Cinematic Lighting With No Lights - Using Natural Light
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 22 ธ.ค. 2020
- Download my 46 minute Lighting with Colour mini course for just £15 - www.robelliscinematography.co...
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Links to the videos featured:
• STANLÆY live session @... - super proud of how this turned out! A beautiful 13 minute live session on top of Cheddar Gorge, in the UK!
BTS Photos from this shoot by - / laurenoverrazphotographe
• Silver Darter - The Mo... - nearly 4 years old and I can't not see all my mistakes :D but I still have a soft spot for this!
• Come Along | Harrisen ... - I live in a beautiful town and I'm super lucky to know such talented people! :)
Well this one turned out a little longer than I'd planned - and really, we barely scratched the surface :) Hopefully this video gives you a little something to think about when it comes to natural lighting; how you can study, reverse engineer, re-create, plan for and use natural light - and how learning and planning can sometimes put you in a more favourable situation to get lucky with the way the light works.
#filmmaking #cinematic #lighting - ภาพยนตร์และแอนิเมชัน
You can find the links to some of these videos in the video description! :)
Well this one turned out a little longer than I'd planned - and really, we barely scratched the surface :) Hopefully this video gives you a little something to think about when it comes to natural lighting; how you can study, reverse engineer, re-create, plan for and use natural light - and how learning and planning can sometimes put you in a more favourable situation to get lucky with the way the light works.
zyro.com/special/robellis - use my link to get up to 89% on all 1 year+ plans with Zyro, with my holiday deal!
- or use the code: robellis
robelliscinematography.com/downloads - Two Cinematic Colour Grades in Davinci Resolve - 21 Minute Video Tutorial for £8!
Thank you all and Happy Christmas, I hope you are all well! :)
Thank you for all your lessons man, I really love the way you explain/breakdown the content to understand the way the shots are framed/lit.
I'm going to watch your whole channel as a treat to myself this Christmas
Haha wow thank you so much!! That means a lot!
I know I’m years late, but I am blown away by how much this helps me with music videos. Thank you so much!
Man, I'm going to hazard saying this, but these posts are too good to be free. Bravo Prof. Rob! Thank you.
Haha thanks so much man! The Patreon is coming soon mind you ;) but that doesn't mean my content on here will change! :) thanks so much for your support!
@@RobEllisCinematographer I'll be on it, man. Very much worth it. The effort shows and it is much appreciated.
@@RobEllisCinematographer Hey where can I find your Patreon? I‘d LOVE to join!
@@oskarneftel3756 thanks Oskar! It's coming soon :)
The point you make at 20:25 hits soooo close to home. After I decided to actually focus on my content creation, a lot more "lucky breaks" started happening and I realized just what you said: that while luck can be a huge booster, it's only useful if you have created the opportunity for it to be useful. That amazing-looking cloudy sunset sky might as well have been completely bare and blown out if you guys hadn't set everything up and climbed up the hill, or if you didn't know how to adapt the shoot to it.
Exactly :) it's all well and good getting lucky, but if you put enough planning in and you're aware of how light works, you're in a much better position for those spur-of-the-moment shots to happen in the first place. Thanks so much for watching and I'm glad the points made in the video resonated with you! :)
Every time I get a notification from this channel, I drop everything!! Awesome work Rob.
Lol same here!!!
Thank you both so much!! Hope the video was helpful in some way :)
You all should really stop dropping stuff. Who is going to pay for all those repairs? No but seriously, great channel! I finished this video like "OMG, too short!" *looks at duration* O.O 22 minutes? Ohh, so this is how time travel feels.
just came here to say that this is still the BEST video on TH-cam about natural Lighting and how it works, how to deal with it etc. (At least imo). Most other videos covering this topic are just too...generic? like they all just tell you to avoid harsh sunlight, diffuse etc.
Anyway, thx for the vid Rob, Even tho it's been 3 Years, your knowledge is always very valuable ✨.
