I read somewhere that for Arri shooting at higher Iso "raises" your gamma, applying ND then lowers your overall exposure, thereby decreasing the distance between your midtones and highlights. That explanation would at least map on to your experience.
By far you give the most useful and detailed explanations on how to shoot and light scenes well for proper exposure and high quality imagery. Thanks a million.
You're so right about adding an exposure compensation LUT so that you get as much information in the image, then just dial in the exposure based off the way it looks in the monitor, then quickly check to see if highlights are blown or not.
Yup! Have to be careful at times but this works nicely for a lot of scenarios. Especially good for delivering to web where clean images do better in my opinion.
Even though you explain everything quite understandable, it's funny to me how over the years of watching RUclips on video techniques, from in camera transitions and teal and orange looks, to high-end cinema tricks, and still being able to follow along. Guess I've grown along with the content I enjoy. Thanks for your great video, again!
I generally agree with this approach of saturating the signal, but I think its worth mentioning that cameras only have one (or two) sensitivity that its always recording at and every other ISO is gain up or down on that original signal. So if the scene isn't well exposed at native, it just isn't well exposed. What you're seeing with the difference between setting raw tab to 160 vs 3200 + pull down actually has to do with the underlying math behind the HDR wheel, not the signal itself. You should be able to observe the difference if you do a CST to Linear gamma and gain down instead of using the HDR wheel.The Global wheel is great, but the math in play is not simple linearization. It's operating in an LMS space that is a somewhat lacking implementation, leading to certain behaviorial artifacts in exposure adjustment and white balancing. You can observe this as well on synthetic LUT stress testing charts. So in reality, the difference between raw tab 160 and 3200 on the same initial capture from in-camera is nothing but a redistribution of the original data. The workaround you've provided is working around a Resolve issue, not a capture issue.
Yes. I can’t remember if I mentioned this is the video, or if it didn’t make the cut, but you can generally get the same look out of any iso. It’s just nice to have “better highlights” without really having to do anything. On an Alexa for example the EI remaps the curve/distribution, thus making it “easier” to get “better” highlights at higher isos. When not shooting raw, and exposing normally or over, on an Alexa, you still will get better highlight performance at higher ISOs, and better shadows at lower ISOs. This video is more of a proof of 1) the advantages of sometimes over exposing and 2) the advantages of sometimes choosing a higher iso.
@@BlaineWestropp1this applies to the mini lf, and log c 3 cameras to some extent, as iso changes the log curve, but in s log 3, log c 4 and red white gammut, changes to the iso do the same as an exposure compensation lut, just with less messing around
Love it... this is the way! I often wonder if Deakin's LUT has a couple stops of reduction built in... there's a nighttime rooftop scene in Empire of Light that looks incredible. Could be noise reduction, but i doubt it... you just can't beat the pristine texture of a sensor that was hit with enough light. I think modern practice still photography hasn't copped onto this yet.. everyone's trying to overclock their camera's dynamic range by pushing two stops in post (not pulling!) and then trying to salvage the image with new AI noise reduction, to varying success...
agree with ya. I would of course love to talk to Deakins about his approach. I have not seen empire of light. wonder if they shot at dusk, instead of at night. this is why nights are hard, its hard to over expose pure night exterior sky with a camera.
You advised that I try this about a year ago. A 2 Stop reduction LUT is so useful with the Panasonic S5 v-log ISO moves stop priority above or below middle grey. Exactly!
can't thank you enough for simply just providing solid and useful information whilst actually showing real examples without an obnoxious animated intro with way too loud music followed by 12 minutes or so of shouting everything you say into the camera lmao
Huge fan obviously and i agree that in general over exposing just below clipping makes sense. Better to pull down shadows rather than try to push them up and in general in natural light exposing for sky pushes us into that realm pretty quickly. On something like an alexa where colour shift and fidelity holds up well at three or four stops over unfortunately for many cameras and codecs the colour accuracy strays pretty badly two or so stops either side of “properly exposed”. Ie going by manufacturers ire guide for middle grey. I have found particularly with Sony that their luts are excellent when zebras are used to expose correct middle grey and nail that. The colours are then spot on using their standard correction luts. Although highlights are a great benchmark in general i find that middle grey is an easier reference for me not least as some scenes will not have a high contrast range but most have a middle grey regardless. Again in terms of exterior landscapes and sky no doubt that highlights are the priority and avoiding clipping but anything to do with people and even building details, brick and concrete, then middle grey and effectively skin tone maybe feel a useful marker to extend or not and keep an eye on. I agree that using adjustment correction luts are super key when shooting and monitoring if nothing else for a bit of confidence. Colour shift though is a thing particularly when looking for detailed midtones and complex colour in the skin and for sure although counter intuitively shifting iso higher gives better roll off curves for highlights. That said i think that there is a whole video to be done on colour wheels and hdr and how colour density is affected by the normal offset wheels whereas the hdr wheels dont affect that density or saturation and so are the ideal exposure adjustments once a look in terms of colour is done. Not least their ranges can be fine tuned to suit the image. Once again a beautifully precise and elegant explanation video. Thanks again.
Hey thanks Ken! Agree with you here. All depends on the camera you are using, the scene you are shooting, and your end goal. On fx3, red, Blackmagic, pretty much all the modern cameras that shoot log, you can overexpose and pull down and be looking good. But this is really only needed when you want to minimize noise and get absolutely the most clean image possible. Not needed at all times, and you don’t have to go 4 over. You could go one over. I know I’d rather be a recoverable amount over than any level under!
i think it is important to mention that the chosen ISO matters a lot - 800 would have like 9.3 stops of dynamic range in the highlights compared to 11.4 stops in 3200 - this is not only about recording a brighter image just below clipping. i know SO many people who would choose ISO 160 on a bright sunny day instead of a 800 / 1600 ISO and a good ND. the difference in dynamic range you have in the highlights between 160 ISO and 800 ISO is almost DOUBLE on most sensors. this changed EVERYTHING when I learned about this back then.
