Light tips. How to light a subject with pronounced chin

Every subject is different and has different characteristics, that's why we have to light every subject with different light: lighting is a powerful tool to hide or enhance features in a portrait. Here are some tips about how to light a subject with pronounced chin.

Do not use a strong Key Light: it will produce strong shadows enhancing the size of the chin.

Do not use side Rim Light: it will highlight the chin.

Do not use wide angle lenses: it will distort the relative proportion making the chin look even bigger.

Do use a low Key Light: the lower the Key light the less the chin will produce shadows. Shadows are subconsciously linked to object's size, that's why we have to minimize them if we don't want something to look big. For the same reason placing the Key Light frontal will help.

Do shadow the area: if it is possible, let the chin to fall into shadows to hide it. Another solution may be softening the light on the chin.

Hope you find it useful! Stay tuned for more lighting tips!

Light tips. How to light a subject with light coloured hair

Every subject is different and has different characteristics, that's why we have to light every subject with different light: lighting is a powerful tool to hide or enhance features in a portrait. Here are some tips about how to light a subject with light coloured hair.

Do not use a strong Back Light: reduce it instead to get a better balanced exposure.

Do lower the contrast of the illumination: in this way you'll avoid the hair to pop up.

Do leave the hair in shadows: alternatively you could diffuse the light on the area.

Do lower the camera angle: you'll get less hair in the frame and therefore less exposure problems.

Hope you find it useful! Stay tuned for more lighting tips!

Light tips. How to light a subject with large nose.

Every subject is different and has different characteristics, that's why we have to light every subject with different light: lighting is a powerful tool to hide or enhance features in a portrait. Here are some tips about how to light a subject with large nose.

Do not use a harsh Key Light: it will creates deep shadows and make the nose look larger.  Also, avoid emphasizing the shadow of the nose for the same reason.

Do not use a wide angle lens close to the subject: a wide angle lens changes the relative size of the objects so, the closer you'll get to the subject the larger the nose will appear. Use a telephoto lens instead to control and reduce proportions.

Do use a frontal Key Light: it will minimize shadows; but avoid placing it high.

Do use the camera at a low angle: it will change the perspective and the nose will not appear as large. If it is not possible, frame the whole head in the shot and tell the subject to tilt the head up a bit: you will get the same effect.

Hope you find it useful! Stay tuned for more lighting tips!

Light tips. How to light a subject with a wrinkled face.

Every subject is different and has different characteristics, that's why we have to light every subject with different light: lighting is a powerful tool to hide or enhance features in a portrait. Here are some tips about how to light a subject with a wrinkled face.

Do not use a harsh Key Light: it will produce deep strong shadows and intensify wrinkles.

Do not use Back Light on one side: a side light enhances textures: placing a back light on one side of the subject will emphasize wrinkles.

Do use a frontal Key Light: a light placed in front of the subject will reduce textures. Avoid placing it too high or you will have the same negative effect of a side light. Place it low instead.

Do use soft low Fill Light: it will fill up the shadows of the wrinkles created by the Key Light. Lowering the contrast will also help to mask wrinkles.

Hope you find it useful! Stay tuned for more lighting tips!

Light tips. How to light a subject with deep-set eyes.

Every subject is different and has different characteristics, that's why we have to light every subject with different light: lighting is a powerful tool to hide or enhance features in a portrait. Here are some tips about how to light a subject with deep-set eyes.

Do not use a harsh Key Light:  a harsh light will produce heavy deep shadows that will intensify the deepness.

Do not use a wide angle lens close to the subject: it increases distance between objects changing the apparent relationship between them, so the deep-set eyes would appear more sunken then they are.

Do use a low soft Fill Light: placing a Fill Light lower than the eyes will brightening them up eliminating the shadows. You could also use a reflector to bounce light up, as well as lowering the Key Light; and remember, softer the light, softer the shadows.

Do place the camera at lower angles: this will change the perspective, making the back-set eyes less perceptible.

Hope you find it useful! Stay tuned for more lighting tips!

Light tips. How to light a bald subject

Every subject is different and has different characteristics, that's why we have to light every subject with different light: lighting is a powerful tool to hide or enhance features in a portrait. Here are some tips about how to light a bald subject.

