Video Lighting: Maximizing Dynamic Range in Cinematography

[@itsgussy]

I would love to see how to properly expose Slog 2/3 using a light meter!!!!! Haven't see any video on it.

[@ApnaFriendsChannel]

The way you explained about the light meter- simply awesome- Thank you Robert

[@TylerNeil]

Your content is the best, most informative, and concise out there on the web. So stoked that you’re finding the time to bless us all with your videos again! Thanks, Rob!

[@robchado]

Much appreciated!! Thanks for the support! 🙌

[@walkmotopov]

Thank you so much for creating this tutorial. This is such a gem in a sea of tutorials here on YT.

[@jlimproductions9411]

One of the best teaching channels on KZbin! Loved watching the meter videos especially! Great work Robert :) Cheers Jimmy

[@vtk_jnr]

With everything that's out, this deserves more than a Wow.

[@ilusaosemlimite]

Dude, I really love how you make your gigs look super duper complicated and professional! I do that every single day of my life and we use two cameras (any cameras) and couple of lights (any lights) you're class!

[@bobh1782]

1:06 the cupholder on the tripod is so dope

[@Sebadoah]

This is great. One line lost me - @ 2:31 "I had to meter my key with 3 stops compensation." Can you clarify? Thanks

[@soulstart89]

Great video. I understood everything bar the ND compensation and what you did with your key light. Would you be able to do a video on explaining this please?

[@priscillajimenez6026]

YES! That light meter video I was waiting for! When is the Machado Light Meter Masterclass coming out?

[@robchado]

Working on it!

[@roderikrotting]

Yup!!

[@itsgussy]

Hey Robert where can I find the info that shows you how many stops are above and below in Slog3, Slog2. Like the graph that you showed?

[@robchado]

You can find it online via Google! There are a few guides that explain the different EI's of the FS7.

[@itsgussy]

QUALITY! QUALITY! QUALITY! I know how to use my light meter for photography but it is a slightly different when metering for video. Also I learned that I have to know how many stop of dynamic range are in Slog. And I have to learn it for myself so that I know how to make calculated decisions. Keep it Robert!!!!

[@ryanmargetts]

When you mentioned adding 3 stops of ND to expose the window to f/11, do you mean you added physical ND TO the window itself, or filtration on the cam?

[@mylittlememes7395]

Good question... I would also know if he used 3 stops ND filter in camera and why he compensated by additional 3 stops.

[@twistedpeachmedia2067]

Love your work! Thanks for the video!

[@GriffinConway]

Great Video Rob! Just subbed. Loved the detailed walk through and hearing your thought process on how you decided on each part of production.

[@aleksanderwicherski8145]

Your BTS Video are amazing!!!!! I wish you had a Patreon! Please more more more more!

[@aa.ronjax]

This is a great video, Robert! I always felt like I didnt really need a light meter but this totally changed my mind. Thanks for the content

[@robchado]

Many thanks! Ever since I started using a light meter, I noticed my quality of work started to increase.

[@mmc5261]

You still don't need one for digital video you can use your monitors with film cameras it's abit deffernt

[@lawrenceatienza]

Now this is a lighting breakdown video. Thank you!

[@roderikrotting]

Hi Robert, I love your video's there so helpful to me! Like Priscilla says; I would be thrilled to go a bit more in-depth with you on metering. I bought an 858 last year And over and over I am amazed by the difference that it makes to my exposing. How ever this more advanced level I never measured on. So I would be pleased with this same video but slightly more in depth.

[@robchado]

Glad they help! Will definitely work on a light meter video.

[@bencondell2304]

Loving all your videos!! Really like these more advanced videos!

[@photosbyjosef]

Wow video very informative and love the technical component clearly you're an expert in your field

[@SkinnyWasHere]

year and a half later and still coming back for more! loved the entire breakdown

[@morrisoc1]

Can you explain further how you used ND? As you said it was to avoid the window being at F16 but then I'm assuming you had to dial up the light on the subject in a big way to compensate? If I have missed something here let me know as I am still just getting started. Great little vid, thanks :)

[@LiveToRideMTB]

Great insight really enjoyed that - will make sure to get a light meter soon! Then to work out how to use one correctly haha. Thanks mate.

[@daweichen7187]

never used a light meter before, maybe you can make a video showing more details? that'd be really helpful for us immatures

[@ZachAshcraftPhotography]

Loved watching this after watching your latest light meter video! Super informative and practical Like button smashed

[@AdamKuzniar]

This is like 500 times more complicated than any of my lightning setups :D Great video Rob, nice to see you back :)

[@orcapodmedia]

As always, great video. How would you deal with highly changing outdoor light levels? As in a partly cloudy day where brightness changes dramatically? Thanks for this!

[@robchado]

It depends on what you have access to! Ideally, you'd shoot towards somewhere that would give consistent light. I might expose for the brightest areas of the background and kill any contamination that might be affecting your set. Easy way to do this is to turn all the lights off and make sure talent is completely dark, and then start lighting.