Thank you so much for the kind words!! Super happy you're still finding it useful after all this time. I would love to cover this topic again at some point!
This video actually inspired me to shoot only like this for a while, and intentionally not use lights for a while just to learn this way. Amazing content yet again.
Absolutely, shooting with only natural light can teach you so much about light! Thank you so much and I'm happy the video inspired you! :)
This content is priceless.
Thanks so much! :) hope it's helpful!!
Haven’t even watched yet and I know this is going to blow me away
Haha wow thanks Tyler! Let me know if it was helpful!! :)
@@RobEllisCinematographer It definitely was! I’m trying to shoot a feature this coming year and I want to use as much natural light as possible. I wish I had a dp who understood what you do! I’ll have to study up on all your videos...
I've shot many projects just like this. And I have experienced all of these issues many times. You mention luck and you're right there is a lot of luck involved but you can make your own luck by seeding the expectations of the crew and client. Let them know all of this before hand. Prepare them for the likelihood that all of these thing WILL probably happen and give them this expectation well before the shoot to give it time to sink in. Nothing worse than the crew and the talent going along expecting everything is going to go like clockwork and then it all goes pair shaped. Like you say you waited it out and took your window of opportunity when it came along. Let everyone know that is most probably going to be how the day will go before they even get out there.
You're a legit cinematography, mate. Not just a youtuber. Respect
The best TH-cam channel I have ever watched, ever.
Wow thank you so much!! So happy you think that! :)
I keep coming back to this video and other videos from you. The thing is, I've seen hundreds/thousands of videos about "lighting with no lights" and controlled indoor lighting combined. And my goodness, your test setups and shots look like no one else's. This is so much more than just "shoot near a window" advice (no offense to others who covered that, it still works but this video by Rob is another level of informative). I swear. Not going to name names but even other popular TH-camrs with nearly half a mil to million subscribers, when they create their shots, I am not quite satisfied, like there's something in me that goes, "Not bad but...it isn't cinematic/filmic for some reason that I can't quite precisely put my finger on". I never once felt that on anything you've lit, using even the cheaper lights. I feel like, "yeah, this can totally be a shot from a high quality film". As hard as the word "cinematic" might be to define, YOU seem to nail that quality in things you shoot.
You have an amazing way of storytelling when you narrate your videos. Beautiful job!
Thank you so much, really! It's hard to tell when you're editing and hearing your own voice over and over again haha, so really, that feedback means a lot! :)
just found your channel today and you're tutorials have been really helpful! especially with lighting! thank you
I really enjoy the way you give your ideas and sentences a few more beats to allow us, the audience, to take them in. The music paired with your pacing really creates a soft, spacious atmosphere for me to take in what you are sharing. Thanks for continuing to maintain consistency across your videos in this way!
Thank you Jeremy! I find it difficult to really take anything in myself when videos are too fast paced, so I'm sort of creating what I want to see - if that makes sense! I'm just glad that others feel the same way! Thanks so much for your kind words :)
Awesome video it really helped me understand how to study reverse engineer and learn to recreate light
The color grading looks so great
As a primarily run and gun shooter, this video speaks to me DIRECTLY
Super happy about that! :)
@@RobEllisCinematographer thanks for making this!
#CinematographyGoals
Thanks for all the brilliant work, Rob!
And thanks for watching Armaan, I appreciate it! :)
So inspiring!
Love your videos. Can't wait for more!
Thank you so much! More to come! :)
These videos help me so much and get me inspired to make so much fun stuff! Thank you Rob!
I'm happy they've inspired you, that's all I can hope to do with these videos! Thank you so much! :)
Thanks a lot to take your time to share such a detailed content for us!