Don't place the Key Light too high: it will reduce reflections and will shade the head.

Don't use a strong Rim Light: a very strong illuminated outline will highlight the baldness.

Throw some shadows on the area: it will darken the area not showing the baldness. To achieve this you could also use some local diffusion.

Try lowering the camera: a lower point of view will hide the superior part of the head. For certain shots, framing the subject cutting the forehead may help too.

Avoid using the Rim Light: with no Rim Light separating the subject from the background, you will create a sfumato, where the subject and the background will softly blend into each other, hiding the baldness.

Hope you find it useful! Stay tuned for more lighting tips!

Know light. How to control light. Tools and tips.

Either if you shooting in a studio or outdoor, you have different ways to control and modify the light to get the the atmosphere you want. here are some of them.

Reflectors. The most popular light modifiers, they consist in a special piece of fabric over a frame and they bounce back the to the subject the light of a light-source. They can be differently coloured, being the most used white, silver and golden; each one of the colour will bounce a different kind of light, softer or harsher or , with the golden surface, warmer. White boards can be also used as reflectors, but not everyone of them is suitable for photographic purposes: the nature of the material or the painting can generate colour casts on the subjects, so you need something which reflects pure white , like a piece of expanded polystyrene.

Softboxes. Mounted directly on the flash head, they produce a soft, involving and diffused light generating a soft edge shadow, They come in different shapes (square, rectangular, octagonal) and sizes to proper illuminate depending on the size of the area we want to light. For some photographers, the use of big soft boxes and its characteristics makes unnecessary the use of a Fill light.

Umbrellas.  They produce a wide and soft light and, if shooting subjects, a bright spot on the tip of the nose. There are two kinds of umbrellas, the ones which bounce back the light and the translucent ones which allow light to pass trough diffusely.

Snoots. Tubes or similar objects that fit over a studio light and help to control the direction of light concentrating it in a small beam. they can have a cylindrical, conical or rectangular shape. Snoots highlight a specific area of the scene leaving other areas in shadow.

Honeycomb grids. They are grids mounted on snoot, softboxes, head lamps which narrow the beam of light to a circle with soft edges. They have different degrees to a better control of light: the smaller the degree, the smaller the beam and the soft edge.

Beauty dish. It is a parabolic reflector mounted on a lamp head that focuses the light towards a point though in a soft and wrapping way. It is especially used in fashion portrait as an alternative to soft-boxes when a more contrasty and dramatic look is wanted.

Flags. They are black panels that absorb light and stop it to reach a specific area of the scene, deepening the shadows and creating contrast. The also prevent light spill into the lens. The closer they are placed to the light source, the softer will be the shadow.

Filters. All objects that intercept light and let it pass trough without modifying the lens focal lens are filters. They can be colour gel or colour filter by which colour temperature and colour balance is controlled, colour filters to control contrast, density filters to control the quantity of light,  blocking filter to block radiations, polarizing filters to control the direction of light... this theme is so extensive we need a dedicated post to talk about it. The most commonly used are colour filters; they are thin transparent coloured sheets that are placed in front of the light intercepting the beam. They come in different colours to proper balance the light being the most used the CTO (orange) and CTB (blue). Another very used filter is the diffusion filter which softens light. They have different intensities and not really a long life: lamp heat will melt them or make the colour fade, so depending on the energy absorbed, they need to be often changed.

Barn doors. if you are shooting with continuous light yo have an extra tools: barn doors. They are metal flaps attached to a square frame on the lamp head. They block the light coming out from the source allowing to illuminate a specific area of the scene. They can be moved in different angles but be careful! always use gloves when manipulating them because they get really hot.

Cine Foil. Can you imagine barn doors which are very flexible and malleable, on where you can make cut-outs of any shape you want to create original light patterns? That is a cine foil, a black aluminium foil most used in cinematographic productions.

As you see, there are several tools to control lights. Use them creatively to get different and original results, go and experiment with them!