[@lizdorea9490]

so good!

[@IamSuperic]

Broooo this is awesome. thanks for making this :)

[@patrick4912]

Amazing work

[@JeremySmith23]

Great video, I really enjoyed your breakdown of everything. It’s too bad your grade didn’t make the final video.

[@ZachBoyce]

Question. "Had to meter my key with 3 stops of compensation." - What does this mean? I'm guessing you had to turn up the intensity of your key light to make up for the ND and bring it back to F2 on your subject?

[@robchado]

Exactly! I metered with 3 stops of compensation since I was using 3 stops of ND on my camera.

[@mit181]

​@@robchado Hi Robert! Thank you so much for these videos - they'e so informative. Just trying to work out the workflow in full :) So you knew beforehand that you wanted the talent at F2. Therefore, you took a spot meter reading of the windows at F32. Knowing this was unsafe, you threw a 3 stop ND filter onto the camera to bring the windows down to F11. Then, when you took a spot meter of the talent, you found out the ND filter had rendered them way too dark, at

[@evangelosvlachakis1293]

@@mit181 yes this makes sense

[@dantan357]

Dope videos question did you add ND to the windows or your mattebox?

[@MichaelWootten]

Hey Robert! Another amazing explanation! I was wondering where you found the chart at 1:57?

[@robchado]

Good ol Google! There are a bunch of articles online that detail Slog dynamic range.

[@MichaelWootten]

Thanks! I appreciate your thoughtful understanding of the science behind the art!

[@TheGraal]

Amazing video!!!

[@MarcosRochaTV]

I have a similar DIY PVC Scrim Jim, but I need to make it bigger. What size pipe did you use? Thanks for showing us behind the scenes.

[@robchado]

I believe these are 3/4"!

[@JohannesFeltkamp]

This is really helpfull content! I'm still figuring out how I know many stops of ND I need...in relation to the f stop I'm shooting.

[@robchado]

Currently working on a video on this. Easy way to do it is to stop down from your current f-stop and count how many stops you moved. Then use that much ND.

[@JohannesFeltkamp]

Many thanks for your response! Much appreciated ;) I'm looking forward to a video like that but so far it sounds pretty straight forward. If there's time: why do you expose the fill with 1.4? Wouldn't that mean, at f2, fill is brighter than key? Which is obviously not the case...

[@robchado]

It works the other way around. The amount of light required to expose a 1.4 is less than the amount required to expose to a 2. You can also see the difference in brightness in the face.

[@JohannesFeltkamp]

Yeah, thats true! I was thinking the other way around. It's so very different to light with a lightmeter but it seems its a very reliable way of lighting. Really need to learn that...so thank you for your help and I hope, you have the time for a lightmeter How-To ;)

[@JohnJonesRocketCity]

Man I am really enjoying your videos! Looks like I’m going to get that light meter after all. I’m Just so tired of dealing with unknowns and ball park estimates hoping I can recover details in post when I get home. That’s no way to operate a business or handle a clients project “hoping” I got what I needed.

[@alexander.starbuck]

AH-MAZING work bro! 🤗😍

[@FKfilmphotography]

Please can you make a more slower paced video of how you use your light meter when creating such an interview setup.

[@ndubuisiudemba2763]

Hallo Robert Thanks for your piece of advice. I am trying to improve my knowledge on lighting techniques. Watching most of your lighting meter videos took my light to another level. I got confused on how you measured the blown out window (F11) and you key light (F2) as well as the fill at F1.4. My question is this, how did you adjust or compensate your final meter readings? Let say I want to shoot with F2 and the blown out window is out F11 making 5 stops of which according to your light meter videos that 2^5=32... Meaning I have to use ND32 to compensate. The problem here is you now added the fill light at F1.4, practicals at F8. How would you calculate the exposure in order to make you still shoot at F2 without a spot meter? NB: I just a an incident meter.

[@konstantinalfi743]

Truly professional work, great job man. Subscribe.

[@timzeng217]

great video

[@Gleebi]

Great. Some interesting insights there. Quick Q though...you have exposed at f2 and highlights clip at f11....why not expose outside at around f5.6 and expose the talent with the lights to match and have a straight waveform? Thanks

[@robchado]

I probably would've liked to expose 3-4 stops over, but we just didn't have enough firepower. We ran with one SkyPanel at 100% and since the sky was sitting at 5 stops over, I technically didn't clip any detail.

[@Gleebi]

Robert Machado ah OK cool. Well you handled it perfectly with what you had. Knowledge is key in filming. Keep up the good content

[@jarrellelee]

I have a question, I see you metered her face with the light meter but how did you get f11 for the window? Did you meter it also?

[@byronchang4330]

sorry if this is a noob question, but where can you find the information for the dynamic range at different iso of each log profile (2:00)?

