How To Light Low Key Video | Lighting, Exposure & Grading Tips

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In this video I give you my thoughts on how to light, expose and grade a moody low key scene. As always I encourage you to comment with your experiences when filming this sort of scene.
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Interview style - • How To Light Interview...
Please leave your thoughts in the comments below, let's help each other out and shoot better video...enjoy!
This video was graded with Vellichor LUTs, check them out here bit.ly/2JaUWG3 (By Ricardo Sousa)
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[@HarvVideoAudioStuff]

Enjoy guys :)

[@TheFilmLook]

That looks awesome! So crisp. I feel sometimes fill light takes the image out of cinema and back into video and its certianly evident in this video here. Cheers Harv!

[@BlacksheepPictures]

how to set up the camera if you want to darken the background complettly dark ?

[@chadwin]

Very nice! I love moody low key lighting. The only tiny adjustment I would make would be to turn her face slightly towards the light so you get the Rembrandt light on her left cheek nearest to the camera. But that’s ultimately up to personal taste. I love this stuff, keep it coming!

[@TheIQProductions]

I would have thought that if you used the softbox emitting light directly at her, it would have wrapped around her face killing the contrast ratio as well as spreading light into the background, did you not use flags or anything to control spill? especially with that diffused light? I'm confused, how exactly did you get such a focused key light from a softbox? great end result though!

[@zonoscopePictures]

^Good point, I hadn't thought of this when I watched. I'm guessing he feathered the light coming from the softbox.

[@lionbeatscobra]

Did you shoot slog 2 or 3 for this? I'm having issues with slog personally especially in the shadows with grain.

[@Jorderby]

I started watching this video because I liked how the lighting is in 1:34 and wanted to see how this is acheived.

[@EarlyDawnTravels]

This has been the most helpful video on interview lighting because you dive into final cut pro as well. My biggest struggle has been exposing correctly in SLOG for specifically moody interviews. I can easily expose it for a regular type of interview… But exposing for S log seems particularly challenging because of having to over expose. In Camera it always looks so bright, but you have to trust the process and know that in post like you show here it ends up looking great.

[@nanofree01]

I would appreciate knowing what your camera settings are when shooting. I achieve almost the same kind of result without going through any editing. But the only big problem is that I have a lot of noise in blacks and dark tones. However, I am at minimum ISO 100. F19 to have the depth of field on my subject and black in the background and Speed 1/30

[@thokeJackass]

Informative, light and to the point! Always learn something from your videoes and I enjoy watching it at the same time. Really appreciate your work :)

[@thokeJackass]

Lol, no pun intended

[@tofavisualssalimontofatogo639]

Thanks for this very helpful 🤍🤍〽️💯 love from Nigeria 🇳🇬 Lagos

[@djataras8714]

how do you expose. so that you dont get noise.

[@Dweeno]

wait how do u shoot in such dark scene and im hardly or not seeing any noise . did u fix that in post ? or it's just your camera. and what camera was it btw..?.

[@HarvVideoAudioStuff]

It was a Sony a7s2, the trick was to light the scene knowing that the shadows were going to be almost totally crushed. I added too much contrast for there to be any noise

[@clivebrincat88]

How do you avoid noise/artifacts in the shadow area especially in slog?

[@stosicmediagroup]

Hi Harv this was great! Could you do this for two subject dialogue shoot? :)

[@HarvVideoAudioStuff]

I’ve got one coming for a single subject interview lighting setup, but I love this idea of the two subject lighting setup. Consider it ‘in the works’ :) watch this space!

[@anagram8]

Good stuff Harv, clear and concise

[@joshdiditt]

How do you expose for log in dark scenes though? The histogram and waveform will say the shadows are crushed so how do you expose in log without getting noisy footage?

[@HarvVideoAudioStuff]

Believe me the blacks won't be crushed when shooting log, it's just way too low contrast. In any case if you intend on crushing them in editing you don't really have to worry too much about noise, especially with a shot like the one in this video which is so contrasty. I'd try doing some test shots, you'll see what I mean 👍

[@saranshacademy9010]

Great work sir From India

[@lukeperkowski5328]

Hey, Can you explain the profile that you've used? Was it Cine1 or SLOG?

[@SoopaCoopa]

He first said Cine1 but then went with the log image.

[@MarcosRochaTV]

You can never learn enough about Lighting. I like the Aperture lights because how easy it is to travel with them. I don’t have any of them but I will get some of them in the future.

[@jonkempvideography]

Just come across your channel, this video is going to be a big help for an upcoming short film where the writer is looking to have a very dark look! Just started up on youtube, can I ask what do you shoot on? Some great content by the way

[@HarvVideoAudioStuff]

Many thanks, at the moment I use a Sony a7s2. I’ll be upgrading as soon as the new one is announced :)

[@jonkempvideography]

Harv Video/Audio Stuff oh nice, I'm still on the A7s will probably upgrade if the mark three offers a decent upgrade

[@thatsamuellu]

I have some issue with low key exposure, there always some noise/grain in the shadow area on my Sony a7s III. Can you make a video about how to properly expose the shadow in low key footage to reduce the noise? Thank you!

[@HarvVideoAudioStuff]

I’ll see what I can do 😉 added to my list

[@thatsamuellu]

@@HarvVideoAudioStuff Have you ever experienced the same issue on slog3/a7s3 as I described? Thank you, brother, your video has always been informative and educational.

[@HarvVideoAudioStuff]

Honestly I haven’t, check out my sigma 35mm lens review as I went out filming at night for the clips. I’ll give this idea some thought, I’ve got some ideas already 😄

[@thatsamuellu]

@@HarvVideoAudioStuff Awesome! Appreciated!