Stills from film. An analysis and a possible light diagram of a scene from The Man Who wasn't There

Cinematography: Roger Deakins

Camera: Arriflex 535B

Lenses: Cooke S4

Aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Format: 35mm

Film Stock: Kodak Vision 5277 320T

The Man who wasn't there, by the Coen brothers, is a magnificent job by the great cinematographer Roger Deakins, who shot it on Kodak 5277 film stock, a colour negative with softer and more pastel look now discontinued, and processed it in black and white. In the scene above, the lawyer is explaining to B.B. Thornton and his wife, his new idea to get her out of jail. Deakins used just one light in the scene: a strong HMI placed in the zenith high on a crane as we can see from the very defined shadows. He also used some smoke to make the scene more dramatic. By just using this simple set-up, Deakins achieves the tight atmosphere to enhance the story. The lawyer is speaking about the reality: "there's no what happen: looking at something changes it. Our look defines the reality". Deakins translates this concept into a powerful image. He uses a theatrical light, from above which is like saying: there's no reality, only a representation of reality. Also, light coming from above is related to the divine, the inspiration: the lawyer has the idea, he is the only one bathed in light and well defined as silhouette. Light is the Word, the Truth, shadows are ignorance, not-to-know; that's why all other subjects are left in half shadow. The only character left entirely in shadows is B.B. Thornton; light is Good, shadows are Evil, the circular form  drown by light  unconsciously reminds it as well: as we know, Thornton is guilty of the crime his wife has been accused of.

Knowing Light. Lighting set-ups (IV)

Missed part III? read it  here.

Let's continue with more light set-ups.

Rim Lighting. If the Key light is placed behind the subject only the outline will be illuminated leaving the subject in shadow. It is used to create silhouettes and express a sense of mystery and intrigue in a very artistic way. You can choose to soften the effect by placing a Fill light or a reflector in font of the subject. Rim lighting is very often used in conjunctions with more lights because it helps to separate the subjects from the background and to highlight hair.

Back lighting. When the rim lighting is not that extreme we have a light set-up which is especially used for translucent objects like bottles and glasses. The key light is normally doubled: two lights of equal power are placed on both side of the subject. You can either choose to light directly the subject or bounce the light with a white background. In both cases you have to be careful with light spills: to prevent this you need to use flags and lens hood.

High key lighting. This set-up is characterized for very bright mid tones, intentionally blown highlights and very few shadows. The key light is positioned on one side of the subject at 45º, while the fill light in the opposite side at the same degree. The background has to be white and illuminated by two background lights of the same power.

All these lighting set-ups are really variations of the triangle set-up we seen in this post. These are the basis but you have to feel free to add or remove lights, change positions, directing the subject towards one light or another and move around: you'll see how light and its effects change by doing so. This is the best way of learning to master light: practise and experiment.

Lighting set-ups (III) Rembrandt, Loop, Butterfly and split lighting

 Missed part II? read it here

Depending on where and how you position lights you'll be using different lighting set-ups with different results . Let's go through them!

Rembrandt lighting. It borrows the name from the famous Dutch painter who created and used this technique in his paintings. The Key light is on one side of the camera at a precise degree and height in order to produce the main characteristic of this set-up: a triangle of light beneath the eye opposite the light-source, produced by the shadow of the nose. To soften the harsh light you can place a Fill light on the other side of the camera or you could fill up the shadows by bouncing the key light back with a reflector.

Rembrandt lighting. Move up ant tilt down light for loop lighting

Loop lighting. If you modify the height of the key light in the Rembrandt lighting set-up, positioning it at a higher point and tilting it down a bit, you'll see how the triangle of light will disappear and the shadow of the nose will move from the cheek  all the way down, getting closer to the lips. This is called loop light and it helps to stylize a round face.

Butterfly lighting.  Also known as Hollywood lighting is considerably employed in fashion photography. The key light is placed with the camera in front of the model, high up an tilted down (just like Loop lighting). By this way it models the face and produce a butterfly-shaped shadows right underneath the nose. A fill light or a reflector underneath and pointing up is needed to fill up the shadow under the chin and to brighten the eyes. Because it creates large shadows you should avoid it with subjects with facial hair.

Butterfly or Hollywood lighting

Split lighting. The Key light is placed on one side of the model at the eyes height. It divides the subject in two: a bright side and a side in shadows. Depending on where you position the model the effect will change: if the light stands slightly behind the subject you'll have more shadows, if it's slightly ahead you can brighten a bit the eye in shadow. It highlights textures and produce a sense of strength, mystery and menace; so it is very suitable for male subjects. You can strengthen the mood this set-up creates by adding an equal light-source on the other side of the subject, as I did it in the picture on the left.