This is amazing information and not something that comes naturally when you are out shooting. I think a lot of people just try to get the exposure right in the camera and don't really think about the postproduction part too much. I know I was like this when I've started. Will start doing this on my next shoot and see what result I'm getting. Thank you!
Thank you! Exposing accurately is for sure totally fine and most commonly the way to do it. But on certain things I have experienced great results over exposing and pulling down in post. But as the warning says… just test out extensively before doing it for real!
@@BlaineWestropp1 Of course, yes. Exposing accurately is used most of the time. But having the time to do it and if you are looking for some different results, I think it is worth to take some time and learn how your camera works and behaves in certain situations. it is kinda counterintuitive to use a higher ISo in the daytime when it's sunny outside and a lower value in the dark or night time. 😅 But if you are looking to take advantage of that dinamic range of your camera, that is exactly what you have to do, haha!
Technically this is more about ETTR, the negative film works in reverse. Overexposed on film produces dark “thick” film. But almost certainly there is some information in the darkness on the film as underexposed tends to produce clear film. Ie the image doesn’t exist. In dark areas the image was recorded perfectly then it recorded the image darker on top. So while its somewhat covered up, it’s still actually recorded. Film records slow at first then slows down at the end of dynamic range also. Those soft clouds are rolloff at the end of the dynamic range curve. On digital you have more dynamic range in many cases, but by overexposing the high lights begin to get thin, because log is already compressing them. They are compressed because we don’t see highlights very good, so why record them in high luminance resolution. Overexposure compresses the luma information even further in highlighs, but allows more for the darks and midtones. Digital even log tends not to have a rolloff curve. The process of negative film vs digital is different so they will probably always look somewhat different.
yea.., ETTR yields a thick negative, on film and on digital. I am using the term thick negative to mean, overexpose digital, just as an ode to the original term. my biggest point here is that you can experience large benefits from over exposing!
One thing I can never nail, is getting super clean black, when you want one of those candle lit kind of dark moody scenes. I understand shooting much higher light level via false color and bring it down, but I notice that the image ends up getting wayyyy to contrasty and looks weird.
How are you bringing down your exposure? One approach, like in this video, is to over expose and bring down in post, and one approach is to shoot at a low ISO. If you go with the first approach you should bring down your exposure via mapped HDR global wheel, and then sometimes I’ll bring up the shadows a bit in the curves. Gotta finesse it. Also shooting at lower iso will give you more range in the shadows, which may fix your contrast issue, just need to light accordingly. It’s easy to shoot in bright light, harder to nail it in the dark.
This is the ETTR method that you would have to do on most Sony cameras a few generations ago when shooting in SLOG. Don't have to do that these days! Although I do use the CineEI method and rate it one stop lower (400 vs 800 on FX6) to get cleaner shadows. Just not to the degree done here. Another way would be to shoot at a higher ISO (1600 or 2000) and use ND to bring down the exposure. That method shifts your middle grey up so you are getting more dynamic range in your highlights. The inverse works as well, when shooting dark scenes, shoot at a lower ISO and add more light to compensate as that shifts your middle grey and dynamic range towards the shadows. EDIT: Sorry, just saw you mentioned the same thing at the end of your video.
Interesting! To add to this. With the FX3 on Cine EI mode it basically locks the camera into only using base ISO settings to maximise dynamic range. So for example with base ISO 800, I set the ISO to 500 so it appears around 2 stops darker, which in turn makes me increase the exposure by 2 stops with other means other than ISO, like lighting, aperture, nd etc. Thus maximising the dynamic range.
Quite interesting, the only thing that comes to mind is that Alexa encode to roll off highlights, so if you intend on exposing upper mid tones in the highlight regions, they will effectively roll off when offset back down in davinci or via whatever LUT you're using. You can correct for this of course, but just important to take into account as it will effect the tonal reproduction.
I like how the highlights, and even shadows, (on brighter scenes) look on the Alexa at higher EI values. So to shoot at higher values and reduce the noise that comes with those higher values, I will expose hot!
after a test with an alexa mini in prores and evaluation with my colorist i came to realize this: you sacrifice tonal reproduction by using ettr. definetly something to bear in mind when you need the tones to be "deep" and saturated.
Testing this tomorrow. We’ll see how Canon’s raw does on the ole C300 III 👀 I’m often under exposing by 1 stop to compensate for skin tones. Everything I shoot is in the studio, and I have time to make the shot look right. I usually just get exposure dead on with false color. Not orange or even yellow in false color. Can be a little too dark occasionally, but it’s better than having an overly bright image that I can’t control.
There ain’t a problem with accurate exposure! But worth testing just to see. As mentioned all cameras are different but on a lot of cameras I have benefited from over exposing.
Oh I thought you were gonna demonstrate it on film lmao Even on digital, "ETTR" has been an often given piece of advice. Not needing to possibly increase the gain on any of your footage, film or digital, is certainly a big plus worth building that into the original exposure! Definitely helps for adding back the light as you showed in the previous video. But I didn't expect the lower contrast in your example, neat! For cinematography, I've read countless AC articles where cinematographers mention rating their stock 2/3 to 1 whole stop slower in order to build a thicker negative. I liked the demonstration of negatives at the start, especially the ghetto setup of just draping it over a lamp that looked cool... then showing you coming up with a way of respooling the mess lol Also I love your doggy in the background C:
I think creative New Yorkers r smhrter cause they wake up earlier then the rest of us, so they r like two steps uh head. Excellent explanation exposure and capturing, I’ll be chews on this all day and night to truly understand it. U like wicked smhrt!
Was doing something similar to this on my p4k. Shooting at 400 iso, raising it to 1000 iso in resolve but lowering the exposure via the node I have filmconvert nitrate at rather than the HDR wheels like you have here. Good to know I'm not crazy for doing it.
Could you make an example of how you would correct and grade a small scene from start to finish? These short tutorials are always nice but they’re usually just one shot at a time and I’d like to see how you construct a full node tree or match the colors between shots and make a look that works for the entire scene.
