Guides from the lighting truck
Five guides for the questions that come up on every set: white balance under mixed light, a window against tungsten, footage that comes back green, golden hour, and whether the phone in your pocket can do a color meter's job. Each one starts on set and gives you the numbers.
- How do you white balance on set?Read the card where the face will be, dial in kelvin and tint, and read again when anything moves.
- The window is daylight and the lamps are tungstenA window and a tungsten lamp are 134 mired apart. Which one to gel, and with what, in LEE or Rosco.
- Why does my footage look green?Tubes and cheap LEDs lean green, and kelvin alone will not show it. Minus green, tint or plus green.
- How do you plan a shoot around golden hour?Find the window for your place and date, scout where the sun sets, and build the day backwards from the light.
- Can a phone be a color meter?What a phone camera can read, where it stops, and why the badge matters more than the number.
Cutvey Meter
Walk onto any set and know your light.
Free to download. $19.99, once, for iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch, or included in a Cutvey plan for each person on it.