Split lighting

All of these lighting set-ups can be used with a single light-source. In the next post we will go through multi-lamp set-ups. Will you miss it?

Knowing light. Lighting set-ups (II) Broad and short light.

Read part I here.

There are several ways to dispose lights: it will depends on the scene we want to light, what part of the scene we want to highlight, what we don't want to, the mood we want to give the whole scene...

The most common lighting set-up is the triangle set-up, where one light is positioned on the right side of the camera and the other one on the left side. Distance from the camera, angle, height of the lights depend on your choice; someone will tell you one thing about this matter while someone else will tell you exactly the opposite. It doesn't really matter! 

The important issue is that the two lights differs in power: the Key light has to be more powerful than the Fill light; by this we will get some contrast and depth in the image and, most important of all, the light in the scene will have a direction.

Depending on where lights are positioned on the side of the camera, only two situation can occur: each one of the two lights falls on different areas of the subject or they overlay summing its lights.

 

When lights overlay on one part of the subject we will have a sum of the two lights while the opposite side will be lit just by one. This will give us the contrast of the scene. The most common contrast used is the 1:3 contrast, where the brighter part of the subject is lit 3 times more than the other side. It's the easiest contrast to get because you just need the key light to be twice as powerful as the fill light. 

In a portrait, if the brighter side of the subject faces the camera, we are using a broad lighting set-up; if it's the darker side facing the camera, we are using a short lighting set-ups. 

Broad lighting

Deciding which one of those we should use it is not only a matter of mood because these two lighting set-ups have a strong effect on a subject's features: broad lighting widens while short lightning narrows.

Short lighting

So, which set-up would you use for a round face?

Stay tuned for more lighting set-ups!

Knowing Light. Lighting set-ups (I) The basis.

Unlike natural light, artificial light can be controlled to our discretion in every way: direction, intensity, angle, colour... When in a studio, you have infinite options to light a subject; there are photographers who only light with one lamp, others use 6, 7, 8 different lamps. There's not really a rule to decide the number of light points to use: what is important is getting the illumination and shadows you wanted with a light setting you are comfortable working with. 

If you are getting started to studio light, it may help you to know that there are some basics lighting set-ups most of photographers work with. But before explaining them it is essential to know the types of light yon can employ in a studio.

Key light. It gives the direction of light and the level of luminance of the scene (it's the most powerful lamp lighting the scene).

Fill light. It is used to fill up the shadows and reduce contrast. It may fall all over the scene or just on a part of it. It can be replaced by a reflector bouncing the key light.

Rim light. It is positioned behind the subject pointed to the subject's back. It separates the subject from the background creating a halo around the subject's outline.

Background light. As it name suggests, it lights the whole background or some small parts of it we want to emphasize.  It can be also used for creating patterns of light on a Cyclorama. 

Hair light. Similar to rim light but positioned higher and pointed to the hair highlighting it.

Texture light. Positioned on one side of the subjects. It is a must in fashion photography  because it reveals texture and the nature of the material.

Colour light. A frontal light which helps with colour saturation.

Now that you know the basis you are ready for the following step: how to position them. So stay tuned for the next post!

How they did it. Shooting Game of Thrones

Game of Thrones is the HBO TV series everyone is talking about, but, have you ever wondered how they shot it? 

Shooting Game of Thrones

Like every production of its genre different directors and cinematographers have been working in different episodes: the challenge was to match visions and maintain a certain consistency to the whole series. This task wasn't easy at all, considering that the story develops in dissimilar locations spread from the snowed north down to the sunny south and the shooting time they had was almost the same  of a one location TV series: about 18 days per episode.

During the preproduction, several tests were made to chose the best camera possible to achieve functionality and good quality; this time digital won the battle with film: Arri Alexa camera was chosen for its characteristics similar to films, details in highlights, noiseless images in very low light conditions (Alexa recommended ISO is 800) and of course the quickness of delivering and watching dailies (raw, unedited footage of the shooting day). As I said, Games of Thrones was shot in different locations (Iceland, Northern Ireland, Croatia, Malta, Morocco...) because every kingdom has its own climate and environment; this wouldn't have been possible if they didn't have two units shooting simultaneously: dailies and flip books with screen shoots of the scenes and locations were absolutely necessary and consulted by cinematographer to give consistency to the shooting. 