I'm a bit late to the party but I saw in some other comments you were offering to share your exposure compensation LUTs and I'd love to get my paws on them too, if possible! Will be shooting on a Alexa Mini soon and want to give this a shot! (but also own a Komodo if you happen to have some for it too!) Appreciate you!
I m still somewhere between 200 on blackmagic but then if you add too much light you are loosing saturation and moodiness and 1250 with nd filter - more glass will affect the image
Isn't this the same as shooting at 400 EI on the Alexa? It's a built-in exposure compensation LUT as the sensor gain doesn't change (except in ES Mode on the Alexa 35). Shoot at 400EI, you've lost a stop of head room for highlights but can see another stop deeper into the shadows
Yes, shooting at 800 with a -1 stop Lut is similar to shooting at 400. Generally they will look very close but the 400 shot will have more detail in shadows and less in highlights, under very simply grading moves.
Feel my mind melting a little with the lut. Like its just a lut it isn't doing owt to the image. So how does it help retain anything? Though the idea of exposing to the right is nothing new and I tend to bounce between 1-2 stops over to get the most info into the shot. I liked the reference to the film neg too. Keep it Thicc :D Awesome video as always Blaine!
How did you make your LUTs for exposure compensation? I want to do the same for the RED V-Raptor. Because I too prefer to record as much light as possible before clipping and then reduce exposure in post.
Awesome as always ❤ I don't get it, why the majority of LUT creators do not provide exposure comp. versions of their LUTs, because it would be some sort of an USP for them and makes the whole Cine EI discussion obsolete. The only time I stumbled across exp. comp. LUTs are the official Sony Blockbuster LUTs.
I can make a video on this! there are 2 low light scenarios in my opinion. actual low light, where you have no control, like out in the desert at night, or anywhere where you are not lighting the scene. and then there is movie low light, where it looks dark when you are watching it, but the scene was very bright when it was being captured. in the first scenario I raise my iso, to get proper exposure, because I have no control. in the second scenario I lower my iso to reduce noise and work "in the toe" meaning rating the camera to perform better in the shadows and dark areas. also in the second scenario, you have lights that you can control, so you lower your ISO, and then increase the illumination of the room. if you took a BTS photo with your phone it would almost look like day time, but on camera it is dark and clean.
@@BlaineWestropp1 I would love for you to make a video on this. When controlling my lights I already light bright and lower. What I like about your videos is that, I do a lot of what you do but sometimes catch things you do better. One thing I always tell starting out photographers and film makers, you are always learning. You can always learn from others. I've been in the biz 38 years and see different or better ways all the time or stuff I never thought of.
How does this compare to exposing for the sensor’s native ISO? Obviously ISO implementation varies by camera, but yeah. Generally I aim for a “hot” (but not clipped) image at my camera’s native ISO, because (at least on my S1H,) that’s where the best dynamic range performance is available.
You can expose any iso hot, iso will just shift the allocation of the DR. Shooting the native iso is often times wise bc I “sees into shadows and highlights” fairly equally. I shoot native all the time. Most times actually
I was on a shoot and I always overexpose to bring things down in post but I was told that my footage was too hot by someone who doesn't edit. I should send them this video. 😅
my approach here is to over expose and bring things down. in bright light, over expose, but do NOT clip the highlights, then bring it down. In low light, overexpose if you can to get really clean shadows, and/or shoot at a low ISO to have low noise and more detail in the shadows. That is technically what you want to do but as always there are really no rules. I try not to clip the highlights or crush the shadows too much, so there is some flexibility in post!
this is a pretty noob-y question here and my apologies if you covered this in this video or another one but what is a good way to create these -2 exposure LUT so I can import them to my monitor? I use Resolve now, I tried mapping the LOG wheels as you noted and dragging the Global I think down to -2, and used the Generate LUT on that but it doesn't seem to work properly, instead it washes out the blacks and stuff on the monitor... Is there a simpler way to generate the exposure LUT? 🤔
@@BlaineWestropp1 Blaine another quick question if you have any insight, I've heard of SDI ports being prone to frying or being damaged by plugging in and powering in the wrong order and whatnot, if one were to power the camera and the SDI monitor with completely different power sources (like not the same v-mount for instance), would that protect against the risks of damaging the SDI ports? Been apprehensive of using SDI over HDMI because of that fear of frying the port
Epiphany. I'm such a dumbass! I can't believe I have never created Rec. 709 exposure compensation LUTs for viewing when exposing to the right (or higher ISO to preserve highlights) ... or when shooting dark interior scenes (and lowering ISO to preserve shadows).
Really this technique is for cameras that shoot log. Really depends on your camera, and the scene. If you run a few tests you will see what works and what doesn’t! Happy to answer any questions. Do you have a specific camera in mind?
@@BlaineWestropp1 I speak in general. I have a humble Lumix S5 IIX. A video explaining in which case to use the ISO or use another method to expose correctly would be nice.
Bc it redistributes the gamma curve. You can of course do this, but highlights will be nicer if you don’t. Totally camera dependent though, and the differences more noticeable in certain scenarios than others.
@erikgouletphoto great. Let me know if you have any issues! Compare dropping your hdr global wheel to -2 for example, against changing your iso from 800 to 200.
@@BlaineWestropp1 I doing some test shots on my FX3 in RAW. 3200, 160 and 800ISO. At 800 my exposure is great. When I try to match the overexposed clips in Davinci HDR, the exposure drop is more than 2. But exposure matches when I reduce by 2 stops in the RAW tab of the clip. Am I doing something wrong?
@@BlaineWestropp1 I think I found my error. After setting the Gamma in the HDR Color Wheels to Sony S Log 3 everything is working as you presented in the video. :)
It’s nice bc you can use a -4 to make it look quite dark, while still recording bright. But just need to test your specific camera. Loading on -1 through -4 is useful.
this is 2:1. I typically use 2:1 and work within that canvas, sometimes filling it, sometimes not. If everyone had a wide monitor I would render to 2.39:1. Also, you miss out on some RUclips features when uploading 2.39:1!
