Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Log in
  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Ask David Mullen ANYTHING

Hi David, i was wondering if you wouldn't mind giving your opinion on this-

When choosing a set of lenses a big deal is made of the ability to "cover" sensors of a larger size when moving up(5/6k for example). Also it seems to make sense that full frame lenses have another advantage when using cheaper/stills glass shooting say aps-c/super 35 as the edges of the lens are cropped so more of the sharper area(centre) of the lens is used.

However, recently i came across someone on a forum commenting that they hate the look of footage that has been shot on lenses that cover wider than the sensor. Roughly: full coverage of the image being the most important thing as lenses have been calibrated for the image and that the closer the lenses are to covering the sensor size the prettier the image etc.

Is there anything in this? Is there really any specific disadvantages to using a lens that more than covers a sensor and not designed for the image size?

Id love to hear your view...
 
David we will be shooting a Diner at night and we would like to get the windows to have condensation on them. While we are shooting from the outside looking into the Diner. I was thinking of somehow using steam somehow or water mixed with some sort of glycerin. Can you possibly suggest a simple way to get the windows to look like that. We will be shooting at night only on this Diner location. Thanks for your suggestions in advance Mr Mullen and any picture or movie you could share with us as and example
 
Some spray bottles with water and/or glycerin (don't know if they can be mixed) would work fine for a misty window effect. I've also used Arid Xtra Dry antiperspirant -- it has some talcum powder in it that leaves a misty film, but I'd apply it on the opposite side of any water.
 
Diffusion?

Diffusion?

Hey David,

I recently saw "Filth". I was struck by some shots where the light from brighter sources wrapped around the actors.

L2Glrcc.jpg

A couple other examples here I pulled from the trailer: http://imgur.com/a/7b0i5

I assume this must be some kind of diffusion filter? Can you tell generally what type of diffusion was used just by looking at the qualities of the light/scene?
I love the light wrap/bleed but in a lot of examples I've seen on filter websites, instructional books, etc (I've never shot with a diffusion filter myself yet) it makes the images seen too soft. Almost a dreamlike soap opera quality. Is there a way to get the wrap of the light without softening the overall crispness of the image?

Thanks so much!!

*edit - I did just find this post you made a while back http://www.cinematography.com/index.php?showtopic=42112&p=304237 but I was wondering if there is anything you could add about a good filter that might cause halation without overly softening the image.
 
Last edited:
Age-old question, how to get more halation (glowing) with less softening. Halation comes from the combination of intense areas of overexposure combined with lens diffusion that spreads the light, best seen when the halation bleeds into a darker area. So you can get away with lighter diffusion if the overexposure is more intense. Plus images look sharper when they have a high contrast edge to them, so the same diffusion looks heavier in low-contrast images than high-contrast images. So more contrast, more intense areas of overexposure combined with lighter diffusion will help maintain some sharpness.

As far as the type of diffusion, depends on the character of the glow you want, mist filters like ProMist or GlimmerGlass, or older Fogs, have a more graduated feathered edge to the halation whereas diffusion that involves alternating clear and dimpled glass (like Classic Softs) or a net will tend to create more of a blurred double-edge or fringe around objects, less misty. With these patterned diffusion filters, the focal length will also affect the size of the pattern relative to the light, so those blurred glowing edges can look larger on longer focal lengths.

You can try the lightest mist filter, something like a 1/8 Schneider Black Frost, and see if that gets you enough halation. Or try a 1/8 Hollywood Black Magic, which combines a 1/8 Black Frost with a 1/8 HD Classic Soft.
 
andy black said:
When choosing a set of lenses a big deal is made of the ability to "cover" sensors of a larger size when moving up(5/6k for example). Also it seems to make sense that full frame lenses have another advantage when using cheaper/stills glass shooting say aps-c/super 35 as the edges of the lens are cropped so more of the sharper area(centre) of the lens is used.

However, recently i came across someone on a forum commenting that they hate the look of footage that has been shot on lenses that cover wider than the sensor. Roughly: full coverage of the image being the most important thing as lenses have been calibrated for the image and that the closer the lenses are to covering the sensor size the prettier the image etc.
Click to expand...

"Hate" seems like an awfully strong word for that... I don't have enough experience with using lenses that have a much larger area of coverage than the sensor but I don't see why it would affect the "prettiness" of the image. You may have a bit less barrel distortion or other curvature along the edges, maybe, but why you need that, I'm not sure. Lenses designed for larger sensors may or may not have the crispness of a lens optimized for a smaller sensor in the sense that small format lenses have to have a higher MTF in theory to compensate for the smaller area, but in truth, it all depends on the lens in terms of how much contrast and sharpness was designed into it, not all smaller sensor lenses are sharper than larger format lenses.
 
David Mullen ASC said:
So more contrast, more intense areas of overexposure combined with lighter diffusion will help maintain some sharpness.
Click to expand...

