Tutorial on Cinematography - How To Get Perfect Exposures Using a Waveform Monitor

The Cinematographer's best kept secrets
Director/Cinematographer Matthew Rosen demonstrates How To Get Perfect Exposures Using a Waveform Monitor
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[@shyamrockstarter]

When he said "I hope this information was useful to you", I was like "hell yeah!" and gave him a like and subscribe

[@WildHorseProductions]

This is like being taught to read the Matrix code in its pure form

[@beauchampy]

You sir are a fountain of knowledge. Thanks for the fantastic explanation.

[@polksaladalan]

Best filmmaking channel from a man who knows what he's talking about. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

[@photogenic2010]

Panasonic Gh5 is the only affordable camera with such an important feature, I am amazed of it's value even in 2021

[@sydzeiss]

Gracias, os mantendré informado.

[@rachelxrachelxrachel]

I just couldn't stop noticing the soundtrack that you've put it!

[@AbdelElAsrivisuals]

This channel is invaluable! Thank you for all the tips (loved the filter one)

[@brucestirling8215]

"The waveform is an exposure meter" = you are the only one who has said that, and it is everything brilliant thanks!

[@ted_nemeth]

the best explanation i've heard yet. It's clear now! Buckets of gratitude.

[@magnolia1984]

Very useful, thank you

[@gusy6129]

Beautifully done. Just subbed. You explain how the Exposure Wave Form works very well and simple. Thank you for your time spent teaching us.

[@PolyRev]

This is super helpful thank you! Hidden gems are found in your channel. You're great!

[@hickslightfoot]

Thank you for explaining in a way I could actually understand...

[@ArchaeometallurgieDe]

I would wish every information would be so readily understandable as yours. Thanks for this, which will surely help a lot!

[@Blackdovestudios303]

I wish more tutorials were as succinct as this was. Thank you.

[@GenieLampStudios]

You are a Noble Good Sir for posting this educational video. Thank you for the tips!

[@TheSolfilm]

Your channel is incredibly useful and your tutorials are very good, straight to the point, very well explained and illustrated, you are a so great, thanks.

[@rubenvor]

Great explanation! I've been using the waveform in Shotcut lately, to fix a bit my action camera footage.

[@deannuelyrondario7476]

Thank you so much Matthew! i hope i can attend one of your seminars in the Philippines someday!

[@skash4u]

Thanks once again for the tutorials. Awaiting your next one :)

[@herbal7ea]

Excellent information, well put together, and even after 5 years still relevant and helpful!

[@flow5369]

great !!!!!

[@sundaramoorthyv6854]

Very good explanation on the basics of WFM.

[@starboy2013]

The wave form info is very important. I took the directors cut of Blade Runner and ran it through resolve it`s cool to look at the meters and understand what light does in the sensor and how it appears on the screen.

[@DSLRguide]

thanks for this great info! do you have a standard IRE for the key side of skin tones? obviously it depends, but what's your average?

[@kinetek2881]

DSLRguide As you say that does really depend on the shot and what you want, but generally if my ambient whites are just below 100 IRE, my skin tone is between 55 to 75. This wide range is because so much depends on the color of the talent's skin.

[@DSLRguide]

fair enough, that's still good to know. I've been doing this educational thing for a little while now, and if you'd ever like to collaborate on something, it would bring more viewers to your channel! I'd certainly love to work with you.

[@kinetek2881]

DSLRguide that sounds like a good idea! Do let me know if you have anything in mind.

[@DSLRguide]

I'd definitely like to talk this over :) what's the best way for me to contact you? my email is [e-mail]

[@PiDsPagePrototypes]

Those levels look like the ones for ENG cameras. Log cameras are a little different, and Linear cameras are different again. Sony FS7 and FS5 for example, Caucasian skin tone is good between 65 and 70%, but the same subject on a Linear camera like the Cion is better at 50 to 55%

[@BenjaminWeiler]

Thank you so much for that detailed breakdown and the explanation on where the image values appear in the graph. It was driving me bonkers not understanding!

[@kenmarcou]

Fantastic video as with several others I've seen of yours! I was wondering how reading and utilizing WFM's when using flat profile's or Log settings while shooting affects where certain tonal and luminance values should read in the same scene. Or should a white card, or a dark sign post always register at the same value on the wave form monitor in the same given light and scene regardless of if you're shooing in a Log flat profile or not?