@@BlaineWestropp1 didn't know about missing features. I thought that exporting native would be the best in terms of how the video is presented on a specific device. 2:1 would be similarly cropped on 16:9 but without artificially added bars.
@@theAristocrap yeah I do like rendering native, and occasionally do, but most times I go to 2:1 regardless of what sized frames are within it. I know it sucks for those with wide monitors :( maybe I should upload native to unlisted and link it in the descriptions..
@@BlaineWestropp1 I don't think it is worth your hassle. I am still interested in what benefits there are to rendering your 2:1 to 16:9 in terms of what youtube has to offer for this ratio?
@theAristocrap I am rendering and uploading 2:1. With 2.39:1 uploads you cannot add end cards or add info to the top right corner on RUclips! So it is mostly selfish, but I also often times have multiple formats in 1 video. 2.39:1, 16x9, 2:1, etc.
Yes, applies to any camera. Age old technique. Specifically good for cameras that shoot log. And useful if you want to diminish noise. Just make sure you do a bunch of tests before using for real. And.. you don’t have to do this, you can expose normally and be fine. This is just when you really want to pull it down in post which is useful sometimes.
@@BlaineWestropp1 thanks for the response! One more thing, using CineEI and setting it to 2 or 3 stops under is the same as using stop reduction LUTs right?
@JirehTorres if you send a log image to the external monitor, you can use the exposure comp luts on the external, and keep your fx3 at 800 and view zebras on the fx3 monitor and save yourself from clipping where if you change the EI, your zebras change and you can clip by accident.
Oh this would not be something you would hand to the client unless they would hold an archive. This requires the footage to go through color grading. Also this technique should be used mostly on log footage.
yes cine ei is very similar to this, but also depends which sony camera you are using, and which firmware it is on. if the EI adjustments do not get baked in, they are behaving just like a stop reduction lut!
Only caveat for newer DPs who may attempt this on a narrative setting, please for the love of god write down notes. Dont assume the colorist will know how many stops correction you are using
make sure to do your own testing!
I read somewhere that for Arri shooting at higher Iso "raises" your gamma, applying ND then lowers your overall exposure, thereby decreasing the distance between your midtones and highlights. That explanation would at least map on to your experience.
By far you give the most useful and detailed explanations on how to shoot and light scenes well for proper exposure and high quality imagery. Thanks a million.
Thank you so much! More to come..
Explained like a dad to a three year old. Thanks for knowing what we need🙏❤
🫡😇 thank you!
@@BlaineWestropp1 Curious if you brought down the gain on the ISO 160 clip if they'd look the same or still slightly different.
You're so right about adding an exposure compensation LUT so that you get as much information in the image, then just dial in the exposure based off the way it looks in the monitor, then quickly check to see if highlights are blown or not.
Yup! Have to be careful at times but this works nicely for a lot of scenarios. Especially good for delivering to web where clean images do better in my opinion.
Even though you explain everything quite understandable, it's funny to me how over the years of watching RUclips on video techniques, from in camera transitions and teal and orange looks, to high-end cinema tricks, and still being able to follow along. Guess I've grown along with the content I enjoy. Thanks for your great video, again!
Love this!
This was super helpful, thank you. Had no idea about those HDR wheels
Yoo! Thanks. The HDR wheels are 👌
I generally agree with this approach of saturating the signal, but I think its worth mentioning that cameras only have one (or two) sensitivity that its always recording at and every other ISO is gain up or down on that original signal. So if the scene isn't well exposed at native, it just isn't well exposed.
What you're seeing with the difference between setting raw tab to 160 vs 3200 + pull down actually has to do with the underlying math behind the HDR wheel, not the signal itself. You should be able to observe the difference if you do a CST to Linear gamma and gain down instead of using the HDR wheel.The Global wheel is great, but the math in play is not simple linearization. It's operating in an LMS space that is a somewhat lacking implementation, leading to certain behaviorial artifacts in exposure adjustment and white balancing. You can observe this as well on synthetic LUT stress testing charts.
So in reality, the difference between raw tab 160 and 3200 on the same initial capture from in-camera is nothing but a redistribution of the original data. The workaround you've provided is working around a Resolve issue, not a capture issue.
Yes. I can’t remember if I mentioned this is the video, or if it didn’t make the cut, but you can generally get the same look out of any iso. It’s just nice to have “better highlights” without really having to do anything. On an Alexa for example the EI remaps the curve/distribution, thus making it “easier” to get “better” highlights at higher isos. When not shooting raw, and exposing normally or over, on an Alexa, you still will get better highlight performance at higher ISOs, and better shadows at lower ISOs. This video is more of a proof of 1) the advantages of sometimes over exposing and 2) the advantages of sometimes choosing a higher iso.
@@BlaineWestropp1this applies to the mini lf, and log c 3 cameras to some extent, as iso changes the log curve, but in s log 3, log c 4 and red white gammut, changes to the iso do the same as an exposure compensation lut, just with less messing around
Thanks Blaine! I'm an editor and your analysis helps me to better understand what I get from the DPs and how situations were intended.
Thank you!!
Love it... this is the way! I often wonder if Deakin's LUT has a couple stops of reduction built in... there's a nighttime rooftop scene in Empire of Light that looks incredible. Could be noise reduction, but i doubt it... you just can't beat the pristine texture of a sensor that was hit with enough light. I think modern practice still photography hasn't copped onto this yet.. everyone's trying to overclock their camera's dynamic range by pushing two stops in post (not pulling!) and then trying to salvage the image with new AI noise reduction, to varying success...
agree with ya. I would of course love to talk to Deakins about his approach. I have not seen empire of light. wonder if they shot at dusk, instead of at night. this is why nights are hard, its hard to over expose pure night exterior sky with a camera.
You advised that I try this about a year ago. A 2 Stop reduction LUT is so useful with the Panasonic S5 v-log
ISO moves stop priority above or below middle grey. Exactly!
