Quote:
Originally Posted by Davy
Not true.  If something is too bright, information is lost and you have no way to recover it.
On the other hand, it is pretty easy to bring out details that are too dark. |
Actually, I think what Simon is suggesting is to make sure it's lit well enough to be able to film detail. The detail the viewer wants to see. Specifically the insertion and model's plumbing. The hallmark of "bad porn" is high key lighting everywhere else but in the crotch where the entire point of the film lays.
At Wasteland, we shoot with
Sony EX3 cams that can take a real pounding in the low-key lighting for that our bdsm "Orson Wells" film
noir look that we win lots of awards for, but ALWAYS have a portable LED "pussy light" mounted on a spare audio boom to light up the interesting bits and pieces. A very good one is made by Lowell -
see it here - that is our best friend for lighting up anything from upshot insertion to screaming faces that are in a shadow. And poor Simon is usually laying flat on his back shooting these shots and frequently needs safety goggles, but gets the details in well-lit, glorious (and often disturbing) brilliance.
But, correct, too much light and the footage is blown out and can't be corrected at all. The other obvious trick here is to make sure the zebra display in on and only striping just a few small skin highlights at any given moment. Taking the time to do a white and gray balance test of each lighting setup during a shoot is also critical for those that shoot in manual mode. But, this is a whole larger topic.....
Happy shooting!