[@tariqalexanderwaheed476]

Briliant Tutorial from a pro! Thank you very much

[@PiDsPagePrototypes]

A note on DSLR's form my own personal observation,.. Canon, and Nikon to a lesser extent, clip the dynamic range to bring it withing IRE levels - the 5D2 for example has 11 stops range in Stills, but only 9 in video. Pentax, bucking the trend like normal, encode from -15% to +125%, rather then clipping, so a camera like the K-01 retains it's 13 stops range in both stills and video, and some highlights can be recovered by pulling the highlights down and raising the -ve IRE sections. Panasonic and Sony are somewhere inbetween.

[@milquetoes]

thank you

[@cupofconcepts862]

This was great info. Although, my current equipment does not allow for such precision, I find it valuable to keep in mind for future. Also, well paced and simple to follow for a quite technical tutorial. Thanks!

[@LuBiBochum]

Thanks!

[@soundhobo]

That nailed it for me...thanks 🙏👍

[@Jeff5China]

Excellent Professional Tutorial!!

[@dundeedolphin]

Fantastic video. Thanks.

[@MyLifeJapanTV]

Yes, this information WILL be useful to me. Thanks for this!

[@Spiritcrusher86]

Thanks! Looking forward to your next video :)

[@cornergarageproductions9182]

Great video. Thank you

[@samuelguce]

do you monitor the log footage's IRE waveform and decide from there? or read the IRE scale once the rec709 conversion monitor lut has been applied?

[@suatsekil]

thanks nice

[@ginotarabotto]

Amazing explanation, thanks! Do you have a more in depth film lighting course?

[@kinetek2881]

Hi Thanks for you interest & appreciation. Yes, I do have full courses in filmmaking… several on cinematography. I intend to start making them available online in a month or two. I’ll advise and announce them on this KZbin channel soon… with a link. Cheers! Matthew

[@RustyTube]

Nice tutorial, Matthew!

[@rrfilmproduction1084]

Really great explanation, Thank You.

[@davehenderson9105]

Thank you this was very helpful!

[@pianomandove]

THANK YOU SO MUCH! This is so helpful man!

[@felipejulian]

finally understood, tkss a lot

[@ProFilmmakers]

Very good channell. Would love to know more on the subject of the wireless video waveform monitor. Keep up da good job.

[@sottozen]

Great lesson here! Thanks!

[@killazx9]

Great explanation

[@sabymondal]

Thank you so much !!!!

[@adityanathanael]

Thank you for posting this 👏🏼👏🏼👍

[@dylandxothomas4132]

dayum. this was super useful

[@matthewparisien3504]

Thank you!!!!!!!

[@MarceloBuainain]

Useful! Nice explanation as an advice I would no use the music so loud. Thanks for the information.

[@kipling1957]

Excellent info! Thanks. What is the rule of thumb range for skin tones? I read different opinions. Some say around 65% +/- 10. Others lower, around the 55% level. I guess it also depends on the camera. I have just picked up a C100 and mainly use the wide DR profile.

[@MikeM-js5ne]

Brilliant!

[@TapijtReiniger]

That smartphone app seems pretty handy! Any chance I could install that on my iPhone in some way?

[@moreapropos]

This was really fantastic info, just what I was looking for. I was just curious about one thing. As a general rule. is it safe to say that you should try and capture an image with the greatest range possible, I mean, from 0 to 100? Or expose toward the top of the spectrum, nearer 100? Kind of like Exposing to the right on a histogram. And then make any other adjustments you need in post. I am a beginner, so I apologize if the question seems too obvious.

[@thebroadcaster4830]

Hello please can you tell me some book that says what you are saying here, i need it for an article

[@braveclyde]

How do I tell what part of my image is represented by the pixels in my waveform? I can tell from left to right, but from top to bottom, I don't know how. For instance, I can't tell if the pixel in my waveform represents luminance of the eyebrow or the eye (which are perfectly aligned lengthwise). Do I just eyeball the object’s brightness on my field monitor and then based on how the brightness looks like, do a good guess on where it is on my waveform? Thanks in advance for you help! God bless!