Above, the original frame. Below, after VFX

Every kingdom has a different look: blueish and cold for the Wall, a sort of Mediterranean feel for King's Landing, harsher light in Red Waste and Quarth; but the way of shooting and lighting is basically the same. The camera is often hand held, crane and dolly are used but not excessively, the focal length of the lenses (they used Cooke S4 and Angenieux Optimo zoom lenses) is normally between 21mm and 85mm. Light is natural but expressionistic: windows, doors, fireplaces, candles, etc. are used as light-sources but light is always exaggerated making the scene more dramatic.  Low light scenes are abundant: lots of scenes were lit just with candles taking advantage of Alexa´s characteristics; or, especially in the scenes shot in the snowed woods of the North,  Wendy lights mounted on high cranes were used to simulate the light of the moon. Quite often the Key light is place behind the actors, shot in back-light. 

Above, the original frame. Below, after VFX

The art direction department made a great work creating a new world from the scratch, inspiring themselves in different cultures from modern and past time achieving a really believable result. Another aspect which gives credibility to the scenes and the whole series is the use of visual and 3D effects created by the Irish VFX company Screen Scene, which, apart from animating dragons and other creatures, changed and beautified landscapes and castles, multiplied people and objects and made battles far more spectaculars.

Game of Thrones managed to gather more and more public throughout the 3 seasons and today, Monday 10th of June, season 3 finale will be aired. But their fans should not wait too long for new episodes: the filming of season 4 will start on July.

Know light. Use of natural light indoor

If you are shooting indoor you do not always need  artificial light to expose your pictures: you can do a magnificent job using just available natural light. You just need a room with a window and sun light, of course.  You could use the window as a back (or rim) light to create a silhouette of your subject or you can move around and use it as side light: depending on if you expose for the mid-tones or the brighter side of the subjects, you'll get different results.

A reflector or a white board might be very helpful: it's perfect to bounce and soften the light to create a more delicate mood or to fill up shadows; but be careful with the kind of white you are using! some materials, for its composition or the way they have been washed, produce ultraviolet light, resulting in a blue cast in the image. Depending on where the reflector is positioned it will create a different atmosphere. If it is held in a higher position, imitating the sun,  the look will be very natural, if it is held down bouncing up the light, it will create a more artistic effect.

I prefer using north light when shooting indoor because it's softer and I don't have to deal with heavy deep shadows; however there are situations when direct sunlight is more suitable: when you want to play with high contrast or with shadows of the window drawn on the subject, for example.

As always, the key of photographing indoor with natural light is to stay creative: you have to move around, not only to get the best composition, but to see how the characteristics of light change; you have to play with light and shadow, stay alert and take advantage of opportunities: a single ray of light passing through a window slightly ajar it's enough to shoot a stunning image.

How I did it. Outdoor black and white Fashion shooting

When we were preparing this fashion shooting, there was one thing my Art Director, Gemma, and I had clear in mind: contrast. So we decided to develop the entire shooting around it. Models, locations, dresses, attitude... everything should reveal the idea of contrast. Once again I chose a Medium Format analogue camera because, apart from being my favourite photographic format, it was the perfect combination with the idea we developed.

Tmaxx 400, ƒ11 t1/125

Two elegant ladies in the countryside, in a filthy and decaying place far from the town where they can freely love themselves in a less platonic way. It's around 1920, as the hair style suggests; the ladies could be an aristocratic woman and her servant... This is, briefly, the story we told trough the shooting. I wanted the images to remind the feel of that time, that's way I shot analogue and that's why I used black and white film.

I chose the film I am most comfortable with, Tmax 400 and a 80mm lens on a medium format camera to respect the naturalism of the whole idea. I used just two lights for the shooting; well, actually three lights if we count the light of the overcast day we had which played as ambient light.

The key light was positioned behind the models, at camera right: it was a naked flash so the light would have scattered all over the place imitating the sun. In front of the models, on camera left, I placed the fill light: a huge octagonal softbox 150cm wide which provided soft and diffused light wrapping the models and able to illuminate both of them. I placed it on one side because the shadows it produced on the blonde model's face were very suitable for her physiognomy.