Absolutely! Thanks so much for watching! :)
These videos are the ones giving actual hope to anyone starting out in the field of cinematography, cause it shows what can be captured without a giant crew, modifiers and a ton of artificial lightsources. Personally I've only invested in a Godox SL150II with a softbox and fresnel, with the addition of two LCR500's to get creative with colours if I need to. But this goes to show what can be archieved without rigging anything up and just being creative with some planning and natural light 👌
Absolutely! And with the affordability of good cameras these days it's easier than ever to capture amazing looking images with a little bit of planning! Thanks so much for the kind words Emil, I appreciate it! :)
I learned so much from your videos, Rob. Thank you very much for providing us such valuable information.
Thanks so much Luican, happy to know you're learning from my videos! :)
Thank you for this video! I was waiting for this
Rob is the best. Always so good and great
Thanks so much Edward!
The king of lighting has blessed us again
Aah I wouldn't go that far haha! But I appreciate the kind words, thanks so much! :)
Thank you very much. Great video
This channel is such a breath of fresh air, with everyone on youtube doing three camera reviews a week, this channel feels more like reading an ASC article than watching youtube. You give information dense, explanations that don't talk down to the viewer. I love getting great, detailed, technical, breakdowns of the subjects that don't have one "right" answer. You do a brilliant job of taking the kinds of stuff that many people don't even have the full vocabulary for ('cinematic' is so vague as to be almost non-descriptive these days), and making them approachable.
Your attitude towards filmmaking is also a nice change of pace. You seem to be very much on the page of Steve Yeldin, viewing the camera as a data collection device, rather than a toy. (or a sports team, lol)
For me, really grasping that concept has improved my work pretty dramatically; it's a natural antidote to gear acquisition syndrome, and allows me to focus on the bigger picture. The most recent film I worked on, we didn't end up having to spend anything on camera equipment, and the budget went to cast, locations, costumes, and renting specialty stuff like a hazer or car mount. It's amazing how much better money spent in FRONT of the camera looks vs behind. (especially considering how cheap good cameras have gotten!)
It took me a while to get to really grasp that concept on a fundamental level ('feel it', rather than just know it, if you will), but it feels like it's been the biggest jump in quality of work I've seen in a long time.
Thank you so much, such a lovely thing to say! TH-cam is absolutely fantastic and you can get so much information on here that you just wouldn't have had access to 10 or 15 years ago - but I do find a lot of popular image making content is very much gear and/or personality focused, which is great, but what I'm really trying to do with these videos is show thought processes and the possibilities, (which includes the possibilities that gear brings!), so that viewers can go away and think about their own ways of doing things, and by extension, making the most of their gear and equipment - so I hope that's coming through in the videos! That's not to say there aren't amazing content creators all over the platform, because there definitely is! And yeah, technical aspects are important, but it's more about how you're using those things to your advantage, rather than buying into something purely because it's "better"!
Great to hear about the improvement in your work, it's great to look back at how you've improved and even better to be able to analyse WHY you've improved, as it shows you're understanding more about the way you create and what works!
Totally agree with "feeling" it rather than concretely knowing it - that's essentially how I work! It's good to have a base understanding of the technicalities and why you would do something a certain way, for you to then break the rules and feel your way through it, absolutely.
I'm jabbering now and I don't know if any of that made sense, but I think we're on the same wavelength haha! ;)
Thank you so much for the kind words!! :)
that's amazing
This is just amaziiiiing!!
Thank you so much! :)
Man.. Love ur stuff...keep going this is awesome
Thanks so much Rich! :)
I've been directing stuff for some time but I never bothered with the lighting bit because I always go a cinematographer. Since we've been quarantining I shot three things though and of course was a one man band. I watched a few of your videos between the second and third thing I shot and the knowledge seriously took my work up a HUGE notch. Thank you!
So happy to hear my videos have helped you improve, thank you so much!! Glad I could help! :D
Top quality stuff Rob, thanks
Thanks Josh! :)
Great video.. such an inspiration. Thank you!
Wow thank you so much!! :)
Natural light can be so beautiful. I always bring a bounce board and some diffusion for those hard mid day shadows. Great vid boss!