So Set/costume/shot design and negative fill are your best friends for this? Maintaining contrast with over exposure is a real challenge.
 
Scott Crawley said:
So Set/costume/shot design and negative fill are your best friends for this? Maintaining contrast with over exposure is a real challenge.
Click to expand...

Yes. For example, a hot backlight on a person framed against a dark background would not only show off the halation better but the contrast would help keep some snap to the image.
 
Thanks very much for your response. Makes perfect sense. I suspected such claims were largely exaggerated.
 
Thanks David for your reply how was the Teal tone achieved in the shot form the "Fith" was it a gel on one of the light sources? very kool look Mr Mullen
 
It looks like a cyan gel on the light source, because the window highlights are white on the actors arms and the boxes are close to correct color but corrected on the cold side. Very Nice look Mr Mullen
 
Last edited:
David Mullen ASC said:
Could be cyan gel, or green gel on daylight lamp, or just shot with a cold color temperature and shifted from blue to cyan in color-correction. Any number of ways.
Click to expand...

Hello Mr.Mullen,

I am looking to shoot some scenes for a thriller/Horror using IR photography technique.

I do not know how to achieve that in an EPIC as I do not want a Canon 5D and ripping open the IR Filter and replacing it with a IR Pass filter.

Is there any other way to achieving those results for IR Filming ?

Is there a 750nm filter that can be added in front of the lens to achieve the effect ?

Any ideas, suggestions, insights would be of great help.

Thanks
 
A filter only removes wavelengths, it can't add them, so if the camera has a standard IR filter internally then no external filter is going to increase its IR sensitivity.

To shoot true IR, you'd have to get your camera converted by removing the IR filtering in front of the sensor. I know that Alexa had an IR version made for a car commercial that Bill Bennett shot, and probably at some point, an Epic was converted to IR filming. If a rental house doesn't have one or can't make one, then you may have to get your Canon 5D converted over.
 
Gareth Ng said:
Hi David,

I was wondering if you could take a look at my reel from last year and tell me what you think/give me some advice from what you can see. I'm 15 years old, almost 16 and making images is a great passion of mine. Anyway here it is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1r_ek18sLg
Click to expand...

You are clearly a real cinematographer, you have an eye for light and movement, there is a poetry to your work. My only advice is to practice mood lighting more, but you may need some more lights for that -- a lot of your interiors look mainly lit with available light, which is great, but eventually you'll have to learn to fake natural light in more situations. But it's amazing work for a 15-16 year old, you're already years ahead of most people.
 
David Mullen ASC said:
You are clearly a real cinematographer, you have an eye for light and movement, there is a poetry to your work. My only advice is to practice mood lighting more, but you may need some more lights for that -- a lot of your interiors look mainly lit with available light, which is great, but eventually you'll have to learn to fake natural light in more situations. But it's amazing work for a 15-16 year old, you're already years ahead of most people.
Click to expand...

+1 :)
 
Hi David,

I have been fortunate enough to pick up a gig, which will be shooting at the “Club Ed” set found in Lancaster. Filming will primarily take place within the diner, motel, and pool area. The Music Video follows a young girl as she arrives at the fledgling family business after a day at school. She finds a swimsuit while cleaning one of the motel rooms and escapes into a fantasy world of her own while in the depths of the lonely motel pool.

Seeing as there is an actual budget I figured I would give using larger HMI’s a go to illuminate the interiors of said sets through their windows in order to bring the levels to a point where the scenery outside is still within an acceptable exposure range relative to the interior but also adding a smidge of light rays for effect (created with a hazer). The thing is, this will be the first time I’ll be at the helm in a situation of this scale and was wondering what kind of suggestions you would be able to give me in regards to choosing units with the appropriate wattage.

Seeing as we will be out in the desert sun, I figured 6K HMI PARS would be a good starting point for getting a broader exposure bouncing off of counters and tabletops within the diner relative to the exterior. The space surrounding the sets is pretty open, so there’s really no issue with light placement.
Would a 6K HMI PAR through a silk cut it while filming exteriors of a single character in the desert during the day? Is a 6K HMI PAR's light output strong enough to model or would you go for units with a higher wattage output like, say a 12K HMI?

Thank you in advance.
 
If the background is in sun, a 6K HMI PAR is good for soft-lighting interiors by shining the light through frames or bouncing it to help balance the exposure better. It can also create a sunlight effect in a room.

But in terms of actually matching the intensity of the sun, you'd have to use a narrow lens and then it wouldn't have the even spread of sunlight. But then, even an 18K HMI can't compete with sunlight unless spotted a little.

But you should be able to accomplish a lot with 6k HMI PAR's.
 
Thank you again David,

I opted for 2 12K's with 12x Silks and 4x4 frames with 216 for a double break if need be and an 800 joleko just in case i need something from within the interiors. Can't wait to test this out this coming Tuesday!
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top