribing to his patreon actually.
You didn't learn it on UA-cam, but I did. 😂
😂🙏🏼
I was taught this. But I also forgot it.
😂
Have you looked into 80s films?
Not particularly, why?
@@DennySaladino Because in the 80s and 90s they alse did motivated lights but it was usually not natural. Very strong separation from the background, bright hair line, rich colors. And it was very cinematic and beautiful.
Do you have movies in mind?
All the movies from the 80's I can think of are scifi, Wich could explain the unnatural light
@@DennySaladino Not only sci-fi, try any action, thriller movie.
Let me know if some movies come to your mind, It could be helpful to analyse the "evolution" of cinematography!
8:12 No country for young men 🤣
😁
Hey Man U look like Pedro Pascal 😂😂
Ahah Nobody told me that before! I can see what you mean now! 😂
1% is a direction, thx
It is! 😊
Alright here's the comment you wanted saying "that's not Jack Sparrow" lol ;)
😂😂
Love the content but can’t really understand what u are saying ( my bad ) what if I want to keep my iso at 100 but had a light source which looks natural ???
Is it because of my english or the way I explained it? Because I still don't know if I have to write subtitles on the next videos.
Your iso doesn't have nothing to do with natural lighting, I was simply lowering the exposure of my iso to lower the exposure of my window.
Hey ! Your video was great , not talking about the English or the subtitles , everything was perfect . Loved the vid . My confusion was what if u just wanted to shoot the video at 100 iso . So should I be lowering my key light to the windows light quantity!
@@DennySaladinoplease post more videos . Very humble and informative . Not really many channels teach really nice stuff like this . ❤️
Great! thanks for the feedback!
Yes if I got the question right, you should as you said lowering you key light, in order for it to be less powerful than the exposure of the window.
What I did wrong tho is to show the entire window, and even the sky.
In the one from prisoner you can't really see the window actually, which makes it easier to expose.
No country for young men took me out😂😂😂
😁
Why did u change your thumnail
It's a youtube feature which allow you to upload 2 or 3 thumbnails that are constantly alternating for a few days, and based on the results, the more attractive one is chosen
There are literally countless videos talking about motivated lighting on UA-cam…
I think you missed the point that he was bringing up?
The part about motivated light was only to introduce the tip about exposure
Sub+1”
Thank you! 😁
It is terrible advice to tell people to change the ISO. It is not practical for your image. Lowering your ISO will most likely add noise. Every shot you showed was highly colored and not an image that was done only in camera, but I digress.
Hi! Why do you say lowering your ISO will add noise? By Lowering your iso you lower the electrical signal of the sensor so it's the opposite from what I know. If you have more knowledge please share it.
Also I don't get the point about the colorgrading part.
I like the mood of No Country for “young” men. 😂 Actually no young man would survive lol
😂😂
This is the most valuable tip so far I got , from tones of videos I watched instant sub🎉🎉🎉
Thank you again 😅😁