Lessons
Class Introduction
04:29 2What is Cinematic Lighting?
06:42 3Motivated & Practical Lighting
07:41 45 Cinematic Lighting Tips
04:53 5Low-Key & Upstage Lighting
06:26 6Control Your Fill Lighting
05:18 7Show Depth In Your Image
13:24 8Pre-Production for Cinematic Lighting
22:42Grip Tools: Clamps
08:41 10Grip Tools: Apple Boxes, C-Stands & Grip Heads
10:53 11Grip Tools: Pins & Portable Gear
04:50 12Grip Tools: Scrims, Silks, Flags & Tape
13:52 13Grip Tools: Wind and Haze Machines
04:07 14Grip Tools: Unusual Tools
04:47 15Grip Tools: Filters
11:05 16Grip Tools: Q&A
15:04 17Theater Shoot: Concept
08:03 18Theater Shoot: Pre-Production Considerations
08:48 19Theater Shoot: Lighting Gear
04:27 20Theater Shoot: Motivated Lighting Considerations
26:47 21Theater Shoot: Lighting Walkthrough
20:45 22Theater Shoot: Capturing The 1st Shot
27:37 23Theater Shoot: Hero Shot
21:47 24Theater Shoot: Capturing In The Seats
21:48 25Airstrip Shoot: Concept
05:49 26Airstrip Shoot: Pre-Production Considerations
19:31 27The Haircut: Location Specifics and Motivated Lighting
13:17 28Working With Scrims On Location
06:34 29The Haircut: Getting the Shot
24:28 30The Haircut: Shooting Plates
08:21 31Staggered Planes: Location Specifics and Motivated Lighting
08:10 32Staggered Planes: Getting The Shot
08:23 33Capturing Plates With Talent In Background
16:26 34Airstrip: Environmental Portraits
07:01 35Airstrip: Location Shooting Q&A
22:05 36Using Plates to Create a Pano in Lightroom®
16:08 37Transform Tool
04:50 38Post-Processing 1st Theater Shot
09:48 39Retouching Details in Photoshop®
13:09 40Color Grading in Alien Skin Exposure X3
06:27 41Post-Processing Theater Hero Shot in Photoshop®
08:11 42Creating a Spotlight in Photoshop®
05:31 43Adjusting Color for Cinematic Lighting
12:28 44Post-Processing: The Haircut
12:08 45Coloring the Sky and Removing Modern Building
05:10 46Creating a Pano Using Plates in Photoshop®
17:12 47Developing Cinematic Portraits in Lightroom®
07:29 48Retouching Cinematic Portraits in Photoshop®
08:57 49Color Grading Cinematic Portraits in Alien Skin
13:20Lesson Info
Working With Scrims On Location
Okay guys, so we are gonna start by getting the Scrim over the top of this. Remember they're gonna be standing up, and we wanna make sure it's out of the shot. So if we can pipe it up and make sure that that is gonna be blocking him. In about 30 minutes it's gonna continue to move this way. So that's the way we have to plan to guide that Scrim as it goes. Above that we're gonna use the Octa to start. Alright, so let's go ahead and move that into place. This is where this is gonna be. Where do you want the C-Stand so it wouldn't be in the shot? Yeah, we're just gonna have to plunk 'em around if we can, and we're gonna do a plate shot of everything not in place that we can easily overlap. Does this go on either side? Yes. Of the chair? Yeah, we wanna get as much real estate as possible covering them, so if you wanna start with it laying flat before we raise it. Then we can kind of see what best case scenario is. That's looking about right. I mean, working with Scrim's is kind...
