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  • 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

I'm not David but it looks like a split diopter which means a filter with half of it focus close to a certain degree marked by a "+ and number" just like eye glasses. the other half is neutral - focus to infinity if the original lens is focused to infinity. And the transition between the two parts is usually soft and gradual so it won't be obvious. The tell of this is when the backround of part of the frame is in focus and the other is not although there is a close subject that IS in focus. similar effect can be achieved even better using tilt/shift lenses. If you are interested in it look on the net for large format stills photography to learn about view camera movements.
Kemalettin Sert said:
Hello David,what is the name of this effect?

Click to expand...
 
Yes, it looks like a split-diopter shot to me, not a tilt-focus lens.

--

I've heard that too, that b&w negative has more dynamic range than color, but it doesn't seem to be true -- perhaps that was compared to color stocks 40 or more years ago, or color slide film, I don't know.

Part of it is a gamma issue though in the negative-positive process, which is why there are gamma (contrast) issues when printing color neg onto b&w print stock or b&w neg onto color print stock. So I'd have to shoot a DR test of b&w negative emulsion to be sure.
 
My all time favorite war film!
 
Hello David,

I'm starting to think that this B&W film has more DR is actually more about the B&W photo paper and
not the negative.

Lots of One-Hour photo places have very contrasty color paper, whereas my old B&W paper prints look
like all the tones are visible.

Just a thought.
 
Hello David,

Is there a way on the EPIC to switch between 12 bit recording and 16 Bit recording?

I could not find it in the Epic beta manual.

The specs for the Epic Redcode on Red.com make me believe it has this option.
 
David, What is your opinion on Hollywood black magic filters? Have any experience with them?

Thanks
 
Yes, I use them all the time. Hollywood Black Magic are a combination of the 1/8 Black Frost plus whatever strength of HD Classic Soft you choose. HD Classic Softs use a smaller pattern of lenslets to defocus parts of the image than do Classic Softs, so the diffusion effect is more subtle and you don't get the rings or blobby shapes around points of light that Classic Softs create.

I also carry a 1/8 Black Frost because the lightest Hollywood Black Magic is a 1/8 Black Frost + 1/8 HD Classic Soft, so the next step lighter would be to use just the 1/8 Black Frost.

I sometimes like the more obvious rings and flares from Classic Softs so I sometimes use the Classic Soft Blacks, which are a 1/8 Black Frost plus whatever strength of regular Classic Softs you pick. But the Hollywood Black Magic is probably safer to use in general, you're less likely to get distracting artifacts other than the slight halation.
 
David,

Could you explain why say one prime lens would exhibit breathing and another not? I'd guess, not including zooms. the optical physics of say a 24mm prime at a given aperture and focal distance would render the same depth of field, and fall off of focus. That two given lenses when racked would have the same objects in focus and then out of focus. So that leaves the breathing. I'd just like to understand why.

Thanks

Max
 
Hey David

I'm going to be working on a spec commercial for a shoe store soon and I was wondering if you had any advice on lighting product like shoes. There will be a lot of movement so it won't be just a shot of a shoe on a table or anything. I'm basically just looking for any sort of tips on making the product look natural yet showing all of the detail.
 
You want a very crisp image in general -- if the shoe is dark & shiny, it's a bit like lighting a car, you want to reflect soft light coming in at a raking angle, soft top/back light, etc. You may also want to use a shorter shutter speed so that the shoe does not get too blurry in frame. You probably also want to shoot at a higher frame rate.
 
some, like myself, use the term "glancing angle"

basically, you're looking at the surface of the object relative to the camera (or your eyes) relative to the angle of the light. the less perpindicular those angles, the greater amount of specular reflection. think rim/back lighting.

fill up something with water (glass, sink, bucket, bathtub, pool, etc). observe the surface when you move from an above view towards a glancing angle. the closer you get to a side view the brighter the reflections on the surface of the water will be. (see fresnel effect/reflections) this works with anything reflective, try looking at your desktop if you don't want to get wet.
 
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