I used a Y8 filter to whiten the blond model's skin and to accentuate the contrast of the scene. Even if I love grain, this time I controlled the agitation during the negative development because I looked for the fine grain the Tmax offers and played with the time of the process to enhance the contrast.

You can see the whole shooting in my web or in Stravagance Magazine.

Know Light. Colour temperature. What it is and how to use it.

Why do my photos sometimes have an horrible blue or orange cast? What does that K stand for on my digital camera? If you are asking  these questions you probably should want to know about Colour Temperature. So let's get to it!

Light is an electro-magnetic radiation which carries energy; one of it characteristic is frequency which is translated by our brain in colour. Different frequencies produce different colours. The higher the frequency is, the higher the energy and bluer the colour. Colour temperature is the scale on which this energy is measured and unit measure is the Kelvin degree (K). The colour temperature depends on the heating temperature of a metallic incandescent light, from red, which needs the lowest temperature, through the orange, white and up to blue (highest temperature).

Normal daylight has a temperature of 5500K and we associate it with white light; a lower temperature energy measures, for example, 2000K so the light will be red; on the other hand if the temperature of the energy goes higher than 5500K, the light will turn blue. 

This is what you need to remember in spite of the confusion common terminology may cause by referring to red or orange light as warm and to blue light as cold (because it is not related to the temperature but to the psychological effect of the colours).

Why should you know this? to avoid a colour cast when taking picture in certain conditions. If you are using a daylight balance film or the sunny setting in a digital camera you will be correctly shooting  coloured images at 5500K, typical of a midday sunlight or a flash. If the colour temperature rises (or lowers) and you not balance accordingly, your images will have a blue cast (or a orange one): when taking pictures during an overcast day, for instance, your images will turn out with a bluish tone; when taking pictures inside a house or a restaurant they will be reddish. 

To avoid this you need to white balance your camera, if you are shooting digital, by changing the setting accordingly (from the sunny setting to the cloud one, for example), or manually choosing the colour temperature in kelvin degrees, or as well doing a personalized white balance photographing a white paper or using an expo-disc. If you are a film camera user using a daylight balanced film, you can remove the colour cast by using filters: 81 and 85 series will remove blue tones, 82 and 85 series will remove orange tones.

But you do not always want to remove a colour tone. One of the function of the light, and in my opinion the most important, is to create a mood to enhance the message of the image: would you correct the orange and red tones in a picture of a sunset ? Therefore you can create a warm and familiar feeling by adding orange tones, while blue cast is related to feelings of cold and distance. The use of psychological effects of the colours is another very interesting theme which we will discuss in next posts. stay tuned!

Knowing Light. Natural light. How to use it in photography

Natural light is the most powerful and highest quality light we have to photograph yet it is the less controllable. It is normally divided into good light and bad light; this division is normally made by bad or inexpert photographers. There`s no such thing as bad light: light is always good, it's up to you to make the best use of it. Light has two functions: making possible the chemical or electronic process of recording an image on a film or a digital sensor and, which is most important, creating a mood to communicate something. So we should talk about adequate or not adequate light (for example, don't shoot a very romantic scene at noon in summer).

As the sun moves throughout the day the light changes its characteristics as its qualities depends on more factors: the quality of the air, the presence of clouds, the pollution and the soil. The early morning offers a very good bright light because the air is neat and clear, there`s lot of contrast and pronounced shadows. The afternoon light is similar but the air is not that clean so light isn't as bright as it is in the morning. As the sunset is approaching the light will turn in a very short period of time from white to pinky end then to a varieties of orange and red tones. This is the golden light. 

First minutes of sunset (Kodak Portra)

On the other side of the sun the sky will be deep blue and when the sun disappear the blue tone of the light will take over. You have to bear this in mind if you are a film camera user or you are photographing a subject lit from the orange tones of the dusking sun on one side and the blue cast of the sky from the opposite. 