of a necessity when you're doing this kind of stuff, but it is a tremendous pain. It's very cumbersome to set up. Usually requires a couple of people orchestrating it. I think we wanna go a little farther. Probably gonna have to go, or back as well. To more like there? That might be in the shot. I don't know if you're gonna be able to get up that high. Yeah, I think it's gonna be a little bit more like that, cause we also need to pipe light from the front. So we have to bend it a little bit. Go up in these arms first? Yep. Let me straighten it a little bit, real quick. I just want to see something. You want this? Yeah, let me just angle so it's straight. There you go. To there. That's about it, right? I think. I think that's about where it's gonna go. You're gonna have to back it up, because it's now cutting off. Cause the guy's gonna stand behind him. We're gonna raise it way up though, right? Yeah I know, but as it goes up higher it's gonna go further. So he's gonna be here. He's already in the light here. So it's probably gonna have to go quite a few feet back. Yep, exactly. Alright that's... Is is on me? Do you see it on me? You. Alright, let me do a quick little test on this. Cause it is so very much in the shot. Can I get somebody sitting on it real quick. Yeah it's good. You're a good barber. Yeah, that's nice. Okay, cool. It's still pretty bright. I have... a couple of visual considerations that I need to make here. One, I know that this Scrim is gonna have to be comped out of the final shot. So, I'm gonna need to do plates of this image after we shoot it regularly with no one in there. It's just so I can easily throw the plane on top. Two, I want that really shallow depth to field. I'm looking for something like a two eight ideally, which means I need to use those ND filters. I'm not using high speed sync. I'm kind of going the traditional film route. My camera doesn't have high speed sync, so I'm kind of here to show you that if you're camera or your lights don't actually have that, you can still achieve a visually pretty similar result by using ND filters. ND filters are kind of how filmmakers have to achieve that shallow depth of field look when they're using a lot of light, and outside we have a lot of light. They're usually shooting at a pretty slow shutter speed. Even though they're using like maybe a low iso on the film, you're still not necessarily going to get that look. Because that slow shutter speed is you know, one sixtieth of a second. One fiftieth of a second. The ND filter helps to counter that. I've got three stop and I've gotta six stop. So I'm gonna try my three stop first, and we'll see if that gives me what I want. If not I can always add the six instead of it. Can I get someone to sit? Okay. That's good. That's looking really good. This is a three stop. It's giving me a really nice soft edge to the light. Which is good. We might want to add a second layer of diffusion. It is giving me a little bit of wrap, but let's ad the light first and see how that looks. But yeah, maybe we can double silk it. Also, what might not be a bad idea is to put another one maybe side by side underneath of it, and we can at least make it even bigger. It's up to you. That might be a good way to go about it too. So where would you like this? So what we'll do is... Here come with me. We'll shift this over just a couple of feet Jonathan. Super bold. That's good, right there. That's it? Mm-hum. Good. So the reason I'm shifting the Scrim is, because I'm anticipating the sun moving. I know that the sun is gonna move this way, and I'm already starting to get it a little bit close to the edge of where they're gonna be. So I'm just basically giving myself a little bit of room to not have to move it later. Then also it's not gonna be necessarily behind the head as much. So it's kind of a twofer. This is what that lighting setup looked like. We've got two Scrim's in here. The two six by sixes side by side just to cover as much of that scene as we can in the foreground. From the front I'm bringing in a five foot Octabox. It was a D1, D2 with a thousand watts of power behind it, and that's giving me a little bit of shape to what that key eventually becomes. Again, it's meant to evoke a cloudy day, but it's just a little bit more sculpted than what that daylight would've brought us.
Class Materials
Bonus Materials with Purchase
Ratings and Reviews
Bruce Walker
This course is simply terrific, and I highly recommend it. Firstly it arrived at the perfect time for me as I am soon to do a studio shoot very much in keeping with a cinematic or theatrical aesthetic. Secondly it's taught by Chris Knight who I swear is like a long-lost twin brother. :-) There are so many parallels in the way he thinks and works to my own style. So I avidly watched this as soon as it was available for anytime streaming. This is the first time I have made extensive use of the CL iPhone app, btw, and I love how it pretty much enabled me to seamlessly switch back and forth from desktop viewing to my iPad that I carry around the house during the day. I was able to make coffee and still carry on taking in the course, uninterrupted. The content is fantastic, delivered succinctly yet entertainingly. Some material and ideas are already in my repertoire and were reinforced and validated by Chris' demonstrations. But he also introduced a lot of ideas and methods new to me and very welcome. I was particularly glad to see how practical it is to stitch a series of tripod shots into a wide pano. I have been afraid to try that but I will now be using that in my next shoot, for sure. As alway, his post production practices revealed all kinds of tips about Lightroom and Photoshop I didn't know. Negatives. The volume level mastering is iffy. It started out at a decent level then midway through one of the early lessons dropped so much I had to turn up my sound system to compensate. And as I write this one lesson (34) is missing and in its place was a duplicate of the next lesson (35). I expect CL will have that fixed shortly though (I sent support a note).
Jeph DeLorme
One of the best classes I have viewed at Creative Live. Definitely worth the investment of time and money. The pace of the class allows you to learn extra tips and tricks throughout the process. Great instructor, highly recommend this class to anyone looking to step up their creative game.
a Creativelive Student
excellent class in all regards. outstanding instructor with experience in complicated cinematic shoots but who also is willing to thoroughly cover the basic nuts and bolts. i wish all creative live classes were of this quality.
Student Work
Related Classes
Lighting