• Wondering which camera, gear, computer, or software to buy? Ask in our Gear Guide.

Minimizing blow out!

W

wheatgrinder

Hi all,
In this cap
388022_454486237906278_620430716_n.jpg


You can see that I blew out the highlights on this and all the shots of this scene. Just how "distracting" is it?

Does anyone have techniques for "reducing" blowouts?

I think I did OK with CC to minimize, but dang, its still buggin me!

Another shot from the same scene
533120_454486681239567_1365159173_n.jpg
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
I think they look just fine.

And professionally, highlights are slightly blown out all the time for effect. Sometimes just a tad like yours and other times in specialized, extreme circumstances.

I think this is one of those cases where you need to step back and look at it from a directors pov and see if it works instead a dop who is trying to get everything just perfect. It's the same problem i face when im playing more than one position on a project.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I agree with Ernest, its not too bad. Its not ideal, thats for sure, but when I saw the first shot I was thinking: "wow this looks nice", not: "ooh there's some overblown highlights". You look at the faces first, in any scene. I think thats how we're rigged. I didnt even notice the highlights untill I watched the shot the second time.

The second shot is in my opinion a little bit worse, because the highlights are closer to the face, and the background isnt really as awesome as in the first scene, which kindof moves the attention towards the highlights. Although, all in all, im pretty sure you will survive this :)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I agree with both prior comments. I wouldn't have noticed it, without trying to notice it. I think the shots look nice.

I suppose if you were really worried about it, you could do some really fine detail tweeking with gradient exposure in magic bullet looks. But wow, that would take a long time, for something that I personally don't think is a problem.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I tend to agree with all of the previous comments.

I'd say the reason it's bugging you so much is that you know about it, so immediately your eye goes to the imperfections. People who aren't as intimately familiar with your footage as you likely won't notice unless you point it out to them.

Hard to say for certain with stills though, it might be more noticeable and distracting in motion.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Yup agree with the others it looks fine (in fact I think its looking pretty good!), if its bugging you too much you could try grading that area down abit with a ramp so the eye isnt drawn to it as much.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Use a stronger or variable ND filter.

FWIW, it's often easier to tinker with the levels to add into blowouts than to subtract out of under exposures.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Slightly off topic but related at the same time. I think we worry about the perfect exposure a little too much in indie filmmaking. There are high key images and low key images. But whenever we utilize those in indie films, critics call it an amateur move for some reason because most people assume we were not doing it on purpose.

I wanted high key images in 'Beautiful Sketches' and the most common technical critique was that i overexposed. Granted there is a difference between high key and overexposure and i may have done the latter but the point is that we immediately pounce on anything but the perfect exposure without thinking whether it was intentional or not.

Anyway, what is this new film you're working on and when do we get to see it? :)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Nice trailer, the music is good too, and the scene with the turning car is pretty awesome.
Two points of minor critique: at the scene at 0:40 its a bit hard to see the difference between face and hand, it looked like a double nose when embedded, but putting it on fullscreen helps make it clearer.

Also, the transition between the contrasty, colourgraded shot at 0;51 and the flat, not so graded shot after it is pretty hard. Other than that, I don't have much to add, looks very solid, looking forward to the full film.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Ernest Worthing said:
Slightly off topic but related at the same time. I think we worry about the perfect exposure a little too much in indie filmmaking. There are high key images and low key images. But whenever we utilize those in indie films, critics call it an amateur move for some reason because most people assume we were not doing it on purpose.

I wanted high key images in 'Beautiful Sketches' and the most common technical critique was that i overexposed. Granted there is a difference between high key and overexposure and i may have done the latter but the point is that we immediately pounce on anything but the perfect exposure without thinking whether it was intentional or not.

Anyway, what is this new film you're working on and when do we get to see it? :)
Click to expand...

Indietalk needs a "like" button. :)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top