cinematography exposure?

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dvdguy

hey filmmakers,

Exposure is really hard to deal with sometimes but I have a situation where u might be able to help out. How do you usually go about setting exposure when there are people moving or and making sure there wont be any reflection overexposures (such as a moving bus reflecting the sun), but the subject is standing or maybe even moving closer?

Thanks
 
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control the light and you control the exposure.

Set camera exposure to background. Back off one tic... which will almost always result in an UNDEREXPOSED subject.
Then, use lighting, bounce cards, etc to add light to "properly" expose the subject. If subjects are moving.. lights are moving... or more likely the bounce cards are moving..
 
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If you're talking about shooting outside, you have to remember you can not overpower the sun. So yes, expose for the bg and light the subject to bring it to correct exposure.
There are so many variables which have to be taken care of on the fly but as wheat said, lights, bounce, screens, flags negative fill etc etc are your friends to controlling to the environment.

For example, i dont know where that bus of yours is coming from in relation to the camera angle, subject position, framing and what not. But it could be solved easily by a mattebox or just a simple flag. Or it could turn out to be a complicated choreographed nightmare to deal with it.
 
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exposing the background..hmm...ill have to think it through. @Wheat - what did you mean with "back off one tic" and how do I expose the camera to background? (lighting or just some presets in the camera?) thanks a million guys :)
 
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They're saying to set the exposure so the background looks good, then "light" the foreground to match it. I put "light" in quotations because outdoors in sunlight, most all you can do is use reflectors to give the subject more light, and flags and screens to take light away. If you can get your hands on some HMI's (at least 6k's) you can light your subject with those as well.
 
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a camera will have some sort of exposure control. Different cameras work in different ways and some you have to FOOL into locking exposure. What ever is the opposite of Automatic Exposure on your camera is what your after. memorize your cameras manual and then you'll know.. (I keep mine in the bathroom for light reading. but that just me!)

"back off one tic" is just a way of saying (I credit Kniqhtly as the source) to use what ever mechanization you do to set exposure, and if you have a way to "under expose" by one unit of measure, then do so, this will help to assure that you dont "overexpose" and lose your bright detail.

It very well maybe a preset on your camera.. what cam is it?
 
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@ Paul - ok, what about indoors? Alright I think I get the picture. Hopefully :) exposure is a beach.

@Wheat - how do you FOOL some cameras? Just so I get an idea.. well. my camera is a SONY HANDYCAM DCR-SR57 (it kinda sux because it doesnt offer much manual control except MANUAL EXPOSURE (which I dont know how to use yet), WHITE BALANCE and MANUAL FOCUS (still figuring it out). Im thinkin of buying a CANON XL2 though :) . That brightens up my day..
 
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whew, so you can set the exposure. Thats good..

Some cameras wont let you "set" the exposure by hand, but once your press the button it doesn't change.. that kind you can fool in to setting a desired exposure by pointing at some appropriate bright area in the frame, then pressing record button. After you start recording you can then changing the view of the camera do the desired subject.
 
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wheatgrinder said:
whew, so you can set the exposure. Thats good..

Some cameras wont let you "set" the exposure by hand, but once your press the button it doesn't change.. that kind you can fool in to setting a desired exposure by pointing at some appropriate bright area in the frame, then pressing record button. After you start recording you can then changing the view of the camera do the desired subject.
Click to expand...

Yay for exposure :D atleast something huh? Hmm, thats an interesting method you mentioned. Ok, so I just finished practicing lighting and took some pictures and also played around with exposure settings and noticed how the quality is much nicer when a bit lower. Thats old news but experiencing it first hand is different. Anyway, if I want that kind of quality (less grain), I obviously need more lighting power. Thats why it sucks cause it doesnt offer anything else besides EXPOSURE. But great camera to learn from :)
 
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