How to get this look

[Michael Thames]

I hope the collective wisdom can help me out here. A guitar player friend of mine asked me how to get this look........ he has an hv40.

I have an XH-A1 and a HV40, both with letus DOF adopters. Will the A1 handle this low light situation?

Mike Dawes - Somebody That I Used To Know (Gotye) - Solo Guitar - YouTube

[Phillip Palacios]

Strong hard light from the right, softer hard light (make sense?) from the left. simple. adjust for the insert shots as needed to make it feel consistant.

Looks like fresnels to me... hard to say though
p

[Michael Thames]

Thanks Phil, is there a black back drop do you think?

[Phillip Palacios]

could be, or a large room.
I think that there is a bare fresnel on the right and a fresnel with something like 216 on the left... maybe a softlight/scoop

[Charles Papert]

Philip's assessment seems right, although I sense that the light from camera left is softer than a diffused fresnel--a larger source, perhaps a Chimera, and it looks to be slightly cooled off.

Michael, you called this a "low light" situation--there's no reason to think of it as such. "Low-key" is a more accurate term for this kind of lighting, but it could be achieved by lights so large that it would be near blinding! It's all about ratios. If you need to achieve that look with a DOF adaptor that sucks out a couple of stops, best to start with at least a 1K for the key side (and the same for the fill side, as the diffusion should knock out the appropriate amount of stop).

[Phillip Palacios]

Agreed. Probably backed off quite a bit though, It doesn't have the wrap around that a close large source would have.

[Michael Thames]

Originally Posted by Charles Papert

Philip's assessment seems right, although I sense that the light from camera left is softer than a diffused fresnel--a larger source, perhaps a Chimera, and it looks to be slightly cooled off.

Michael, you called this a "low light" situation--there's no reason to think of it as such. "Low-key" is a more accurate term for this kind of lighting, but it could be achieved by lights so large that it would be near blinding! It's all about ratios. If you need to achieve that look with a DOF adaptor that sucks out a couple of stops, best to start with at least a 1K for the key side (and the same for the fill side, as the diffusion should knock out the appropriate amount of stop).

Thanks Charles, I have a guitarist friend who wants a video with this look, of course if you don't know what you are doing then it seems difficult, and the challenges of shooting with a DOF adopter are different at first, and I thought it would be hard in this lighting situation.

Would you say to shoot the frontal shots without the letus, and the shots along the fingerboard with the Letus?

I have a 750 watt light, and one fresnel light.

Thanks as well to Phil, for de mystifying this for me.

[Michael Thames]

Originally Posted by Charles Papert

Philip's assessment seems right, although I sense that the light from camera left is softer than a diffused fresnel--a larger source, perhaps a Chimera, and it looks to be slightly cooled off.

Michael, you called this a "low light" situation--there's no reason to think of it as such. "Low-key" is a more accurate term for this kind of lighting, but it could be achieved by lights so large that it would be near blinding! It's all about ratios. If you need to achieve that look with a DOF adaptor that sucks out a couple of stops, best to start with at least a 1K for the key side (and the same for the fill side, as the diffusion should knock out the appropriate amount of stop).

One other question, do you think this was shot in a large room, or could this be done with a black back drop?

[Phillip Palacios]

Originally Posted by Michael Thames

Thanks Phil, is there a black back drop do you think?

Can't tell. Most likely it's a backdrop, then just "cheat" the talent for the insert shots. I'd prefer a large room/sound stage. Less claustrophobic that way :)

[Mark Koha]

For consistency in the look, I would shoot the whole thing with the Letus.

[Allan Black]

Even before you try that type of shot, study lighting in general.

When you shoot test shots, soon as you start the camera, actually speak the camera and lighting setup on the cam mic .. distances, angles, heights every single setting. And keep the tape to refer to later, over the period you should notice improvements .. hopefully. :)

Also try different A1 custom presets.

Cheers.

[Jacques Mersereau]

One more guess based on experience.

LIGHT #1
If you go to 3:12-3:14 you'll see the reflection from the front lighting instrument itself.
And, it looks like a 4 lamp fluorescent - like a kino 4x4. From the shadow's produced, it would
appear to be in front and slightly to his right - and a bit more than head height.

LIGHT #2
If you look at the gtr player's head @ 3:49, there is a strong shadow produced by a light on his left.
That instrument is close to a side light and head level (see the nose shadow). Probably a fresnel with
diffusion in as the head shadow is sharp, but as sharp as a fresnel with no diffusion.

Light #1 is cut or at least somewhat spotted hot on the talent.

IMO, the one thing missing is a back light. The player's head/hair disappears into the black BG.
A back light would help bring him out more.