Love it!
Just the best content on the platform. All value. Nothing unnecessary. No need for bullshit. ❤
❤️❤️😇
can't thank you enough for simply just providing solid and useful information whilst actually showing real examples without an obnoxious animated intro with way too loud music followed by 12 minutes or so of shouting everything you say into the camera lmao
hehe thank you 🫡
Huge fan obviously and i agree that in general over exposing just below clipping makes sense. Better to pull down shadows rather than try to push them up and in general in natural light exposing for sky pushes us into that realm pretty quickly. On something like an alexa where colour shift and fidelity holds up well at three or four stops over unfortunately for many cameras and codecs the colour accuracy strays pretty badly two or so stops either side of “properly exposed”. Ie going by manufacturers ire guide for middle grey. I have found particularly with Sony that their luts are excellent when zebras are used to expose correct middle grey and nail that. The colours are then spot on using their standard correction luts. Although highlights are a great benchmark in general i find that middle grey is an easier reference for me not least as some scenes will not have a high contrast range but most have a middle grey regardless. Again in terms of exterior landscapes and sky no doubt that highlights are the priority and avoiding clipping but anything to do with people and even building details, brick and concrete, then middle grey and effectively skin tone maybe feel a useful marker to extend or not and keep an eye on. I agree that using adjustment correction luts are super key when shooting and monitoring if nothing else for a bit of confidence. Colour shift though is a thing particularly when looking for detailed midtones and complex colour in the skin and for sure although counter intuitively shifting iso higher gives better roll off curves for highlights. That said i think that there is a whole video to be done on colour wheels and hdr and how colour density is affected by the normal offset wheels whereas the hdr wheels dont affect that density or saturation and so are the ideal exposure adjustments once a look in terms of colour is done. Not least their ranges can be fine tuned to suit the image. Once again a beautifully precise and elegant explanation video. Thanks again.
Hey thanks Ken! Agree with you here. All depends on the camera you are using, the scene you are shooting, and your end goal. On fx3, red, Blackmagic, pretty much all the modern cameras that shoot log, you can overexpose and pull down and be looking good. But this is really only needed when you want to minimize noise and get absolutely the most clean image possible. Not needed at all times, and you don’t have to go 4 over. You could go one over. I know I’d rather be a recoverable amount over than any level under!
i think it is important to mention that the chosen ISO matters a lot - 800 would have like 9.3 stops of dynamic range in the highlights compared to 11.4 stops in 3200 - this is not only about recording a brighter image just below clipping. i know SO many people who would choose ISO 160 on a bright sunny day instead of a 800 / 1600 ISO and a good ND. the difference in dynamic range you have in the highlights between 160 ISO and 800 ISO is almost DOUBLE on most sensors. this changed EVERYTHING when I learned about this back then.
love what you said in the end about the opposite scenario - when you shoot at night - try having the lowest ISO a create light
yeeppp!
This man is on an upload frenzy. Awesome info, dude, thank you!
thank u thank u ☺️
Wow I needed this video ages ago! Thank you for sharing your wisdom!
🫡 more to come
This is amazing information and not something that comes naturally when you are out shooting. I think a lot of people just try to get the exposure right in the camera and don't really think about the postproduction part too much. I know I was like this when I've started. Will start doing this on my next shoot and see what result I'm getting. Thank you!
Thank you! Exposing accurately is for sure totally fine and most commonly the way to do it. But on certain things I have experienced great results over exposing and pulling down in post. But as the warning says… just test out extensively before doing it for real!
@@BlaineWestropp1 Of course, yes. Exposing accurately is used most of the time. But having the time to do it and if you are looking for some different results, I think it is worth to take some time and learn how your camera works and behaves in certain situations.
it is kinda counterintuitive to use a higher ISo in the daytime when it's sunny outside and a lower value in the dark or night time. 😅 But if you are looking to take advantage of that dinamic range of your camera, that is exactly what you have to do, haha!
Another great video. I expose the same way for the same reason. Some get it, some don't, but the results are undeniable.
love it. the results are great. I do it all the time and enjoy very clean images!
This is the best explanation of this methodology that I've heard. Saving it so I can share it with others when this discussion comes up. Thank you!
thank you thank you 😊
@@BlaineWestropp1 Checking out some of your videos. They're excellent. Great information that feels like a conversation!
Thanks again. More to come!
Technically this is more about ETTR, the negative film works in reverse. Overexposed on film produces dark “thick” film. But almost certainly there is some information in the darkness on the film as underexposed tends to produce clear film. Ie the image doesn’t exist. In dark areas the image was recorded perfectly then it recorded the image darker on top. So while its somewhat covered up, it’s still actually recorded. Film records slow at first then slows down at the end of dynamic range also. Those soft clouds are rolloff at the end of the dynamic range curve. On digital you have more dynamic range in many cases, but by overexposing the high lights begin to get thin, because log is already compressing them. They are compressed because we don’t see highlights very good, so why record them in high luminance resolution. Overexposure compresses the luma information even further in highlighs, but allows more for the darks and midtones. Digital even log tends not to have a rolloff curve. The process of negative film vs digital is different so they will probably always look somewhat different.
yea.., ETTR yields a thick negative, on film and on digital. I am using the term thick negative to mean, overexpose digital, just as an ode to the original term. my biggest point here is that you can experience large benefits from over exposing!
Dude, keep these coming, you’re on fire! Thanks for the tips.
Thank you 😊 more to come!
One thing I can never nail, is getting super clean black, when you want one of those candle lit kind of dark moody scenes.
I understand shooting much higher light level via false color and bring it down, but I notice that the image ends up getting wayyyy to contrasty and looks weird.
How are you bringing down your exposure? One approach, like in this video, is to over expose and bring down in post, and one approach is to shoot at a low ISO. If you go with the first approach you should bring down your exposure via mapped HDR global wheel, and then sometimes I’ll bring up the shadows a bit in the curves. Gotta finesse it. Also shooting at lower iso will give you more range in the shadows, which may fix your contrast issue, just need to light accordingly. It’s easy to shoot in bright light, harder to nail it in the dark.