Totally agree! And helps to inform how you use artificial lighting too! Thanks man!! :)
This video is gold! Congrats
Thanks so much! :)
I think you're a GENIUS!!!!!!!
Thanks you so much💪
Woah I wouldnt go that far haha! :) thank you so much!! :)
Thank you for allowing me to look at natural light differently.
Thank you for watching! Super happy that got across in the video :)
One for the ages my friend. Well done.
Thank you so much!
THIS IS EPIC 👏
Thank you! :D
You're absolutely amazing at what you do, Iam in the same boat and to be honest once I learned shooting with uncontrolled natural light, studio controlled environment became unexciting for me :)
Thank you so much! :) I think they're both exciting in their own ways, it's definitely more satisfying when natural light plays ball and gives you an amazing image though!
That shot from the cliff is wahoo😳🔹️🔹️🔸️🔸️
Thank you so much, it turned out beautifully! :)
First real tutorial outdoor lighting on TH-cam
Thanks man! More to come in future! :)
I liked the video as soon as i opened this page, i know i am gonna learn something from Rob everytime i watch his lighting video :)
Haha thank you so much, I really appreciate it! :)
I am grateful for your channel. great video sir
And I'm grateful for your support! :) thanks so much!
Very helpful and informative
Thankyou
I love this channel, amazing work on all of your videos
Thanks so much Albert! :)
this looks so fantastic!
Thank you!! :)
Amazing video like always
Thanks Roberto and thank you for sticking with my channel! :)
Great topic that isn't discussed often enough.
Absolutely!
Another masterpiece, bless your heart Rob.
Thank you Lewis! :) Thanks for sticking with the channel!
@@RobEllisCinematographer I just got my first full time gig as a videographer, a big part of that is because of how I have been styling my professional work after watching your videos during quarantine. Thank you so much Rob!
Wow man that actually warms my heart to hear how much my videos have helped you! Congrats on the gig :)
@@RobEllisCinematographer Thank you! Can't wait to learn more from you.
Great video! Thank you 😊
Thank YOU for watching! :)
Very helpful. Thank you!
Glad it was helpful, thanks Jacob! :)
Man amezing 🤩🤩🤩🤩
Love 💟
You are amazing man
You're amazing for watching!! Thank you so much!
You're doing god's work my guy❤️
Thank you so much!! :)
Thank you for this video ! Not a lot of people talk about things like this
Thank you for watching! And I'm glad I've filled that gap - I don't often see videos talking about the whys and hows of learning about these things, so I'm just trying to add my input! :)
Thank you it's great lesson about lighting with this pictures how work natural flags, i can't write without google translate but i can understand your lesson even with my bad english!
Thank you so much, very happy to know the ideas are communicated well, even to different languages!! :)
Garte Video Again!!!!!! Amazing content Buddy!!!
Thanks so much Filip! Glad you're enjoying my videos! :D
Very nice content, thanks for sharing your experiences, very interesting and so helpful!
Thank you so much Ben!! Glad it was helpful! :)
Luck = number of tries X strength of strategy
i love your channel!
Thank you, glad you're enjoying it!! :)
Have you ever thought about releasing a (real-world) book on lighting? You have a great style of explaining things and the videos are very helpful. But sometimes a book where everything is ordered and easy to look up is more useful. I would buy it instantly!
I have, and although I'm very thankful and happy knowing even one person would want something like that (thank you!!), it would probably be quite risky for me financially, as I have no idea how many other people would buy it. I've briefly looked into making an app in the same vein (not as nice as a physical book, I know) as that could be a good way to put a lot of these ideas in some sort of order, be easily accessible and not cost as much to produce. I'm also going to embed the Lighting for Cinema A - Z series on my website in a more ordered way once a few more are complete! I appreciate your kind words and I'm glad you're finding my videos so useful! :)
@@RobEllisCinematographer I can totally understand that. Maybe I´m just a little old-fashioned. I have read great books about scripting, continuity and other topics that have helped me more than hours of youtube. But most lighting books have been disappointing.