[@robchado]

It's a white paper for S-Log3, you should be able to find it with a quick Google search 🙂

[@k23Mordred]

I feel way smarter now :-D Honestly! That helped me a lot! Thanks!

[@cgshen7183]

Hi Robert what are those tripods? I mean the legs

[@QuinnLandry1648]

Damn. You’re good! Wow

[@omharnov]

Good tutorial my bro

[@tomdchi12]

You specifically said you spot metered the practicals (table lamps). I'm guessing you also spot metered the sky (rather than pointing the incident (white dome) out the window.) Then, you did use the incident meter when setting the key and fill on the subject (so their skin tones would read as expected on the camera relative to middle gray.) Is that correct? edit: Fantastic looking result. Doesn't hurt that this seems to be a "most attractive chefs" shoot also.

[@roderikrotting]

Another question on the dimmers: how does that work. Do you bring your own dimmers and throw them in between an existing cord?

[@robchado]

Yep, I always bring a handful of dimmers to every set whether they be for my own lights or practicals. I have some rated for 1000W and others for household bulbs.

[@roderikrotting]

That's very smart! I was trained in Photography and slowly moved in to film. And it is particularly at this level where the light shaping tricks become so different. Would you share some of the models/type/brands of the dimmers that you use?

[@jakubsobotka6062]

How did you set the WB in the camera? I quess practicals were at 3200K and SkyPanels were set to 5600K. Right? Anyways, great video. I'm looking forward to new ones.

[@robchado]

White balance was set to 5500K. I believe the practicals were LED, so they were actually more around 4300K if I had to guess (I didn't have a color meter).

[@ocnussorellius4242]

At 2:51, the grade blows out the window view, which you fought so hard to keep during lighting. What s the rationale for that?

[@robchado]

I wouldn't call the windows blown out. The top of the other building was blown out maybe, but everything else still retains detail.

[@salvadorvega9834]

So basically, expose for the window(s) and then light the subject accordingly?

[@mmc5261]

No cause the window was about blown out

[@BarefootMediaTV]

have a video tutorial on how to use the light meter?

[@robchado]

I'm working on it!

[@justinlee2638]

why did you set the exposure for the practical to be f8? doesn't that mean they will be blown out?

[@robchado]

I spot metered the practical at F8. Since I'm using S-Log3, I have 6 stops from my F-stop (F2) before losing detail. F8 is four stops over, so well within the range of S-Log3.

[@justinlee2638]

@@robchado thx so much! it's so nice to see a filmmaking tutorial that's not the trendy youtube "how to cinematic" videos.

[@CoachCuttsVideos]

Great video! Thank you Robert, Subscribing now!!

[@ScottCraigShorts]

Might be a silly question, but what was your C camera picking up? You had 3 FS7s but I only saw the two angles. Was it a BTS/dirty type shot? Great vid as always.

[@robchado]

Our third FS7 was getting roaming BTS throughout the day. There was an editorial photoshoot happening at the same time so C-cam was grabbing footage of both shoots to use as b-roll for the final video.

[@Boing777]

Hi which light meter do you use?

[@darrylsmith3102]

Could have just ND'd the window and gotten a beautiful outdoor exposure and saved a Ton of time and headache trying to counter the window. Just a thought.

[@robchado]

This is very true! While we could've done this, we did not have rolls of ND on set. In my opinion, ND'ing the window would've taken more time. However, there was no headache or time wasted, thanks to the meter.

[@darrylsmith3102]

@@robchado i hear ya and I'm with you. When windows were a problem for me, i used to have to COOK! the talent alive with a 1k ARRI and 650, Both tungsten only 6 feet away!, How's THAT! for a interview lighting nightmare. i felt so bad for the talent.

[@robchado]

I've totally been there too. Luckily LEDs are here to stay. Haha.

[@darrylsmith3102]

@@robchado True That!...

[@portharcourtwaves]

I just use dual iso on my canon eos m2

[@yuanhaozhuo2642]

hello my english is poor iam a fish i want to konw how to study the Basis of fill light

[@peshevat3952]

why did the final video turned out so blue and the window was overexposed aswell ? you managed to get so much information but the other channel kinda ruined it

[@jedupree91]

Love this, can you get even more technical!? Your grade is completely different to the final version (highlights seem to have been lost despite your hard work)

[@robchado]

I know! Always the struggle when handing off footage. 🤷

[@Radiakt]

Okey...so tbh...f2 for the subject and f11 for the window...i'm a noob starting into video things...what do you mean f 11 for the window...is like you take some footage with nobody in frame at f11 or what?...at first glance thats what i got from what you sayed (edit> i rewatched the video and hear again what you sayed...and got into thinking that the light you was using has some sort of dimmer with some sort of f stop?)(reedit> 3 stops of nd on your lens to shoot for the window...so you compensated 3 stops on the kieylight toexpose for the subject?)...I repeat just a rookie...trin to understand stuff...anyway love your vids sir!