@@BlaineWestropp1 yeah - I mean, I try a few things, but I've never mapped the color wheels before, I'll try that.
This is the ETTR method that you would have to do on most Sony cameras a few generations ago when shooting in SLOG. Don't have to do that these days! Although I do use the CineEI method and rate it one stop lower (400 vs 800 on FX6) to get cleaner shadows. Just not to the degree done here. Another way would be to shoot at a higher ISO (1600 or 2000) and use ND to bring down the exposure. That method shifts your middle grey up so you are getting more dynamic range in your highlights. The inverse works as well, when shooting dark scenes, shoot at a lower ISO and add more light to compensate as that shifts your middle grey and dynamic range towards the shadows. EDIT: Sorry, just saw you mentioned the same thing at the end of your video.
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LOVE this content!! Keep it coming brother!
Thank you! More to come
Interesting! To add to this. With the FX3 on Cine EI mode it basically locks the camera into only using base ISO settings to maximise dynamic range. So for example with base ISO 800, I set the ISO to 500 so it appears around 2 stops darker, which in turn makes me increase the exposure by 2 stops with other means other than ISO, like lighting, aperture, nd etc. Thus maximising the dynamic range.
Yes cine EI is like just changing the monitor Lut. Also 2 stops darker than 800 is 200 😊. 800 to 500 is 2/3 stop darker.
@@BlaineWestropp1 Nice one Blaine
Quite interesting, the only thing that comes to mind is that Alexa encode to roll off highlights, so if you intend on exposing upper mid tones in the highlight regions, they will effectively roll off when offset back down in davinci or via whatever LUT you're using. You can correct for this of course, but just important to take into account as it will effect the tonal reproduction.
I like how the highlights, and even shadows, (on brighter scenes) look on the Alexa at higher EI values. So to shoot at higher values and reduce the noise that comes with those higher values, I will expose hot!
@@BlaineWestropp1 The tests were night and day for sure
Yep!
after a test with an alexa mini in prores and evaluation with my colorist i came to realize this: you sacrifice tonal reproduction by using ettr. definetly something to bear in mind when you need the tones to be "deep" and saturated.
Love this guy! Blaine is dishing out some valuable sh*t here.
☺️☺️ thank you!
Testing this tomorrow. We’ll see how Canon’s raw does on the ole C300 III 👀
I’m often under exposing by 1 stop to compensate for skin tones. Everything I shoot is in the studio, and I have time to make the shot look right. I usually just get exposure dead on with false color. Not orange or even yellow in false color. Can be a little too dark occasionally, but it’s better than having an overly bright image that I can’t control.
There ain’t a problem with accurate exposure! But worth testing just to see. As mentioned all cameras are different but on a lot of cameras I have benefited from over exposing.
Keep inspiring people man, good stuff 🤜🏻🤛🏻
Thank you thank you!
Oh I thought you were gonna demonstrate it on film lmao
Even on digital, "ETTR" has been an often given piece of advice. Not needing to possibly increase the gain on any of your footage, film or digital, is certainly a big plus worth building that into the original exposure! Definitely helps for adding back the light as you showed in the previous video. But I didn't expect the lower contrast in your example, neat!
For cinematography, I've read countless AC articles where cinematographers mention rating their stock 2/3 to 1 whole stop slower in order to build a thicker negative.
I liked the demonstration of negatives at the start, especially the ghetto setup of just draping it over a lamp that looked cool... then showing you coming up with a way of respooling the mess lol
Also I love your doggy in the background C:
Thank you! I think the idea of building the thick neg, on digital is the same approach I take on film, and that is simply to over expose it!
I think creative New Yorkers r smhrter cause they wake up earlier then the rest of us, so they r like two steps uh head.
Excellent explanation exposure and capturing, I’ll be chews on this all day and night to truly understand it. U like wicked smhrt!
Hey thank you! Who wakes up first? Lol. Maybe they are the smartest
Was doing something similar to this on my p4k. Shooting at 400 iso, raising it to 1000 iso in resolve but lowering the exposure via the node I have filmconvert nitrate at rather than the HDR wheels like you have here. Good to know I'm not crazy for doing it.
Cool! Do you like the results you are getting?
Could you make an example of how you would correct and grade a small scene from start to finish? These short tutorials are always nice but they’re usually just one shot at a time and I’d like to see how you construct a full node tree or match the colors between shots and make a look that works for the entire scene.
This is a great idea, weirdly I don’t think I’ve seen this on RUclips!
Seriously, why don’t you have 1M subs? ❤
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This is a great question
Mapping that hdr wheel is the move!
Ohhh yes it is!
Very interesting , gotta test it out on my BM6kpro
Again , thank you .
Test it out!
I'm a bit late to the party but I saw in some other comments you were offering to share your exposure compensation LUTs and I'd love to get my paws on them too, if possible! Will be shooting on a Alexa Mini soon and want to give this a shot! (but also own a Komodo if you happen to have some for it too!) Appreciate you!
DM me on instagram!
amazing, thank you for sharing this knowledge 🔥
😊 thank you!
Thanks!
Hey thank you so much ☺️☺️☺️
Digging the broll and the filmrollz
Thank you Ghost ❤️
I m still somewhere between 200 on blackmagic but then if you add too much light you are loosing saturation and moodiness and 1250 with nd filter - more glass will affect the image
With good ND filters you should be good. Always good to test and see which ISOs you like best as they will all look different!
Isn't this the same as shooting at 400 EI on the Alexa? It's a built-in exposure compensation LUT as the sensor gain doesn't change (except in ES Mode on the Alexa 35). Shoot at 400EI, you've lost a stop of head room for highlights but can see another stop deeper into the shadows
Yes, shooting at 800 with a -1 stop Lut is similar to shooting at 400. Generally they will look very close but the 400 shot will have more detail in shadows and less in highlights, under very simply grading moves.