You`re a good artist and teacher, you`ll find your way!
Very helpful video
Great video!
Thanks so much! :)
VERY GOOD and very interesting. interesting mood for that
Thanks so much for watching! :)
yo anyone else got emotional during the whole luck sequence? :D
Haha! :D it wasn't my original intention for it to feel that way, but I tried that lovely track and it worked beautifully! So I'm totally happy you mentioned that! :)
Wow so intelligent...love from india♥️..more power to u nd ur channel
Thank you so much! :D love from the UK!
Haha! Time for me to go outside and practice XD. If only I had the confidence to tackle a job outside without bringing flags or modifiers.
Thank you so much for this video as just anything pertaining to proper lighting I’ve been needing to master. I just had the opportunity recently to grip for a short film and it’s like a dream to play around with expensive lights/modifiers. But I’m finding myself learning more from how the Cinematographer works with natural light. Usually for outside shoots I either bring a bounce or diffusion, but during this shoot the DP was getting a lot done just using Neg Fill Flags. Seeing this video and how other DPs work made me realize that especially with the lack of direct control of Natural light you have to consider every aspect to make it work. At least for me be weary of how light is also being subtracted instead of trying just to bounce and diffuse. I look forward to your next tutorial as always!
Always good to have flags and modifiers to hand though! ;)
And thank you so much for sticking with my channel, I appreciate it! :) Absolutely - what you learn about natural light informs the basis of whatever you do with artificial light, knowing how light naturally works puts you in a better position to recreate it artificially and have your light make more sense! Yup negative fill is super super useful and like you said, subtracting light is just as important as adding it, especially when you're shooting using all this light that you have no other control over!
Thanks again, hope you're well! :)
very helpful!
Thank you John, happy it's helpful! :)
You were so lucky to shoot with one Cam that sunfall. I did it twice, and its a nice adventure.
But for reasons I don't know, I'm always thought it would be nicer to have a back up camera doing the "general" shoots, even in a slider or something similar to have perfect light match.
I can't thank you enough
:D :D
Awesome content
Thank you so much! :)
@@RobEllisCinematographer no, thank you)
Amazing content Rob, thankk you ! Do you use any filter when you shoot outside during sunset ? And what's your camera temperature ? Thank you !
Love to see a video just on the pocket 4k and lighting and exposure 👌
I don't own a Pocket 4k! ;) but regardless, lighting and exposure generally follow similar rules whatever camera you're shooting on! Although there are definitely certain tricks you can use to get the best image out of certain camera systems :)
@@RobEllisCinematographer iso 400 or 3200 so many debates
Haha oh gosh... that still of me... a lengthy analysis of my worn-out face with no sleep and dark circles... but lighting that you thankfully (and kindly!) explained was unflattering hahahaha. Another great video in which I learned much and thanks for the extra views on The Morning haha! You're welcome to keep featuring my music videos! :P
Haha sorry mate, it was all the lighting's doing I promise! Awesome, glad you learned something and I'm glad it's got some views over, I will absolutely keep featuring your music videos! ;)
@@RobEllisCinematographer Haha thanks mate! We'd better make some new ones!
Really true Rob 👍🏻😉 merry christmas 🎄 stay healthy 💪🏼 best cinematic greetings from 🇩🇪 #filmmakingismypassion
Thanks so much!! Hope you had a good Christmas! :)
Hey Rob, another great video! You're the Lighting King! Do you happen to remember what app you used to chart the sun's location for the band video shoot?
Thank you! I actually meant to add that to the video, slipped my mind! The app was called Sun Position - it's just a demo version from the Play Store :)
I am finishing a short film I shot over the last couple of months. I only used natural light, some shots aren’t as good but I think it’s such a great challenge for inspiring cinematographers. It really improved my work and it allows people to understand what light is.
