XL2 Grab with 16X Manual lens....

[Matthew Cherry]

I used a tiffen warm diffusion 1/4 on this. Cinegamma and cinecolor on, master ped dropped a bit, sharpness down a bit (could still go down more) and that's it. There has been no color correction at all - this image is straight from camera.

Still getting used to manually focusing with a real lens - believe it or not it takes some getting used to. Also, I did not set up an studio lights. I did this all with practicals and then white balanced the camera. I went for a bit of a grainy/gritty look.

http://www.birthofthecool.com/Testing/16x1.jpg

Let me know what you think.

Matt

[Tony Davies-Patrick]

Correctly exposed for the candle flame, but not for the rest of the scene...way too underexposed and all details are lost, not only in the shadows, but more importantly in the main model subject.

You can give this slightly more exposure, or add soft bounced/reflected light to add some more details to the shadows, without loosing the needed atmosphere of a candle-lit scene.

For candle light, add a soft ring light from above to create a pool of light around the candle; then a key and fill light to the model, and finally a back light for added visual impact.

If you are working without lights, then I'd still up the exposure levels slightly to give more details to the subject, but not too much so that it overcomes the atmosphere of the candle light.

[Richard Hunter]

Hi Tony. What did you use to view Matt's image on? When I first looked at it, I thought, like you, that it was way underexposed, but then when I tilted my LCD panel to different angles I got very different results. I think I'll try it again when I get access to an internet PC with CRT monitor. I expect it will be different again.

Matt, I think it looks great, with loads of atmosphere!

Richard

[Matthew Cherry]

Tony,

I do own lights, although I did this mostly with practicals, on my monitor (Apple Cinema Display), and my calibrated Sony production monitor it looks exactly how I had intended it to (which doesn't mean it's good, just what I wanted). I do know that PC's show images darker, so I'm not sure what to say other than try looking at it on a properly calibrated monitor if you are so inclined. The only things I might do different for this look, is add a cookie with a very dim light off to the left and a dimmed hair light.

I was going for a dark, chiaroscuro, like the Godfather.

[Tony Davies-Patrick]

Richard - I'm viewing on a high quality colour calibrated PC screen, so this is not the problem. I still think that Matthew's shoot needs slightly more exposure or extra controlled light, or both.

That's just my own opinion, and as long as Matthew is happy with his results, that's all that matters.

[Kevin Kocak]

I agree with Tony. It looks a little dark to me as well. I am viewing on a Mac/ viewsonic monitor, and am an editor so I trust the output on this monitor. If anything my monitor is generally too bright, but I digress. To me it is not only dark but appears to be bit out of focus or maybe just softened up a hair too much.
My 2 cents

[Matthew Cherry]

Kevin,

I agree on the focus/softness issue. I was doing this alone and focused on the flowers since I then had to go around and sit at the table. I'm actually happy about that in a round about way as it seems that I'm getting better DOF with the 16X manual lens. I'll try again tonight.

Matt

[Kevin Kocak]

I just took another look and really as bad as it appeared to me the first time. What it really could use is some splashes of light behind him and around him. Maybe you could do like a moonlight shining through the window shadow thing or something. Bust out the "Cameron blue"!

[Matthew Cherry]

Like this?

http://www.birthofthecool.com/Testing/scene8_2.jpg

Honestly though, I was just testing the lens (maybe that wasn't clear enough) I didn't use any lights and I didn't do anything in post. Tonight I'll set up the shot properly and redo it.

Matt

[A. J. deLange]

Yes, the first one is underexposed but that might be entirely appropriate to the mood. A guy contemplating his Beretta in light like that clearly isn't thinking about the upcoming pistol matches at Camp Perry. If that is what this character is acutally thinking about then the lighting is all wrong. Otherwise, its excellent, IMO.

[Patrick King]

Originally Posted by Matthew Cherry

Like this?

http://www.birthofthecool.com/Testing/scene8_2.jpg

Honestly though, I was just testing the lens (maybe that wasn't clear enough) I didn't use any lights and I didn't do anything in post. Tonight I'll set up the shot properly and redo it.

Matt

Matt, since you're the creator of the marvelous XL2 Setup Card, it would be helpful to see what you had the camera settings on to acheive this image. Any chance of getting you to post your setup card for both of the pics you've posted?

[Matthew Cherry]

AJ,

Yeah, I actually like the first shot a lot. Even though it was just a silly test in my mind it was dark (mood) and should have looked like that. I actually like that the candles are hotter than me. But everyone sees things their own way.

Patrick,

I'll try and do that tonight or tomorrow and post it.

Matt

[Patrick King]

Originally Posted by Matthew Cherry

Patrick,
I'll try and do that tonight or tomorrow and post it.

Matt, you could become famous. If all the XL2 owners post a setup card that displays a screen capture with it, we could develop a library of 'setups'.

Then we could say we'll look through the library and 'Cherry pick' the ones that we think will work for a look we're trying to acheive. ;)