Photography/Videography thread
 

There are always photography, videography threads going. Figured I would start my own with some ongoing questions etc.

Some things I would love to know are:

When shooting on film, do you scan from slides and what type of film are you using?

What cameras do you use for your film shoots?

For those that do video, does anyone know how to use a green screen or blue screen, and is there any software to help fill it in?

Do you ever redub the audio after the shoot?

Good thread :)

best scans come from slides..
Fuji Astia 100
Canon A1

No video.

Cheers..

Cool, ok any scanner recomendations?

While I am at it, can we also talk lighting. Besides natural light what equipment do you all use or would recommend. Is there anything that you think are MUST HAVES?

Id also love some imput on the real Dark shadows some people can get. I think Ian does them often, any suggestions?

If you are shooting for net , isnt shooting slides and then scanning a waste of quality. I use a e-10 and three alien bees, they are made in TN and they are excellent.

I do not see how it would be a waste of quality. Nearly every single good picture that I have seen that was shot on film then scanned just looked so much better than digital. Sure digital is catching up but I do not think it captures all the true tones just yet.

Not to mention if you have them on slides and the net display quality standards improve, you are ahead of the game.

Plus I know alot of models who work for less or for TFP that you could not do if you only shot digital.

I do tfp with models all the time, I burn them a cd and they are cool. Most of these girls post pics on modeling sites so having them on a cd actually helps them. As far as monitor quality, the avg porn customer is on a shit set up. On a old monitor and computer chances are on a dial up. I talk to more people on dial ups and p500's then you can imagine. I tend to shoot every thing a little bright because I know that once I save for web its going to get a little darker(going from 16 million colors to 256) and then avg Joe who is on a tired monitor its going to looks even darker. So what looks bright on my high end lcd monitor looks normal to him.

Cool, just the kind of disscusion I am wanting.

What type of digital do you use?

And what modeling sites do you find productive?

256 colors is going to look like a cartoon

Adobe Premiere has quite a nifty bluescreen filter, as well as chroma key, which basically lets you just pick out the background color with an eyedropper...some fiddling with the thresholds and cutoffs, and you're set.
Most other video editing packages probably also have these, but Premiere's the only one I've used.

Hey mule do you have any video you have done shot on a green or blue screen?

No, not easily accessable...I did some bluescreen work years ago, don't have any of it on this machine.
It's great fun to do. The key is in getting your background as even as possible, take great care with the lighting. Remember that a shadow will be a different color blue, so it's almost more important to light the background properly.

Doing the actual bluescreen editing is a breeze: just filter out the blue with chroma-key or the bluescreen filter, and overlay it on any other video track.

Epson perfection 2450 Photo is a good one and not too expensive. It scans everything and has great color depth and resolution.

Not true if you save for the web with photoshop it takes it down to 256 colors. My pics dont look like cartoons, you have adjust so its optimized properly.

Nikon coolscan 4000 or 8000..
Besically the same (except the freekin price)

The 4000 model is about $1800-2000

K cool, getting somewhere, any tips or suggestions on lighting for green/blue screens?

Should they also be backlit (behind the screen)?

Some take the time to explain chromes please. What is so special about them etc?

All of the blue/green screens I've dealt with have been opaque. I guess they figure you're better off dealing with the lighting on just one side it than both. I'd have to agree with that!

In post production, where the effect is applied, any variance in the hue can be allowed for. But the larger the window you open for the keyed chromatic, the more chance you run of the background scene flashing through in unwanted places.

It really is a game of tag, and you have to account for the way that the camera registers colors, which may not be the same as your eye.

Well, it depends on the setting. If you're gonna rent a bluescree studio, they'll have the facilties and the people to light it for you. If you want to do it cheaply (as I did) just buy some blue cloth cheaply somewhere and hang that on your walls :) Best to use cotton, don't go for anything shiny, that'll cause lighting problems. Try and get it as smooth as possible, and light it as evenly as possible...I used 1-kilowatt construction lighting, you could also use fresnel lenses or unfocused plano-convex lenses, basically anything that'll give you an even effect.

With chroma-key you basically just filter out any color, so if your blue-screen filter doesn't do what you want (or if you used green), you can try it with chroma-key. It's a color selection tool like the eyedropper in Photoshop. Using the cutoff and tolerance sliders you can select more or less of the color (careful if your model has green or blue eyes, or is wearing clothes in the same shade)

Anyone know why I see more people using green screen instead of blue now adays? Forever when I used to watch the various making of type movies, they all used blue, now adays it seems everyone is using the light green ones. Any clues?

Without getting to technical, because more stuff is done on digital which is normally compressed at 4:1:1 on most cameras and green is brighter and therefore records better than blue.

I have a Nikon N90s with a vertical grip and a few Nikkor lenses. Typically I shoot on Provia 100F. I like Astia as well.

When I shoot stuff for the adult press, like pornstars at dancing gigs, I shoot Provia 400F.

I scan all my stuff with a Nikon Coolscan. The coolscan's are amazing.

I'm looking at finally getting a pro digital setup. Been researching it for the past six months. I was waiting to see if Nikon would come out with something new to compete with Cannon and Kodak in the pro digital market, but so far there has been nothing new.

For video I love the Sony PD150.

Ok may we now get everyones lighting tips, equipment etc.

What is must have, what is not absolutely needed but usefull?

What light meters are people using if any?

someone made the comment that film is better image quality than digital;

well, only if you compare 35mm film scans with a $400 dollar consumer digicam.

pro digital is already much higher quality than film, and has been for several years now.

it is cleaner, has greater exposure latitude, better color rendition, and much faster workflow.

but to get better images than scanned 35mm you need to spend about $6000, to get better images than scanned MF film you need to spend about $15,000.

been there, done that, doing it now.