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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

Exposing brighter and darkening later on a digital camera will give you less noise and more shadow detail to work with (or get rid of by crushing the blacks later) but at the expense of bright highlight detail. Too much underexposure and IF you find a need to brighten anything in the frame and you'll get noise and find a lack of shadow detail -- but have more highlight detail, less clipping.

So generally you should expose as close to the look you want, but if you're trying to keep noise down, don't go too far in underexposure, expose closer to normal with the idea that a little more darkening in post isn't a bad thing as long as you didn't clip anything badly.

In other words, just be conservative about exposing dark scenes, don't go nuts with overall underexposure.

Now in terms of balance, you should light for the balance you want. If you want a black shadow, then don't add fill light. Just remember that if you then end up trying to lift the image up at all in post, there is nothing but noise there in the shadows.

My general philosophy is to get close to the look you want in camera, but be prepared to finish the final touches in post.
 
If there was only one choice between a Dedo 650 or a 100/150, then I think it's the better to get the 650 because it can always be brought down. But, what would I be "missing" that the 100/150 can do but the 650 cannot? Physically, one is smaller so it cannot be hidden more easily. But what else; maybe the quality of light and controllability, etc. etc?
 
jing said:
If there was only one choice between a Dedo 650 or a 100/150, then I think it's the better to get the 650 because it can always be brought down. But, what would I be "missing" that the 100/150 can do but the 650 cannot? Physically, one is smaller so it cannot be hidden more easily. But what else; maybe the quality of light and controllability, etc. etc?
Click to expand...

Hi,

You cant really compare a Dedo 650 with a 100/150. The 650 has more power than many 1K's. I no longer bother with the 100w Dedo's as I find the 24/150 so much more useful.

FWIW a 650 Dedo fully spotted is brighter than a 5k.

Stephen
 
The Dedo 150 is very useful, being small, very focusable, and can take a projector lens to project gobo patterns. The 650 is much larger so is not really an equivalent unit doing the same sorts of jobs.

The Dedo 100 and 150 are so similar that you might as well use the 150.
 
David Mullen ASC said:
The Dedo 100 and 150 are so similar that you might as well use the 150.
Click to expand...

It's in fact the same head. It's the DLH4. It's just a question of which bulb you put in and what voltage you attach.

I mostly use them as 150/24 but I like the fact that I can attach them to a simple car battery using a 100/12 lamp.
 
hi david,
do you have same suggestions and tips about shooting during variable weather ,when the intensity of the light can change very quickly and very hot during a shooting's session??
best regards
ivan
 
There's no good solution -- you run around like a chicken with its head cut-off trying to manage variable weather. If you can, you try to find a middle ground in terms of look, so you soften the hard sun when it is out but perhaps add some edge lighting or create some contrast when it is flat and overcast. But sometimes you don't even have time to do that, the light is changing during the take, so the best you can do is ride the f-stop and hope the editor cuts around most of the obvious changes, and then plan on adjusting the gamma shot to shot later to smooth out the differences.
 
david,
thanks for your willingness,
you are a gentleman!!
in italy there are very few important DOP with the same humility.
 
David, on to the subject of gels. I find myself wanting to order ever single gel in the swatch books just to see what they look like on a light.

Besides the common CTB, CTO and CTS, what gells do you find yourself using with any regularity?

I mean for both what diffusion do you use, and what color gells? I know you mentioned using the Cyan 60 for the Mercury Vapor lights, but what else?
 
After the blues and oranges, I carry Plus Green and Minus Green (magenta) in different strengths. ND gel for windows. A few party color gels like red, congo blue, emerald green, deep yellow, etc. -- scraps mostly for those.

Diffusion: 216, 250, Opal, Lt. Grid, Full Grid, Muslin, Bleached Muslin. On large frames: silk, Half Soft Frost, Lt. Grid, Full Grid, maybe Bleached Muslin.

Half Hampshire Frost, which is extremely thin, to put on windows to throw the view out-of-focus.

I also carry a roll of 1000H tracing paper.
 
Wow! Now do you mean 'I carry' in the general sense of that's what you order for the truck or you actually have a personal gell set you tote around?

For your diffusion choices I'm overwhelmed by how many you've listed! Any chance of a rundown of sample situations when you might use each one? Or is it just an intuitive "Give me a 2k through a 216, wait, no, make it bleached muslin"?
 
"I" as in "the production I'm working on". "I" as in "me" have a shopping bag of scrap gels from film school 16 years ago...

Well, I probably use 216 more than any other diffusion, but you sometimes need something heavier or lighter. Yes, sometimes you guess wrong and swap it out. Usually you want something fairly heavy but then you might find you've lost too much light and thus switch to something lighter, like switching from 216 to 250.

You can also stack diffusion like put a frame of Opal or 250 behind a frame of 216 to further soften it.
 
I use a lot of 216 and opal as well. As a cheap alternate to Half Hampshire Frost I use the light weight painters drop plastic over windows to knock them out of focus.

As far as owning all this crap, you'd be amazed at how much of the stuff you can collect from a few years of shooting. I would say a roll of 216 is a great place to start, it will last you years. And then find a buddy to bum some scrap color off of. Most keys and gaffers will have more scrap than they know what to do with, since they have access to fresh rolls all the time. Offer a case of beer for their leftovers.
 
Tracing paper huh? When would you use a roll of 1000H?
 
I use tracing paper (1000H) when I want to white-out a window, or sometimes I put it over a car windshield and light through that for a super-soft light. Basically you use it when you want to cover a lot of windows or other areas with something disposable. I also use it when building softboxes out of foamcore to diffuse the light.
 
David Mullen ASC said:
There's no good solution -- you run around like a chicken with its head cut-off trying to manage variable weather. If you can, you try to find a middle ground in terms of look, so you soften the hard sun when it is out but perhaps add some edge lighting or create some contrast when it is flat and overcast. But sometimes you don't even have time to do that, the light is changing during the take, so the best you can do is ride the f-stop and hope the editor cuts around most of the obvious changes, and then plan on adjusting the gamma shot to shot later to smooth out the differences.
Click to expand...

Hey Shiny,

(I feel a bit odd adding a note to the esteemed DM, but here goes.) Shooting in the conditions you just described is probably one of the ultimate tests for a d.p. Do your best. You'd be suprised at what a good story and a good editor can do to make those continuity errors go away. It comes down to a function of your experience and how much production is willing to bend for better cinematography. Look at some old Westerns to see what you might get away with. Then look at something like "Days of Heaven" or "In Cold Blood" to see what you might do if they give you enough rope!

Seriously, shooting day exteriors under constantly changing conditions is one of the most demanding situations in our world.

P.S. And yes, pray that the editor will "work with you." It is probably worth a call if you can swing it.
 
David-
I was wondering if you knew what Jordan Cronenweth used for eye lights in both Blade Runner and Altered States.
 
The cat's-eye effect in "Blade Runner" was done by putting a piece of glass (don't know if it was semi-mirrored or clear) at a 45 degree angle in front of the lens and bouncing a light at a right angle to the camera off of it, so that it reflects straight along the optical access to the eyes and back into the lens. Trouble is that many people have told me that they tried this trick and couldn't get it to work, but that's what I read anyway.

Normal eyelights, I don't know, probably small lights like Inky's with some diffusion on the doors, armed over the lens, or similar tricks (Obies or Panalites, etc.) Nowadays one might rig a Dedolight over the lens, or an LED panel light, etc.
 
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