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This is one of the most important trainings that seperates everyone from the pro. Very generous of you revealing this

Everyone that watched this video is super lucky, you are a true legend…

Probably the most amazing training on lighting I've ever seen. Very grateful to come across this masterful material and finally understand the concept of contrast ratio for lighting. 😱

WOW! This was absolutely incredible! I've never understood contrast ratios. Ever. Until right now! This was like a masterclass, but in terms that I actually understand! You are a great teacher and I just wanted to thank you for sharing this with people like me that aren't "exposed" to the film language and technical jargon of Hollywood.

This is seriously one of the best tutorials I've seen on cinematography -- and I NEVER comment on videos.

at 7 minutes I must pause to comment, "Holy crap this is valuable information that no one talks about.

I can tell you this: I will need to watch this video at least five times. Because even I did not understand it at the first time, I know this is going to be a very important lesson to learn.

Your side of YouTube feels like a paid content really appreciate it 💜

best lighting channel by far.

The first lighting book I read in 1970 was a “How To Shoot Portraits” book by Kodak which suggested the same centered “neutral” fill light placement mentioned in this video.  Two years later I got a job assisting top wedding photographer Monte Zucker and discovered he also used the same, centered-above-camera fill strategy for shooting dual “hotshoe” flash photos, using a bracket on the camera to get the center of the flash up 16” above the lens where the head and body shadow falls out of sight behind the subject and the nose shadow in a full face view falls straight down under the nose.  He learned the neutral fill strategy from his mentor, portrait photographer Joe Zeltsman.  Zeltsman aimed a bank of fill lights backwards bouncing them off the back and side walls near the ceiling which matches the direction and character of fill from the Northern sky (north of the equator).  

Placing the subject the same distance from the back wall meant that the exposure on negative film (which is exposed for density in the shadows) was always the same.  This approach also works with digital sensors for stills or video, an approach I’ve used since getting my first digital camera, a Kodak DC290, in 2000.

Start by setting the camera to the aperture desired for DOF and shutter / ISO then starting with fill raise it until detail is seen in a black towel used as a visual (via detail seen in playback) exposure guide.  Due to the limited range of the sensor a white towel used as highlight exposure target will be reproduced as gray.  This is the “baseline - full range of detail as seen by eye” shadow exposure.  It will always be the same for that combination of aperture/shutter/ISO/light modifer and distance from center of fill source to subject, so much so you can tie a string to the light head, stretch it to the subject/target and tie a knot in it to be able to repeat the same exposure.

The next step is equally simple, turning on and raising the key light until the parts of the white towel it hits are just below clipping in the playback.  The shadow exposure will not change (in theory) but in practice if the studio space is small with reflective walls any spill from the key light hitting ceiling and walls will lift the shadows, which will be seen by comparing the shadows in the “fill only” baseline shot with the one where the key light is added and set just below clipping.  

If key light spill is affecting shadows just reduce the fill as needed, which will then require raising the key a bit more because with “neutral” fill placement on the camera axis the key light the camera sees will always be overlapping on top of the base fill to create the highlights.

If using back rim lighting you’ll want to set it before the key light just at or below clipping, then set the key light so it just enough darker to see the separation of the rim light in the highlights.

Again this is just a starting baseline to ensure the foreground of the scene exactly matches the sensor range with “normally seen by eye” shadow and highlight detail with only specular reflections allowed to clip.  From that “normal - fit foreground to sensor” baseline you can start with more or less fill for a lighter or darker look/mode and opt to let highlights clip or be underexposed.

The amount of light reaching the background is easily predicted with centered fill because the fill will fall off front-to-back relative to what the camera captures per the inverse square law.  An easy way to understand this is to think of light distances as the same as f/stop numbers:  32,22,16, 11, 8, 5.6, 4

If your fill light is 11 feet from the foreground subject it exposes correctly in the shadows it will be one stop darker 16 feet from the light and two stops darker 22 feet from the light.    But if moved closer to 8 feet it will be one stop darker at 11 feet  and two stops darker at 16 feet (i.e. 2 stops for every doubling of the distance.   In practical terms for lighter backgrounds with just the fill keep the subject close to the background.  For darker backgrounds keep the foreground subject further away.

Some seem to think any light, including fill, on the camera axis is “bad” lighting but that is exactly how the sun and sky work together outdoors as key and fill sources. The biggest pitfalls of moving fill off the camera axis are: 1) the camera will see the shadows it cast which can produce a “crossed shadow” lighting pattern which isn’t seen in nature and will look odd subconsciously, and; 2) there will be places in the faces and other parts of the scene where both the fill and key are shaded resulting in deep black voids and two-toned highlights when some highlights overlap the fill but others don’t.  It is easy to spot lack of fill problems due to placement once you train your eye to seek out the darkest shadows on the foreground subjects to spot any unfilled areas.

My dude be staring into the distance for 20 minutes with the coolest look we’ve ever seen. Your channel is just superb, man. A free masterclass after another.

This was absolutely incredible. I’m blown away by how demystified you’ve made this - all because of how clear you explain AND SHOW the process. Thank you SO much!

It's fascinating how you can come with endless informative videos about lighting. You never disappoint, ever!:washhands:

From 1:10 to 1:20 shows remarkable lighting modes....that's all I need

Your videos are amazing man, thanks very much

Finally someone that knows what they’re talking about.  Having been in several movie sets , all the night time scenes are ridiculously well lit. This is the easiest way to tell amateur/youtube filmmakers apart from the pros.  Their stuff isss c always way too dark just to be ‘cinematic’.

ALL OF THIS FOR FREE?? you are a god send

every video from this channel is a fucking GEM! everybody else is chasing trends, and gear reviews and super basic beginner stuff. This is an actual filmmaking channel. Thanks lad, You're a champ

I don't understand how it's allowed to watch it for free.