The Secret to Cinematic Exposure (Game Changer!)

It took me a long time to figure it out by myself and I struggled for a long time trying to find a video that would show me how to achieve cinematic images (I didn't really know how to actually expose... at least I'd never achieve it with my old camera panasonic gh4 from 2014).
In this video I'm going to show you how to get that, even with an entry level camera!
I wish I had a video like this so… Enjoy.

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00:00 Intro
00:13 Pickin' you up
01:45 How does Cinema expose?
03:19 When and what to overexpose
03:46 Important Tip
04:17 Bad Examples in Cinema
05:20 Skin-Tones
06:22 Contrast:Ratio
07:04 Cheat Code
07:45 Exposure Tips
09:45 How to adjust Exposure
11:00 Avoiding Noise in Low Light
11:32 Tips & Tricks
12:31 Short RECAP
13:20 It's subjective!
14:05 Outro
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SUB Count: 878

#cinematic #cinematography #filmmaking101

[filmstuff]

1. Always expose the brightest part of the image.
2. Work with these three factors, i) aperture ii)nd filter iii)add light
3. External monitors with luts and false colors.
4. Shoot at blue hour to avoid noise at low light, or day for night, or ETTR

[RockWILK]

“If you really take the time to get to know your camera” Something almost nobody does anymore because they are always upgrading to the latest. No bueno. Great video. Thanks for sharing.

[alexanderforde]

This is a little misleading for people who truly want to master exposure. Someone below explained it perfectly. When it comes to “perfect” exposure, if you have a character in the frame, their skin tone (specifically their face) is the priority. You have to make sure their face falls within the proper IRE range, that would be proper exposure, everything else after that is secondary.

So for the examples you said were “overexposed”, looking at the subjects being properly lit, technically those shots were not overexposed. The subjects probably fell within the proper IRE range. After that whether or not the DP or director chooses to adjust the surrounding light sources (windows/sky/light) is completely up to them and up to stylistic choice, if they want to keep everything natural and as is, that’s completely normal and is an acceptable choice by many.

*Something to note about proper IRE levels when exposing - different formats from cameras have different curves resulting in different “ideal” IRE ranges. For example, if you’re shooting in log the IRE range of where a face should fall is different from if you were shooting in a non log profile closer to a .709 image. And on top of that, different log profiles for different cameras also have minor differences. For example, for the Sony FX series, when shooting slog 3, they recommend skin tones fall within 49-55 IRE (give or take). But other log profiles for other cameras may have a slightly different skin tone “sweet spot”.

It’s always best to just do your research on the camera YOU have. Figure out the ideal settings and profiles that are recommended for shooting the best results, and figure out what IRE ranges are recommended for proper exposure of skin tones etc. taking one video and applying it to all camera systems isn’t the most wise thing to do… No knock against the creator, but if the goal is to get closer to mastery, you gotta have the same approach as the professional do, and that is, 1) Know your specific camera system and it’s specific curves 2) Figure out what your SUBJECT is and make sure said subject is exposed properly, everything after that is up for creative/stylistic choice

[renouncreation]

Breaking photography habits is one of the hardest things to do when you've been trained and enforced to do everything in a clean and clinical way. I'm finally starting to really get filmic footage because I'm not afraid of breaking these unwritten rules.

[jaredfilms]

Finally shared my thoughts and knowledge about this subject since i‘ve been avoiding making the video for a long time simply because i was still looking to explain it in the best possible way. (also couldn’t find such a video on the internet that deep dives in the art of exposure and i think i covered some new perspectives)
I hope it helps, let me know if you have any more questions!

[Artfulscience]

This is great. I started in photography and then dove deeply into cinematography. Since then I’ve always felt cinematographers tend to have a much deeper understanding on lighting and exposure than most photographers. You have way less room for error given raw stills vs even raw video if not 8/10bit video.

[jamesc]

I would be EXTREMELY careful of using the ETTR technique. If you do this for every shot, you'll end up exposing your talent at different values which will cause problems when you cut your shots together and try to match them in the grade. Any digital sensor or film negative will shift colour slightly when filming the same thing at different exposures. This is especially noticeable on skin tone. The human eye and brain are programmed by millions of years of evolution to pick up even the most subtle shift and variation in skintone. Instead, you should aim to shoot your talent at the correct exposure value and then adjust the rest of the frame to match. So, when shooting drama, instead of exposing for the window in the example you use in your video, you'll want to use sheets of ND to knock it down to match the rest of the frame. When shooting docs or in less controlled environments, you'll have to manipulate the subject instead by moving them away from it so you're not shooting in front of such a hot source.