I'd love to see how you made your exposure luts.
What cam do you need them for?
@@BlaineWestropp1 Any of the arris. I'm curious how you can find one or two stops and not just a general darkening of the image. Really great idea.
Feel my mind melting a little with the lut. Like its just a lut it isn't doing owt to the image. So how does it help retain anything? Though the idea of exposing to the right is nothing new and I tend to bounce between 1-2 stops over to get the most info into the shot. I liked the reference to the film neg too. Keep it Thicc :D Awesome video as always Blaine!
Hey thanks! Lut ain’t doing anything besides making the monitor pleasant to look at! 1-2 over is often where I find myself as well!
How did you make your LUTs for exposure compensation? I want to do the same for the RED V-Raptor. Because I too prefer to record as much light as possible before clipping and then reduce exposure in post.
Can you message me on instagram? @wstrpp
Awesome as always ❤ I don't get it, why the majority of LUT creators do not provide exposure comp. versions of their LUTs, because it would be some sort of an USP for them and makes the whole Cine EI discussion obsolete. The only time I stumbled across exp. comp. LUTs are the official Sony Blockbuster LUTs.
yeah ive never seen exp comp included. quite useful to have!
@@BlaineWestropp1when can we download your correction LUTs? 😅
Very very soon!
@@BlaineWestropp1 yeah, sounds amazing 🤩
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How did you make the LUT? It would be great if you could make a video for it
this could be arranged :)
I would like to see a video on shooting a low ISO in a low light situation.
I can make a video on this! there are 2 low light scenarios in my opinion. actual low light, where you have no control, like out in the desert at night, or anywhere where you are not lighting the scene. and then there is movie low light, where it looks dark when you are watching it, but the scene was very bright when it was being captured. in the first scenario I raise my iso, to get proper exposure, because I have no control. in the second scenario I lower my iso to reduce noise and work "in the toe" meaning rating the camera to perform better in the shadows and dark areas. also in the second scenario, you have lights that you can control, so you lower your ISO, and then increase the illumination of the room. if you took a BTS photo with your phone it would almost look like day time, but on camera it is dark and clean.
@@BlaineWestropp1 I would love for you to make a video on this. When controlling my lights I already light bright and lower. What I like about your videos is that, I do a lot of what you do but sometimes catch things you do better. One thing I always tell starting out photographers and film makers, you are always learning. You can always learn from others. I've been in the biz 38 years and see different or better ways all the time or stuff I never thought of.
Great video as always! Would you also suggest doing this with 10 bit footage or just raw footage?
Anything that shoots log. I would run multiple tests to see how far you can push it!
@@BlaineWestropp1alright, will do so :)
Thank you
How does this compare to exposing for the sensor’s native ISO? Obviously ISO implementation varies by camera, but yeah. Generally I aim for a “hot” (but not clipped) image at my camera’s native ISO, because (at least on my S1H,) that’s where the best dynamic range performance is available.
You can expose any iso hot, iso will just shift the allocation of the DR. Shooting the native iso is often times wise bc I “sees into shadows and highlights” fairly equally. I shoot native all the time. Most times actually
I was on a shoot and I always overexpose to bring things down in post but I was told that my footage was too hot by someone who doesn't edit. I should send them this video. 😅
Haha yes send them this!
So for low light, would it make sense to clip the shadows then bring them up? Basically the opposite of clipping highlights then bringing them down.
my approach here is to over expose and bring things down. in bright light, over expose, but do NOT clip the highlights, then bring it down. In low light, overexpose if you can to get really clean shadows, and/or shoot at a low ISO to have low noise and more detail in the shadows. That is technically what you want to do but as always there are really no rules. I try not to clip the highlights or crush the shadows too much, so there is some flexibility in post!
this is a pretty noob-y question here and my apologies if you covered this in this video or another one but what is a good way to create these -2 exposure LUT so I can import them to my monitor? I use Resolve now, I tried mapping the LOG wheels as you noted and dragging the Global I think down to -2, and used the Generate LUT on that but it doesn't seem to work properly, instead it washes out the blacks and stuff on the monitor... Is there a simpler way to generate the exposure LUT? 🤔
Can you send me a message on ig? I’ll send you the right luts! @wstrpp
@@BlaineWestropp1 Blaine another quick question if you have any insight, I've heard of SDI ports being prone to frying or being damaged by plugging in and powering in the wrong order and whatnot, if one were to power the camera and the SDI monitor with completely different power sources (like not the same v-mount for instance), would that protect against the risks of damaging the SDI ports? Been apprehensive of using SDI over HDMI because of that fear of frying the port
Great info
Thank you!
do you have any advice about overexposing with bmpcc 6k?
I’d do a similar test to what I showed here. Shoot all the isos, see what you like best. See how far you can push it towards clipping, etc.
i was tripping when I saw the 9million views, i was like hold up, did my guy Blaine blow up????
hehe
Man, Arri has more dynamic range than my eyes.
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bro u r FIRE
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thanks for this! you got those exposure compensations LUTs for dl? thanks!
🫡 I dont have them for DL at the moment but soon I will put them up!
@@BlaineWestropp1 thank you!!!
When are you selling these exposure overcompensation luts? 👀
They are floating around in the discord 🤫
What is the best way to create my own compensation LUTS?
For which camera?
Check the RGB parade, as one color channel can clip before the others.
Yes, this can also be seen in the waveform!
Epiphany. I'm such a dumbass! I can't believe I have never created Rec. 709 exposure compensation LUTs for viewing when exposing to the right (or higher ISO to preserve highlights) ... or when shooting dark interior scenes (and lowering ISO to preserve shadows).
its so useful. I always have them loaded onto the camera 👌
Should we have a party at Bamonte’s?
I’d go right now
Is your selection of your higher ISO the point where the dual gain sensor has more information in the highlights?
more info in the highlights at higher ISOs, more info in the shadows at lower ISOs
Overexposing with the ISO work for all cameras, including digital cameras, or does it depend on different factors?
