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(Page 3 of 3 pages for this article < 1 2 3) Filed under: Cameras •Editing •Lighting •Post Production •Production •Training •Visual Effects • VFX Tell the Story in California State Fair SpotsA RED ONE, a barn, seven kids, a guy in a yellow bear costume, the setting sun, an animated dinosaur and dozens of visual effects elements combine to create dazzling imagery on a moderate budget.
I was quite excited about using the new RED color science, but I was disappointed to see that, once again, a RED software change meant dealing with an entirely new camera. There are two ways to determine a camera’s EI: the film method, and the video method. The film method is based on determining where a film stock picks up enough density to create an optimal image. The point where the density becomes acceptable determines the bottom of the straight line portion of the gamma curve. (I’m not sure I’ve got that totally right, but one thing I can count on when writing for the web is that someone will correct me in comments.) The video method looks at where middle gray falls: if one lights a gray card and then exposes the gray card for 18% gray (usually 42-45 units on a waveform monitor) the resulting combination of shutter speed and aperture will suggest the EI of the camera at its current settings. In this case the EI of a WYSIWYG camera has been predetermined by the manufacturer. RED uses the film method in determining its EI of 320, basing that number on a “sweet spot” that offers the best compromise between highlight detail and noise. In my early tests I used the video method, looking only at RAW mode and placing an evenly exposed 18% gray card at dead center on the histogram, and came up with an EI of 160. I rated the camera at 320 on my very first RED shoot and was quite unhappy with the amount of noise I saw, and on every other shoot since I’d rated the camera at 160 and enjoyed a silky-smooth and noise-free look. I lost a stop of highlight latitude but I almost never missed it. In the past I’d manipulated the output settings (changing View>Exposure to -. 4) to darken RedSpace’s gamma to match RAW’s gamma, so that if I toggled between one and the other the only difference I saw was that the image became desaturated in RAW view. The client saw a WYSIWYG image at my preferred EI, which if uncorrected would have looked a stop too bright. I relied almost entirely on my meter to set the stop, and verified each exposure by briefly toggling into RAW. This time, when I fired up the camera running Build 30, I discovered that RAW’s gamma no longer tracked the same way. The only two options were RAW and REDColor (fine, no problem with that) but now RAW’s gamma was nearly exactly the same as RedColor’s! Toggling into RAW didn’t darken the image anymore; instead, both RAW and RedColor showed an effective EI of 320! It was common knowledge that RED was applying some sort of gamma correction to RAW before Build 30, but now RAW changed so completely that (1) I clearly wasn’t seeing “raw”, and (2) I couldn’t rate the camera at 160 anymore as I couldn’t verify my exposures by looking at the image in RAW mode. Previously, if something looked too hot in RedColor and EI 160, I could toggle into RAW and reassure myself that none of the channels was clipping. For the first time in the two years since my first RED shoot I was forced to rate the camera at 320. The good news is that the RED’s shadow noise has been much reduced, and while I saw some patches of noise on the monitor during the shoot it almost completely went away when we viewed the footage in post on a broadcast monitor. Any noise you see in the final spots is due to the addition of artificial film grain in After Effects. As for REDColor… I’m a big fan. It’s a bit too saturated for my taste but it worked well for a spot aimed at kids. I know that on future shoots I can desaturate the image in the View menu without sacrificing underlying color data. What most impressed me was how the new color science handled tungsten light under a daylight white balance. Tungsten light has a lot of red in it, which is what makes it appear warm, but it also has a lot of green. If you look at a vectorscope you’ll see that orange and green are adjacent, and it’s very easy for a saturated orange to “tip over” into green. I’ve seen this happen on both film stocks and video cameras when shooting saturated warm elements like firelight or raw tungsten light under a daylight white balance. REDColor handled the warm tungsten crate light wonderfully, rendering it as a very natural and pleasant warmth. I should mention that I shot this entire project on daylight preset white balance, and we didn’t do much to the color during the grade. We tweaked the contrast a bit but the color is as the camera saw it. Very saturated objects of known color, like skin tone and grass, can be tough to shoot because odd color shifts are readily apparent. Desaturated images are much easier to photograph as odd color shifts are less obvious and more easily forgiven. This spot called for punchy colors and Build 30’s color science delivered exactly what we needed. (I owe a big “Thank you! ” to RED’s Graeme Natress for his constant efforts to perfect RED’s colorimetry.) Well, that’s it. Suffice to say that I love my job, I love going to work, and I love solving artistic and technical challenges like the ones we saw here. When working with a talented director and a great crew it’s easy to deliver more bang for the client than the budget should allow.
Art Adams is a DP who has both a barn to shoot in and a mother who can sew. His website is at www.artadams.net.
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The Best of Stunning Good LooksA directory of my best articles, sorted by topic.
This entry is a guide to my best articles, sorted by topic. Enjoy! |
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