How to read and use a waveform monitor

[@PolyglotMonkey]

Cool, finally YT shows me good content from someone who doesn’t already have a gazillion followers. Subscribed

[@purplethrone3245]

I have a question. how did you get your sound so good for this video? where is your microphone?

[@jakehewitt2697]

Love your style. No sensationalizing or fake personality. Similar vibes to Morten Hilmer

[@rieraphotography]

thank you for your kind words. I will check Morten out.

[@FPVUniversity]

Man, this is one amazing video! You just got a subscriber

[@skepsys]

when looking at the waveform when capturing log, for correct exposure (assuming say a general scene, not necessarily a portrait), for correct exposure, should the waveform generally be adjusted to sit somehow in the middle from top to bottom, or does it have to be exposed as high as possible so that it sits in the upper area (of course, as long as nothing of importance is clipping)? so if a scene shows waveform sitting in the middle (on vertical axis), do i have to crank it still up and up until close to clipping, just to get more light in, or.. not? i saw that with faces, you have to bring them to be between 40-70 on waveform, but if faces are not relevant, or no faces in the scene, how do i set the waveform to look like?

[@rieraphotography]

It does all depend on the subject matter. If you have very bright highlights or deep shadows then even a log wave form can be stretched out. A more even scene will definitely sit more in the middle. Over exposing the scene to make the wave form higher is sometimes useful (like exposing to the right with a histogram in stills) but if you are on set you will need a lut that shows the scene brought back down… you will quickly tire of people asking why is it so over exposed. You are right that you should try and avoid clipping unless the highlights are specular or the shadows really dont have any detail. This is why it is good to switch between monitoring the LUT and the Log signal to know how it may look in post and what detail is being preserved on the original . I generally dont overexpose unless i am going for a particular look or technically i am unable to bring things down any further.

[@skepsys]

thanx. and thanx for the fast replying.

[@MaxMautner]

Excellent explanation--thank you!

[@rieraphotography]

You are welcome. Glad it is useful

[@Jasan57]

Brilliant - extremely well delivered, clear information - with a cool, humorous touch !

[@rieraphotography]

Many thanks!

[@ray.watts.44]

Very helpful. Thanks.

[@hippopictures]

Great video, thanks! Can you elaborate a bit more on what luminance is? As you said, see it as percentages and shades of Grey. So is it correct to see it as how much of a white or black a shade is?

[@rieraphotography]

Hi. If by white or black you mean dark and light then yes. The standard single colour wave form as shown in the video is just for viewing luminance change. Luminance is basically a way of measuring brightness. You can use a wave form to judge changes in colour. There is a specific type of wave form called RGB parade that lets you see the change in brightness and contrast to individual red green and blue channels when grading. I hope this helps. Simon

[@ThatOtherGuysReview]

Very helpful! Subscribed!

[@turtlestudio3470]

Thanks Dad 🤝

[@purplethrone3245]

I have a question. how did you get your sound so good for this video? where is your microphone?

[@rieraphotography]

For this video I used a small diaphragm condenser microphone just off screen.