[@tomronstone]

Great video, as always! One question: What was the system/app you use to stream your image onto your phones and tablets?

[@FilmGradeIII]

Gh5 users are lucky to have this. 😊

[@MaghoxFr]

Can you explain a bit about the wireless system you mention in which you use tablets and smartphones as monitors? Thanks

[@kinetek2881]

MaghoxFr The system works on wifi. I convert the SDI signal from the broadcast monitor to SD, encode it and transmit it via a wifi transmitter. I use an app called Camera Eye to view it. It's free, but the encoder you use will probably have its own. This is part of a much bigger system called the Proviz, I designed it to be the hub of the production. The wireless waveform is just one of many cool things that it does. Perhaps one day I'll put up a film with a detailed explanation of it.

[@MaghoxFr]

Thanks for the response, that sounds very cool. I'd be interested to see that video, so count me in!

[@sonnybrown4758]

amazing

[@qzorn4440]

sweet, how would this relate to an opencv histogram? thanks.

[@ronfya]

When reading the waveform monitor, is there any correlation between IRE and stops of light ? I mean, for example if I am on set using the waveform monitor instead of a lightmeter, if I read 70 IRE and want that exposed 1 (or 2) stops lower, what IRE level should I read then? Thanks !

[@ACitizenOfOurWorld]

My guess: Each stop is half/twice the light. So if you start with 70%IRE. One stop less is 35%IRE. Two stops less is 17.5 %IRE

[@user-ew3rr9yf6q]

WOW!!!

[@MarceloBuainain]

Great explanation! Thanks. Would be amazing to see it in better resolution.

[@sonnybrown4758]

6:41 wait, what? How did you make this system where you stream to your devices?

[@medgyesi]

Dear SirCould you possibly link to the app?YoursMichael Medgyesi

[@Land-Shark]

WFM FTW!

[@Nobody-tu5wt]

You said that a videographer or cinematographer should never clip the hightlights but aren't many of them doing that very often by lighting day interiors with big HMI's from a window that can be seen in the frame?

[@legendp2011]

Thank you so much. Installed magic lantern on my Canon 600d and get to use a waveform......yay. Unfortunately moving to a GH4 or a6300 means I will have to buy either an Atomos Ninja blade or SmallHd 501 if I want waveforms :(

[@NewLegendPictures]

Aputure has a cheap monitor that has waveform and false color and other tools.

[@legendp2011]

which one?

[@NewLegendPictures]

legendp2011 the Aputure VS-2 Fine HD

[@NewLegendPictures]

legendp2011 it's under 300 dollars.

[@legendp2011]

do you know how it compares to the atomos ninja blade, here in Australia a secondhand ninja blade cost about the same (both around $500). also are you sure it has waveforms, I'm having trouble finding where it says the vs2 has waveforms

[@HeathcliffBlair]

Thanks for the video yet.... I may be a lone idiot about this but it looks to me like it would be fantastically easy to incorrectly allocate a waveform peak/trough value to an element of the actual image. I've never quite managed to get my head around waveform monitoring for this reason. Perhaps false colour is a better way to go, whereby the actual exposure information is represented directly on the image.

[@kuunami]

I agree. I think it just depends on how your brain works. To me false color makes more sense. I can understand what I'm seeing much faster than I can when I look at waveforms.

[@fareastmanilavideoproducti4499]

wow this is hard, im used to spot meters and camera meters. i can only review histograms after i shot them. another equipment that you need in your arsenal. filed view monitor with waveforms and false collor

[@SamiMustonen]

Great content thank you very much. I have just one question: why the video quality is so sh*t?!

[@CurtisGabrielMusic]

Narrated by Harry Hill.

[@DavidB75311]

What does i.r.e. mean?

[@kinetek2881]

Institute of Radio Engineers The IRE is a unit used in the measurement of composite video signals. Its name is derived from the initials of the Institute of Radio Engineers

[@jgerardo231208]

great lesson, the music is awful though

[@mystic7splace]

I'm sure I'm not the only person to say this, but, seriously? 480p?

[@sonnybrown4758]

who cares

[@mystic7splace]

More people than care about your opinion, I'm sure.

[@kronk358]

Every bit of footage you used looks oversaturated, over graded and cheap. I would not take advice from you.