Last minutes of sunset (KodalPortra)

At midday the sun is at its highest point: the colours are more saturated, the skin tone is brighter and shadows are very visible and defined (think about the ugly shadow below the nose or the eyes). Solutions? The sun will be always positioned in the south (in the northern hemisphere) so it is as easy as changing the relative positions with it, for example having the model with the back at the sun if you are doing portraits. Of course you could fill the shadows with artificial light like a flash, or bouncing the light into the subject with a reflector. Another solution would be finding some shadows and positioning there the model thus the image will result flat and less dramatic. 

Same subject at sunrise (KodakPortra)

It is the same situation of an overcast day: the clouds are like a huge soft-box, diffusing  light, lowering contrast, flatting  colours but eliminating shadows and enhancing details. But natural light is not the one which comes directly from the sun, it can be reflected from the sky for example. This is what they call the north light (or the south light, depending on in which part of the globe you are reading this blog), a soft and delicate shadow free light.   

Land can work as a reflector too: think of the snow in a mountain or the wet sand of a beach in low tide.   

Other things to remember when shooting with natural light are haze and rain. The first one  makes lines and forms fade out; you need a skyline filter or polarize to get rid of it or, if you are shooting on black and white, a yellow filter. The rain will help with the saturation: it clears the atmosphere so, after raining, colours will look brighter.

You now have all what you need to master natural light so go out there and start practising!

Film review. An analysis of the Cinematography of Tomboy by Céline Sciamma

This week I've seen Tomboy, a film written and directed by Céline Sciamma, which finally arrives to cinemas two years after the première in France. It's a little gem of the independent film industry shot in only 20 days with a crew of 14 people (!!!).

The plot. A 10 year old girl moves with her family to a new neighbourhood. Because of her look she is mistaken for a boy and she goes along with it. But the lie can't last forever. The film focus on the transgender identity problem following the main character experiences and difficulties in the relationship with her new friends.

Cinematography: Crystel Fournier

Camera: Canon Eos 7D

Lenses: Zeiss

Aspect ratio:1.85:1

Format: mov

Film Stock: -

Crystel Fournier chose a Canon Eos 7D to shoot Tomboy. I'm not sure if that choice was made for aesthetic reasons  rather than for budget ones. We have to remember that the movie was shot in a very short period of time and with a super reduced crew, the one you normally employ for the making of a music video. Furthermore the 7D was announced less than one year before the shooting and Black Swan had just been partly shot with this camera. Anyway, Fournier tried to make the best use of it.

The first thing we notice is that the image is not that hard as a DSLR camera normally records it: he added some kind of diffusion, probably using the old trick of the stockings in front of the lenses. The look Fournier created works well with the story: a warm tone creates a sense of proximity between the character and the viewer, the style he moves the camera with reminds the one of a docu film, the camera is always placed at the children height, helping with the connections with the characters, lights always illuminate from the top, a set-up that adds realism to the film, even if in some scenes the rim lighting (which endows volume to subjects separating them from the background) is not as subtle as it should be, breaking the atmosphere of reality.

The low budget is strongly noticed with the light employed. The luminance of indoor scenes, where fluorescent light banks have been used, is very low, forcing Fournier to shoot with very big apertures which create a deep of field too much shallow, an aesthetic that became very fashionable after the first video recording DSLRs  were launched, but it definitely does not always help cinematography. In Tomboy it ruins the sense of realism declared by the chosen style. It is more evident in the external locations where Fournier keeps the aperture wide open and rarely closes it even with harsh light. The shallow depth of field also caused some focus problems to the focus puller. 

The lack of  latitude of the 7D is well compensated by Fournier who always diffused the sun light to reduce the contrast and taking the most from the Eos sensor ( in these scenes we find the best looking images of the film) even though when he had to shoot in full sunlight the sensor shows its limitations and some areas of the frame are blown,  which not always goes with the mood of the scene.

Fournier doesn't give up side dolly movements in his cinematography, causing rolling shutter problem, typical of a DSLR CMOS sensor; but, for once, the wide open aperture helped him: the blurred backgrounds made the rolling shutter less noticeable.

Tomboy is a well directed and impressive film, its cinematography could have been better but surely low budget problems didn't help. Considered this and the fact it was shot in solely 20 days and with children (which is not easy), it is a film worth watching and enjoying.

