Love your honesty and content man. I'm in a similar point in my career where I'm experimenting with alternatives to softbox lighting. I think if you had brought the booklight in a little more and flagged off the light from hitting the wall and stairs, it would have been even better with more subject separation. Like others have pointed out, the Cove light is also really effective for this type of setup. Keep it up🤙
Thanks for the perspective and honesty! First time I tried using a booklight I failed because I simply didn't have the tools to contain the spill. This made me want to give it another go
Great real world example! I'm just messing around with a book light setup myself. I'm just waiting on a piece of stronger diffusion to arrive in the mail but my idea is to have a 4 x 4 bounce angled down around 45 degrees and have the 4 x 4 diff hanging straight down off the top edge. I would have my light clamped to the bottom of the stand shooting straight up into the bounce then through the diffusion. It should make the setup super quick and easy.
Thank you for sharing all your experiences! I personally loved booklight result as well. Congratulations and I'm Looking forward to see next steps of your filmmaking journey
I like the book light. You can use a neg for the book light light that hit the wooden beam or add a diffusion to soften the light that hit the beam. Me personally, I would use neg to block the book light hitting the background. Great video. You should try cove light and ring lights.
You mean, SIR Roger Deakins :D Always love seeing your videos and the value you provide Carlo! Thank you for your honesty and sincerity when you say are learning as well. I found the video very useful, and finally someone comparing the two modifiers side by side. I do agree that the book light has a nicer roll-off and is more pleasing overall, but I did like the darker background that was achieved when the softbox was used. I found that the subject stood out more. In your opinion how would one go about in darkening the background with a booklight setup? Flags? Using the inverse square law? And to add my two cents, I think you guys should have added another light on the top of the stairs instead just the bottom. Great vid, and always learn something new from you. Keep it up!
Thank you! And I would say yes adding flags and cutting off any spilling light, unfortunately I don’t have that much equipment to do that but noted! And yes I wish we lit that also I ran out of lights but could have tested the built In lights! ThNks for the tips 👍🏼
Im personally a fan of the book lightning over the soft box. Even though it was more challenging and time consuming the frame looks beautiful and well worth making adjustments as needed. I love the connivence of the soft box though hahahah nice job dude :)
Liking your style and videos Carlo. We don't ever know it all, nor will we, so practice and experimenting are the only way to find what works best for each of us, an our clients. spot on there. The book light wins over the softbox to me. I'll be doing book lights from now on, just because it looks natural(when done right) and the softbox looks like a light.(that sheen you mention). I've been eating up Patrick's WanderingDP "The Framework" and holy s**t are the neurons firing and clicking because it makes so much sense. Please tell me you have seen his content/The Framework idea.
Great video, relaxing voice! I would prefer the booklight aswell, but it still depends on the purpose. Sometimes the harsher look from the softbox fits better
Wow really love your content this is amazing. What is your preferred camera you use for filmmaking, I'd love to have a conversation and maybe even collaborate on different ways in telling stories through film!
Good video well explained! Thanks for sharing this information. I definitely prefer to use the softbox because of how effective and quick it is to set up. I would only apply the booklight technique if requested. Not by choice. It's not until you compare one image to another that you notice much of a difference. It would be interesting to try the exact same booklight technique but with a much bigger softbom. Something like the Impact 80"
This is very amazing!! 🔥🔥🔥 .. I am also learning as well. I haven't tried the book light setup before... But I was thinking if trying just an extra layer of diffusion after the softbox... Instead of the book light method. But I'd like to try this out too as well!
From a fellow Philly DP love seeing the content! Try bouncing it off of ultra bounce than through the muslin. Might not be as soft at first or but would contain more of the spill coming from the back of the muslin. Or like some of the other comments have mentioned just extra floppies.
If you were bouncing off an ultra bounce and not through muz to bounce you would have never had a shadow on the beam. Also put siders on your book light.
Hey man, I love your work, very inspiring. Im a director, but want to learn a lot more about cinematography. I've watched every single video of yours, but still want to learn more. Do you have any online courses in mind to help me out?
Here's a few comments... I notice that you are are putting the rods in the speedring; assembling the softbox. You need a softbox like the Aputure Light Dome II, (I have 2 of them and a Light Dome Mini II), you snap the rods in place and when you are wraping up you push each button to release the rods. Also, (I am an Aputure Fan Boy!), Aputure always over-builds their products and under-prices them. I also noticed that you are just hanging rags up for your booklight. I use a system designed and built by Westcott; the Scrim Jim Cine Kit. You can build 4'x4', 4'x6', 6'x6', & 8'x8' frames. The frames can be assembled or disassembled and are made from 4 parts: corner, connector, 2' tubing (1" Square Tubing), 4' tubing (1" Sq Tubing). My kit fits in 2 large rolling bags, I have the Square tubing in a Westcott bag, and everything else in a Thinktank Production Manager 50 bag. I have been working on this Kit for 5 years now, and it is almost complete! Here is a Lighting tip for you; learn to think bigger! (I learned this just this year.) Let's use 3-Point Lighting for an example. Before I would have used an Aputure Light Dome Mini II with a grid for the backlight. Then I wanted the backlight to be softer so I would use an Intellytech Light Cloth Mega 2.0. Next, I used a 4'x8' White Bounce (Reflector) for the Backlight lit with 2 Aputure 300x's with the Fresnel 2x attachments. Enjoy!
The booklight setup was still not ready after 45 minutes... A lot of the spill coming to the background. Image may look more natural, but it lacks focus on the character. And I believe this should be the main goal - highlighting what's important. I'd just use the softbox + some soft fill where it's needed, depending on the task. Much more efficient time-wise.
I think the shadow on the wall could have been good. i like hard transitions from dark to light in the environment. sometimes its interesting and all about dark light dark light as much as u can personally the softbox method looked more pleasing and the book light lost all shadows and looks flatter over all
