Ask David Mullen ANYTHING

[dalemccready]

hi David,

Fun thread...Okay my questions:

Would you consider yourself a hard or soft man? Were you one and have you become the other? Do you ever wonder if your early lighting was better than the lighting that you do today before you "knew better"?

Do you ever use reflected sources or radiosity? such as bounced Source-4s off the floor etc? Do you prefer neutral lights or do you colour them all to some degree?

(of course I imagine many of these things are project dependent)

Thanks David,

Dale :nerd:

[David Mullen ASC]

David, do you often, or ever, even, have a situation indoors where you use available light?

Sure. I assume you mean available daylight, not a night scene lit by practical lamps, which is a form of lighting.

If the scene is short and I don't have to worry about light continuity problems from taking several hours to cover the scene, and the natural light looks good and I have enough exposure, sure, I'll take advantage of it.

And in terms of night interiors, yes, I've lit scenes with just practical lamps.

[David Mullen ASC]

Would you consider yourself a hard or soft man? Were you one and have you become the other? Do you ever wonder if your early lighting was better than the lighting that you do today before you "knew better"?

Do you ever use reflected sources or radiosity? such as bounced Source-4s off the floor etc? Do you prefer neutral lights or do you colour them all to some degree? :

Soft light is more or less the contemporary style because it looks natural. I tend to follow that convention though I look for opportunities for realistically motivated hard light now and then, because I'm not one of those people who want to shoot a whole movie in just soft light. I think you need a little variety in textures to the lighting.

Yes, I sometimes fill or key by bouncing light off of the floor, or lower the contrast and increase the ambience by raking some light off of the ceiling, walls, etc.

Sometimes I look at my earlier work and think it looks more interesting because it's more contrasty and doesn't play it safe, because I didn't know better. I used to notice that my best work in some movies was in the first few days of shooting before I got back dailies and started adjusting my work to fix the flaws I saw. Then when the movie was cut, I start preferring the earlier shots that were rougher and bolder. So it's important to resist the temptation to fix everything in the frame. If I get a kick off of a piece of furniture or some part of the frame is too hot, I like those little accidents.

[Renew]

Curious about your opinion on the new LED panels (www.litepanels.com, for example)... just the minimal heat output alone makes them interesting to me--I can imagine they would make a big difference in the overall working environment, especially when shooting in close quarters.


Their cost, though--yikes!

[David Mullen ASC]

They are interesting -- I've been thinking about getting the little one as an on-camera Obie light. Color-wise, I'm always a bit concerned about how skin looks under LED's, flos, and HMI's, versus tungsten.

The question is whether the bigger LED panels are bright enough to go through some large diffusion frames, like 4'x4', 6'x6', etc. The panels themselves are not really large enough for a good soft-light effect.

[Ralph Oshiro]

Just curious, David . . .

What's your opinion on lighting close-ups noticably different from masters? It's done quite often in mainstream production, but anyone who knows something about lighting can see the difference. This is often done to make the close-up "prettier." I don't mean even major "adjustments," or even total re-lights (but which still emulate the master), which are typically always done on the close-up or turnaround, I mean like, suddenly having a backlight (even if motivated) that simply wasn't even there in the master.

Or is this sort of like the "burn out the windows/don't burn out the windows" kinda thing?

[Ralph Oshiro]

Curious about your opinion on the new LED panels (www.litepanels.com, for example) . . .

If I may add my humble opinion to David's reply . . .

Check out the photometrics for the Litepanels—they're extremely low in illumunation after a few feet, a mere couple of footcandles. Then check the photometrics for the KinoFlo Kamio. The Kamio, is much hotter (about four times hotter), and actually usable at subject-to-camera distances you would more likely be working at.

[Ralph Oshiro]

Color-wise, I'm always a bit concerned about how skin looks under LED's, flos, and HMI's, versus tungsten.

David:

In my experience, both the 2900K and 3200K Kino globes ALWAYS look a little weird on skin tones to my eyes on video cameras (on BVW600s and HDW-F900s). Kinda pinkish-green, if that's possible. What is your experience with 2900/3200 Kinos and high-end video cameras?

P.S. To me, HMIs ALWAYS seem to look "right" on video. I've never used a Litepanel, but their native daylight color temp with that CTO correction filter you have to put on it worries me a little too.

[Michael Lindsay]

I would heartily recommend the little 2 lite panel kit...

daylight
dimable without colour temp change
Cool
Battery capable

I think led lighting is one of the most exciting (in a bore the arse of normal people kind of way) things to come along..

I also recomend the foot square lite panel (spot is good cause you can easily soften it) and float it in anywhere... put four together and soften in up a bit and...

Michael (hope to never touch another mini flow kit again)Lindsay

[dalemccready]

I've recently played with the LED Litepanel 1x1s. they're a good output, quite bright, but frankly quite flimsy. The dimmer on the back appears to be attached straight onto the circuit board and wiggles just waiting for an errant elbow or tool belt to rip it off. Otherwise really promising, especially joined in groups...

Thanks for your answers David, just some thoughts mulling around in my head lately regarding that did-I-do-it-better-before sort of thing. reassuring to read your take on it.

I operated for Bill Wages ASC on a job here in New Zealand and I have to say I've been experimenting with bounced/indirect keys/fill ever since, especially liking the way colour can be transmitted from different surfaces.

Bill is an easy guy to copy, very inventive. Wouldn't bat an eyelid at a fancy new light if it was something he could build in his garage himself. Nice man too!

Thanks again for your time.