I was lucky enough to study under some very experienced cinematographers, including Haskell Wexler, Billy Williams and Carlo di Palma. They all had exactly the same technique. Peg the exposure using their incident light meter meter on the actor's face (the modern equivalent would be to use false colour or waveform on an 18% grey card). Then put away the meter and light everything else by eye. That was the thing they drummed into all of us: *use your eyes*. When youv'e finished lighting the scene, then fine, use your spot meters (false colour) to judge when something is too hot and then adjust your extreme highlights accordingly.

Good cinematography is always about photographing faces above everything else. They should always be your starting point, NOT the brightest part of the frame. Consistency between shots is what you should be aiming for. The very best cinematographers always shoot every shot in the scene, if not the whole movie, at the same stop. Ted Moore, for example, shot every single scene in all the early James Bond movies at t5.6 which is utterly crazy when you consider how slow film emulsion was back in the 1960s.

[limenmultimedia]

Wow, this video is a game changer!

I can totally relate to the struggle of trying to achieve cinematic images without knowing how to properly expose them.

It's amazing that you're sharing this knowledge, especially for those of us with entry-level cameras.

I wish I had come across a video like this earlier.

Thanks for sharing your secrets!

[BryanDiaz-eoyd]

This is something I stumbled upon naturally. I was super disappointed with my shots because I was told the ETTR. Eventually, one shoot I was so disappointed and mad at my images I just decided to make everything DARK… VERY DARK. ( I was prepared to give the client a refund for the shoot) the moment I put it into the editor…. It was beautiful. All my highlights were gorgeous and everything was amazing. The shadows? Were way closer to black but I was so much more pleased with the images. 10/10 best advice right here

[DustinHarrelson]

Easily one of the best filmmaking videos I’ve watched in a while. Still working on shifting my shooting style from high dynamic range and super clean to more artistic, cinematic and intentionally exposed.

[pdas]

EDIT: My bad, just saw your recent upload addressing not to use ETTR!

Hey Jared, nice video and well put together. I'd just like to clarify about your "how does cinema expose" section. When we shoot films, we monitor with a 'show LUT' and expose for the final look in camera. We rarely ever ETTR on set (I've never personally seen any DP do this on a big budget film set). In post, the colourist will usually stick close to how it was exposed by the DP but still build the look up from scratch plus any power window/automation adjustments that couldn't be done on the day with Livegrade. Also, a lot of DPs I've worked with keep skin tones around 50% and under, even as low as 20% for night shoots. The reason we expose so low for cinema is because, usually the movie will ideally be viewed in a darkened environment (like a cinema) and also because it gives a lot of headroom for exposure (equal stops above and below middle gray rather than interview style 70% IRE). There are some unique examples where some movie shots are overexposed on purpose for creative reasons (eg. in the matrix when Neo opens the door to the tv screens room). False colours are really good for viewing monitors outdoors or uncontrollable environments, but on set when DPs expose inside the DIT tent which is blacked out, they almost always do it by eye. We usually always stick to the cameras native ISO and swap NDs or pull iris.

Once again, really good video! just wanted to clarify this particular section of the video!

[demonio]

Bro is the embodiment of "straight to the point"
This video was very helpful, unfortunately you don't get as much attention to such a great content, you're very underrated

[thejackoss]

None of the shots you showed as "bad example" are bad. They're artistic choices and they totally look "cinematic".

[Alex-vehn]

Der Ansatz ein „cinematisches Bild“ bauen zu wollen ist, denke ich, der falsche. Auf Fenster etc. zu belichten ist ein technischer Aspekt, den man bei jedem Projekt neu infrage stellen kann. Wichtiger ist es ein Bild zu gestalten, welches die Story vorantreibt oder untermalt. Alle auf YT wollen einen „cinematic Frame“ aber die meisten wollen die Bildgestaltung nicht gerne mit ihrem eigentlichen Sinn in Zusammenhang bringen: der Geschichte. Was bringt einem DOP ein schönes Bild, wenn es nicht zum Film passt

[benifilmmaker]

Wow, this is definitely the recipe for cinematic imagery! Even if I don’t consider myself as a beginner this really gave me clearance. Thanks for making this

[Nexowl]

I can only recommend that you analyze movie stills with false color luts for yourself. It helped me a lot to achieve and understand the right cinematic contrast.

[sckaalp]

Massive know-how and congratulations for the performance bro !!!! 💯🔥

[guillepozzi]

Excellent video!
another option (in a controlled enviroment) is to bring external lights "down"; by adding blinds, ND films to the windows, or such things.

[swashyhimself]

> secret to exposure
> bro is underexposed

[dotta]

Really enjoy it
One of my favourite thing about this video is the many controversies that triggered in the comment session
So much to learn from them too in a way or another