Balancing light and dark in your image – the cinematic way.
StudioBinder introduces the concept of Chiaroscuro Lighting in Film — Balancing Cinematic Light & Darkness:
Cinematographer wolfcrow identifies nine combinations of overexposed, underexposed and middle exposed lighting…
… or nine combinations of white, black and grey exposure (click to enlarge):
Try It Yourself
Aputure demonstrates using tools such as false colour monitoring to Create Depth With Your Light [Contrast Ratios]:
Rob Ellis goes through, step by step, how to use contrast ratio to achieve a scene which looks dark, but also looks correctly exposed – and, in the process, reveals how, contrary to what one may expect, noise in the shadows can be reduced if lit for a lower ISO:
Further Viewing
Sit in on an entire light metering, film-making, Q&A workshop:
A more detailed look at the camera assist tools mentioned here, and how that leads into post-production:
Related Posts:
Film School: Practical Lighting Placing light sources within shots - and how it can improve them.
Film School: Color Temperature A beginner's guide to light, from warm to cool - and how the camera captures it.
Film School: Colour in ‘Euphoria’ "Sometimes, in order to get to the deepest emotional depths of a character, capturing a feeling, rather than reality, is more important."
Film School: Camera Assist Tools A roundup of tutorials on how to capture the best possible image, technically.
Film School: The Cinematography of Roger Deakins A collection of videos on the cinematography of Roger Deakins.
Film School: Boring Locations Made Interesting ... using better staging and composition.
Film School: Who’s Who of Cinema Lenses An introductory overview to the glass through which commercial feature films are captured.
Film School: Working with Natural Light A roundup of tutorials about working with only natural or available light.