Really this technique is for cameras that shoot log. Really depends on your camera, and the scene. If you run a few tests you will see what works and what doesn’t! Happy to answer any questions. Do you have a specific camera in mind?
@@BlaineWestropp1 I speak in general. I have a humble Lumix S5 IIX. A video explaining in which case to use the ISO or use another method to expose correctly would be nice.
i love your content🎉
Thank you so much :)
Anyone knows what is the very very intro song?
song is a banger. it is called hyna ruje by digital moss. here is a link: audiio.com/digital-moss/hyna-ruje/hyna-ruje
@@BlaineWestropp1 thanks, - sounds very like the old school version of - ATB - You're not alone - i mean the melody in itself
This technique is similar to the ETTR technique.
Yes!
With the RAW footage, why not lower the Exposure un the RAW settings of DaVinci instead of HDR?
Bc it redistributes the gamma curve. You can of course do this, but highlights will be nicer if you don’t. Totally camera dependent though, and the differences more noticeable in certain scenarios than others.
@@BlaineWestropp1 Thanks I now understand why the HDR scenario is better. I record RAW from my FX3 / Atomos. I will try this workflow.
@erikgouletphoto great. Let me know if you have any issues! Compare dropping your hdr global wheel to -2 for example, against changing your iso from 800 to 200.
@@BlaineWestropp1 I doing some test shots on my FX3 in RAW. 3200, 160 and 800ISO. At 800 my exposure is great. When I try to match the overexposed clips in Davinci HDR, the exposure drop is more than 2. But exposure matches when I reduce by 2 stops in the RAW tab of the clip. Am I doing something wrong?
@@BlaineWestropp1 I think I found my error. After setting the Gamma in the HDR Color Wheels to Sony S Log 3 everything is working as you presented in the video. :)
would this 3 stops of over exposure work well for lets say: bmpcc 6k pro or sony fx3?
Yes, but need to test. I mostly use them just to get the monitor looking right.
It’s nice bc you can use a -4 to make it look quite dark, while still recording bright. But just need to test your specific camera. Loading on -1 through -4 is useful.
Why are you exporting cropped 16:9? It looks really my UW monitor as I have black bars everywhere :(
this is 2:1. I typically use 2:1 and work within that canvas, sometimes filling it, sometimes not. If everyone had a wide monitor I would render to 2.39:1. Also, you miss out on some RUclips features when uploading 2.39:1!
@@BlaineWestropp1 didn't know about missing features. I thought that exporting native would be the best in terms of how the video is presented on a specific device. 2:1 would be similarly cropped on 16:9 but without artificially added bars.
@@theAristocrap yeah I do like rendering native, and occasionally do, but most times I go to 2:1 regardless of what sized frames are within it. I know it sucks for those with wide monitors :( maybe I should upload native to unlisted and link it in the descriptions..
@@BlaineWestropp1 I don't think it is worth your hassle. I am still interested in what benefits there are to rendering your 2:1 to 16:9 in terms of what youtube has to offer for this ratio?
@theAristocrap I am rendering and uploading 2:1. With 2.39:1 uploads you cannot add end cards or add info to the top right corner on RUclips! So it is mostly selfish, but I also often times have multiple formats in 1 video. 2.39:1, 16x9, 2:1, etc.
Does this apply to slog3 with the FX3? I’m hearing people saying stop overexposing slog3 anymore 😅
Yes, applies to any camera. Age old technique. Specifically good for cameras that shoot log. And useful if you want to diminish noise. Just make sure you do a bunch of tests before using for real. And.. you don’t have to do this, you can expose normally and be fine. This is just when you really want to pull it down in post which is useful sometimes.
@@BlaineWestropp1 thanks for the response! One more thing, using CineEI and setting it to 2 or 3 stops under is the same as using stop reduction LUTs right?
Yes pretty much. The difference comes into play when you are using an external monitor.
@@BlaineWestropp1 i’m sorry, but what’s the difference when using an external monitor?
@JirehTorres if you send a log image to the external monitor, you can use the exposure comp luts on the external, and keep your fx3 at 800 and view zebras on the fx3 monitor and save yourself from clipping where if you change the EI, your zebras change and you can clip by accident.
wow, fuckin amazing info
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Only problem I see with this is giving the client over exposed footage lol. They’re going to freak out!
Oh this would not be something you would hand to the client unless they would hold an archive. This requires the footage to go through color grading. Also this technique should be used mostly on log footage.
did you make your -1,-2... stop luts yourself? or did you buy them somewhere?
I made them. I’ve been meaning to put them on my website. I have them for most cameras. I’ll post them soon!
@@BlaineWestropp1 Awesome man! Can't wait, thanks!
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@@BlaineWestropp1 Would also love to see this!
This is similar to the CineEI tool on Sony, is it not?
Yep!
@@BlaineWestropp1 Amazing tip and breakdown. These small tips in the right shooting scenarios actually make a big difference. Love it!
thank you!
When you say a thick negative you mean more dense?
Yes
Is this the same with Cine EI?
yes cine ei is very similar to this, but also depends which sony camera you are using, and which firmware it is on. if the EI adjustments do not get baked in, they are behaving just like a stop reduction lut!
@@BlaineWestropp1 maybe you could do a video about it. Thanks!
@@Bobsmithabc I could do this.. I’ve been meaning to make some Sony videos!
@@BlaineWestropp1 ❤️
Does this apply to Raw footage only or Log as well?
Applies to log footage, regardless of if your log footage is raw or not! But as mentioned make sure you test. Each camera will be a little different.
@@BlaineWestropp1 well noted, thanks a lot
Only caveat for newer DPs who may attempt this on a narrative setting, please for the love of god write down notes. Dont assume the colorist will know how many stops correction you are using
Yes for sure. I would say that falls under the “know what you are doing” portion of my warning 😂
@@BlaineWestropp1 yessir lol atleast you told them. Can’t come back here complaining
1st 🥇
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everytime i click your discord link it says invalid :(
hmmmm maybe message me on instagram.. @wstrpp