Lighting Fire and Liquids: Playtime with the Sony FS700

Adam Wilt gets to play with the best toys, in this case a prototype Sony FS700 slow motion camera. He invited me over to play, and the results were really, really interesting. Adam’s article talks about some of the technical issues he ran across, so in this article I’m going to focus on the lighting side of what we did.

LED Light Tests: Flesh Tone and Color Comparison Shootout

Color comparison tests are hard. Color science is witchcraft, and objective color is exceedingly difficult to quantify. Comparison is really the only way to judge color, so we tested ten LED lights against two tungsten Tweenies and a 3200K 2’x4 Kino Flo. The results are… interesting.

BEHIND THE SCENES: Smoke in the Woods with the Canon 5D

When production companies ask me to shoot spots on the Canon 5D MkII I don’t flinch anymore. Sure, it’s not the most user friendly camera in the world, but I can’t complain about the images I can make with it. And no one else does, either.

In this case, half the battle was putting the camera in the right place at the right time—and quickly. It was the perfect camera for a small, fast-moving project.

LED Light Tests: PRG Sponsors an LED Light Shootout

“LED Light Shootout” sounds so dramatic, as if a collection of motley illuminants met in a dusty western town to settle their differences with bullets instead of marketing. It’s actually tedious, mind numbing work… and a real eyeopener.

Lights, Camera, Kids: Shooting a Childish Spot for T-Mobile on the Canon 5D

A web spot may be seen by more people than a broadcast spot, so making it pretty is more important than ever. In this case, simple but elegant lighting and custom gamma curves made this spot shine. (And when shooting kids, “simple” becomes very important.)

LIGHTING STRATEGIES: Exploiting a Single Light Source

There are few things more elegant than lighting a shot with a single light source. It doesn’t always work, but when it does—it’s magical.

Basic Lighting Setups for Green Screen

There’s more to lighting your green screen than just sticking some green fabric up on a wall behind your talent and hoping for the best! Planning ahead and choosing the right setup for the shot you’re hoping to get is a key factor in determining what kind of lighting setup you’re going to require. Will it be in a studio? On-location? Indoors or outdoors? Full-length with walk-ons or just a talking head? Will your actors be making contact with the screen? These are all questions covered in this video lesson from my Green Screen Workshop series - this is a FREE video lesson, so enjoy!

Book Review: “The DSLR Filmmaker’s Handbook: Real-World Production Techniques”

There’s little more popular these days than being a budding Indie filmmaker slinging a 5D MkII over your shoulder and firing off hours of footage that you can then spend months editing to make your masterpiece come alive! The biggest problem is that MOST folks entering this endeavor are totally clueless about the process or where to even start - thus making every mistake in the book in the process. The DSLR Filmmaker’s Handbook: Real World Production Techniques (Sybex ISBN 978-0-470-87660-2) aims to help you get started with not only the basics of using the gear, but also the film-making production process in a visual overview - PLUS some very cool tips & tricks.

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