[@lego3x11l]

Great video as always!! Keep it up mate!

[@TomMasonPhoto]

Really nice as always Harv, great content. Does FCP now support LUTs without 3rd party plugins? The new colour wheels are awesome to finally have!

[@HarvVideoAudioStuff]

Indeed it does, the latest fcpx update is fab! Many thanks :)

[@e2elearners]

Useful

[@VulgarMenace96]

Wait, I'm confused, can I or should I use log profiles in low light scenes?

[@HarvVideoAudioStuff]

You absolutely can but in most of my tests a linear profile tends to do better. You may find this video helpful kzbin.info/www/bejne/eGnHf6Gng7SlapI

[@VulgarMenace96]

@@HarvVideoAudioStuff awesome thanks, also I don't mean to sound like an amateur, but by linear profiles, do you mean the film simulations like eterna and or standard?

[@HarvVideoAudioStuff]

No worries 😉 by linear profiles I mean cine1/2/3/4 etc on Sony or standard/rec709 on others

[@tatertot2540]

I’m having a difficult time trying to create the low key neon lighting from the American Gods neon poster. More specifically with the Godspeed halo. Any suggestions?🤷🏻‍♂️

[@BogdanSorlea]

color correct shape mask and boom, her cheek looks like tetris

[@HarvVideoAudioStuff]

On KZbin maybe, not in the rendered file

[@alloneword154]

Yes but what about when your shooting at night outside? And every thing is under exposed and you have no lights?

[@DodaGarcia]

Great video! One comment I would make, from seeing this said in a few different lighting videos, is that when you shoot a scene like that it's a good idea to have at least some sort of practical in the background, because if all you have is a short-lit subject and a completely dark background the brain unconsciously thinks there wasn't enough light to shoot the scene. In a way it "feels" underexposed even though it's not.

[@akhiporwalshort]

Wow

[@videocasetteTV]

Awesome tutorial, I have suggestion, why you do not try to make low key lighting with blocking , because most of the cinematography tutorials for low key lighting no blocking so it looks as photography

[@MarcSchreiberRealtor]

Hi Harv. As usual Great video. Would this be considered a Noir look? Why did you switch from Cine 1 to Slog2 (or 3)? Thanks!

[@HarvVideoAudioStuff]

Yes I’d say it qualifies as noir, i switched to LOG because I found that by the time I’d ‘stretched’ the image (highlights and shadows) when I was in cine1 I noticed some odd artefacts, with LOG it seemed to behave itself much better :)

[@rocketfilms4054]

How do you expose log in this low light conditions?

[@zonoscopePictures]

T@@HarvVideoAudioStuff ^this is all great information! thank you again for sharing your knowledge!

[@SoopaCoopa]

This was interesting because I have always learned that log is meant for lots of light scenes and not night. But on the other side it is meant for more dynamic range and your contrast ratio was probably 16:1 if not 32:1 haha

[@creatives_y_kthefilmmaker5425]

Very educative

[@khalidahmed3659]

Nice 👌🏻😍 keep it up 🙌🏻 .. if you can make a video about the interview lighting it will be nice👌🏻 ..

[@mychalsimmons4177]

You move a little fast but I like the info shared. Why everyone is in so much of a hurry...lol lol.

[@eriqforsky4728]

Which editing software is that you're using?

[@pmhorn86]

There are so many different theories and practices when exposing for low-key lighting. This was a very insightful breakdown. Hopefully there will be more to come. Thanks for sharing.

[@MarcoZhang689]

How do you not get noise when exposing for such low light scenes???

[@HarvVideoAudioStuff]

Expose brightly, always use a LUT and add contrast. I never have issues with noise with either slog2 or 3, these gammas are not inherently noisy, they just need treating differently to linear gammas. I’m thinking of doing a linear vs log video, should be interesting :)

[@MarcoZhang689]

Harv Video/Audio Stuff I'd watch that. Keep up the good work man! Your videos are very useful

[@lionbeatscobra]

Also don't use an ISO above the native if you are having grain issues.

[@JulianRose]

@@lionbeatscobra How does one determine the native ISO? I've been searching for information on this and haven't been able to find anything concrete

[@lionbeatscobra]

@@JulianRose native ISO is the lowest you can go in that Picture Profile. I believe it's 3200.

[@Rudra_Chamund]

What's your editing software's name?

[@Stoffelcopter]

Just what I needed! Thank you so much for making this video!

[@TheIQProductions]

(afterthought) do you usually use rec709 in camera to expose and light and then switch to log when you are ready to shoot? and would you recommend doing this?

[@BoyBlessing]

IQ I would expose and light using the rec709 and keep it on while shooting. There’s no reason to take it off

[@Lufe_Siqueira]

Nice to see how much you evolved in your communication skills, Harv. Good on ya, man. Good work!

[@sukanyasahoo917]

Ya it's been used in stranger things

[@FalcoII]

Great stuff. High key next time? :)

[@datalaforge]

Hey Harv, with all of these new cameras out, gh5s among others, are you at all tempted to give any of them a look/try?

[@HarvVideoAudioStuff]

Hmm none of them have really piqued my interest enough to buy, I’ll certainly be picking up the a7s3 when it emerges, also intrigued to see if canon bring out a compelling c100 mk2 replacement. Either way I’ll be taking a look at new bodies this year for sure. How about you?

[@davidsilver1749]

Great video and tips!!

[@robertocolletta6993]

Top top you are the best for me.Merci

[@JonniArmani]

Mucho excellente,)

[@assylkhanmeldebek5040]

Thanks 👍👍

[@segunawoniyi3908]

Educative video

[@GaithReo]

keep going

[@segunawoniyi3908]

Educative video