How I did it. Artistic nude colour portrait. A light diagram

When I made this portrait I had in mind some Flemish paintings in which the light is just on the subject, leaving the surroundings in almost complete darkness creating a strong sense of mystery. I had no doubts on how to position lights, but the problem was that I wanted this portrait to look like a painting. With a digital camera I would have add some kind of texture in the editing. but how could I do it with a film camera?

Kodak Portra 400 f4 t1/250

The picture was taken on Kodak Portra 400 with a medium Format camera which was positioned in front of the model at her height. I chose a 80mm lens because I wanted the proportions to be as natural as possible. I used just a key light on the right side of the camera, almost at one side of the model and slightly tilted down. By this I would have manage to recreate the atmosphere I was looking for and, by using just one light, I also achieved the "sfumato" I was after.

I also added a background light: it's on the left side and pointing far away from the framed background so that just the fall-off would enter the picture. By that I added depth to the image, thus maintaining my sfumato. I corrected the background light with a blue filter  to add contrast with the orange tones of the model's skin.

To create the painting look I knew that using a shallow depth of field would have helped me. Shooting at f2.8 would have been a bit too much, so I set the aperture at f4. The 500w flash was at 1/4 of its power  and the shutter speed was at t1/250 but the exposure metering was not the one I wanted. 

I could have changed the shutter speed at t1/500 (I can do that with my camera without flash sync problems) but I would have only gained one stop: I needed more. So I used a 0,6 ND, a neutral density filter which stops down 2 diaphragms.

To add e sense of ethereal and help with the sfumato I left the model slightly out of focus (soft focus). But I need a certain texture and this time grains would not have been sufficient. I decided to do this with the development of the film. I used C-41 colour processing and I under developed the negative which made the blacks softer, added a particular grain structure which works really well as texture but also added some colour shift in the blacks which, after all, also helps to the purpose, don't you think so?

Film review. An analysis of the cinematography of Stoker by Chan-wook Park

This week I've seen Stoker, a movie by Chan-wook Park, the director of Old Boy,  Sympathy for Lady Vengeance and Thirst. I was intrigued to see if Hollywood changed the creative vision of the awarded south Korean director.

The plot. When her father dies, India, a 18 year old introspective and apparently passive girl finds herself to deal with the presence of her uncle whose existence she was not aware. The relationship of hate and infatuation with this mysterious charming man will help her to discover who she really is.

Cinematography: Chung-hoon Chung

Camera: Arricam ST, Arriflex 435

Lenses: Zeiss Master Prime, Angenioux Optimo

Aspect ratio: 2.35:1

Format: Super 35mm (3-perf)

Film Stock: Kodak 5207 250D; Kodak 5219 500T

Once again, as he did for the vengeance trilogy and Thirst, Chan-wook Park relies on Chung-hoon Chung who chooses the combination of  Kodak stock film and Zeiss Master Prime to shoot this mysterious thriller. This decision results in a very clean, precise and very high quality image (very typical of the Zeiss lenses) with a superb colour reproduction. Chung pays attention to every detail, liking better extreme close ups, cut-ins and longer lenses than wide angles and very wide shots and always with a great use of the depth of field achieving a neat and powerful aesthetic in every frame.

Since the beginning of the movie we notice that the image is brighter than it used to be in the last movies (the price to pay for shooting with Hollywood?), however Chung's work is outstanding. Light is always natural and justified: windows, doors and set lights are used as source in such a good way that you don't even think the scene it's been lighted. Almost throughout the movie, light is soft and  diffused  and shadows are rare but  well employed, creating an elegant and calm atmosphere, in contrast with the characters of the story. 

The camera is always steady, apart for two situations: when, during the first scenes, India is whirling inside the camera becomes quite shaking not only when it assumes her point of view but also when she is in front but close to the camera, which is rather interesting; and when her mother  loses for the first time her state of calmness and composure. Camera movements are also well employed to serve the fresh and creative vision of the director, especially in the piano duet scene.  

If a I have to mention a negative point of Chung's cinematography it would be the shot of the conversation between India and her uncle where they are framed with their head in the middle of the screen, with half frame empty above them: different and rule-breaking but in my opinion a bit forced and without much sense.

Chung-hoon Chung proved again to be a finest cinematographer yet without the recognition he should deserve, capable of creating a great aesthetic to a film which is not among Chan-wook Park's best works.