That's it! You gain a better understanding of how light works, how light is shaped, how you can shape light yourself - which can go on to inform how you light something when it comes to using artificial lighting. That's great news that it improved your work, would love to see film! :)
@@RobEllisCinematographer it’ll be out sometime in 2021! Your videos are the best!
Looking forward to it! Thanks so much!! :)
thanks, this is very useful. 🙏 for me personally working with natural light is much harder than artificial light.
Glad it's useful man! :) it can be tough! Learning to use natural light definitely benefits you in those situations where you have no other choice though, and helps you to understand light better overall, which in turn improves how you light with artificial lights. All comes back round in a circle! :D
@@RobEllisCinematographer yes, exactly!
Fantastic work. Do you use an IR filter or OLPF with your BMCC?
Thanks Matt! :) I use a Hoya IR cut filter - been meaning to sort the OLPF for a good few years, just never got round to it!
Best
We may not have money to use expensive stuffs, but we should have the discipline. Often people take this term for granted and don’t realise what they missed. Waiting for the perfect moment and to lock perfect angle is discipline. I remember Lubezki said once in an interview that “every location will look good at one point in a day” and you just have to wait for it.
Btw during the video on the cliff at 17:40 , how did you manage to shift focus from one to another?Was there any follow focus ?
Thank you however for the effort you put in every video , I have been following this channel for such a long time!!
Absolutely! And even if you're not blessed with the privilege of time on a shoot - plan in such a way that you're more likely, or able, to capture that perfect moment :) bloody love Lubezki and that statement is very true, the right light can make any place look beautiful!
I was using a manual follow focus, 18mm set to f4 - f5.6, so that I wasn't battling a super shallow focus and could change focus as I went smoothly!
Thank you so much for all the kind comments and thanks so much for sticking with my channel, I really appreciate it! :)
I mostly suck at focus shifts on moving shots and beaten by hunting or get some unstable shots while using manual FF. Would you ever like to do a tutorial on managing focus at different situations?
amazing video and great work! did you use manual focusing in 13 minutes live session?
Thanks so much! :) yup I used a manual follow focus!
What music did you use on this video , i like it
🤯
Rich info, too rich to be free but don't go all paid masterclass on us hehehe awesome vids man, thank you 👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿
Not yet! ;) I may have a few things in the works, but I'll always be making content like this for free on TH-cam :) thank you!
What app did you use for the sun angle Rob?
Rob, what lens did you use to shoot the morning music video?
Sigma 18-35 and Nikon 70-200 2.8 I believe :)
So after this video I feel like now I know I should study more about natural light than I have learned about natural light
Absolutely :)
Great video. Is that the pier in Weston Super mare btw? ;)
If you mean the Pier behind the gate it's the old Birnbeck Pier yeah :) we got permission to go over there and shoot part of a music video on it, good fun!
@@RobEllisCinematographer Thanks for reply! Ah man I love this place! I really like your style btw. So cool, you’re not that far from me!
What's your most used F stop?
Honestly that completely depends on what I'm shooting! :)
Yo Rob, do you use any cameras that have autofocus? If not, what's your solution for focusing?
Not often! I use a manual follow focus, or if it's tracking/gimbal shot I'll generally stick to the same lens-to-subject distance for the shot :)
@@RobEllisCinematographer Oh ok! That's pretty impressive coming from a lifelong DSLR person, someday I'll gather the courage to get into MFT type cameras I'm sure haha
Haha do it! :) I'm sure every new camera will have autofocus at some point anyway! :D
A 22 minute Rob Ellis video? Did Christmas come early?
Haha thank you so much! Bit longer than usual right?
Any advice for someone who´s film black and white short film using only natural ligth? and thanks for the video, love it
A lot of contrast is always great for black and white, although it depends on the look you want for the film! Have a look at the locations you're shooting in, see how the light and weather at different times of day effects them, take lots of black and white photos, see what works for what you have in mind! :)
@@RobEllisCinematographer Thank you Rob, merry Christmas!
What camera and lense was used on this ?