EXPOSURE FOR CINEMATIC IMAGES

[@Racconchief]

I've never commented under a KZbin video before, but now I just have to. Your channel is absolutely fantastic. For years I have been looking for a video that explains how to expose properly in the dark. I've seen a number of videos on this, but ETTR never made sense to me, nor did I understand why I should expose with a grey card in a scene like this. It's really hard to find film-makers on KZbin who are really good at what they do and don't just torture you with one-minute opening credits. But you know what you're doing! Thank you so much for sharing this!!!

[@CarterCreativeContent]

Thank you, appreciate it!

[@albertusbodenstein1976]

Thanks man..!

[@lovefirst6157]

This was something I learned from real experience of shooting because everywhere on youtube, they always say ettr. It crazy how big a difference it makes

[@CarterCreativeContent]

There's a lot of nonsense on KZbin 🤣

[@hwcentertainment]

Thank you very much. So insightful and helpful.

[@CarterCreativeContent]

Thanks, glad it is helpful!

[@PerEng2405]

Super interesting and actually the first time I have come across this topic with a real life example to follow. Brilliant. One question though; shooting at IRE below eg. 30 what iso settings were you using on your dual-native iso camera to produce your shot. Did you shoot on low native iso or high native iso ? I guess you could have shot on lowest native iso and then lowered the luminance level post and by that reduce the amount of noise, but not entirely sure ?

[@CarterCreativeContent]

Depends on the scene, for this type of shot with a dark interior it would be the high native iso. Check out my recent behind the scenes video. 👍

[@KarlBlessing]

Doing ETTR never made much sense to me for video. For me it's primarily only been useful when shooting actual raw files in photography. So you have to treat most of the video codec closer to the way you would shoot jpeg, by not doing ETTR, especially since most of it is going to be 8-bit unless you're fortunate enough to go a little more for 10-bit internal, or get yourself an external recorder that does more. (When you say aspiring/up-and-coming, the top end of what I'm picturing are people with bodies under 2k, like a Panasonic GH5, not some RED Raven etc) So yea... far as ETTR goes, I still use it, but only for photography where appropriate with the appropriate file format. But far as what area to expose within the waveform, it seems to differ again depending on the profile you shoot, vLog seems to have a specific 50%-ish mark that works well, whereas HLG that I been toying with works better peaking at 90 on the waveform. And most anything else that's not a flat log profile, is probably better to shoot similar to like you would with a jpeg (trying to get it much more even across, to maximize the normal coverage if it's only 8-bit). At the 2:50 mark or so, having it already low within that 0-30 range, would be banding muddy hell if attempted from 8-bit source once you finally get it pulled where you want it. I think there's also a bit of understanding the limitation of your recording format when attempting to shoot the exact same way.

[@CarterCreativeContent]

Valid points!....I'm definitely not saying to shoot ultra low, below 30 IRE, I'm saying that in my experience, don't try to expose equally across the waveform if you're going for a moody vibe, and certainly don't ETTR.

[@testlab6643]

Thanks for the video. What did you shoot in? Log, Raw, CineD? That makes a difference too, right?

[@CarterCreativeContent]

My shots in this video were Log, but it shouldn't make difference as you would be monitoring in Re709 for exposure.

[@testlab6643]

@@CarterCreativeContent I see what you mean, but I red that some modes are noisier than others in darker lit scenes respectively low exposure. This will be even more pronounced if corrections or grading is done in post.

[@KarlBlessing]

@@testlab6643 Seems to depend on the camera and the color bit range. Like if you underexposure and shoot at 8-bit, you're going to get a fair bit more added noise. Bump to 10-bit you do a bit better, especially at the camera's native ISO, provided you're not trying to pull up the exposure completely after (in his initial example they're not, they're keeping a middle exposure, and bringing it down).

[@CarterCreativeContent]

@@KarlBlessing Exactly.