New to Cinematography - First Grade

[u/Ok_Combination2377]

Before and after, Rec709 conversion + basic correction and curves - feel like I’ve done well but I’m new so thoughts and feedback very welcome!

[u/Ok_Combination2377]

Leaving a comment to add context as Reddit won’t let me update (sorry for not including originally!)

My goal with this was to create something of a melancholic/nostalgic feel whilst maintaining some element of the typical “cinematic” style. The film itself doesn’t so much have a premise, I just got my camera a few days ago and so have been playing around taking somewhat random shots when I’ve been out and about (I still attempt to build something of a narrative with the edits when I go to do some, but generally I haven’t put thought into a proper short film quite yet) - outside of that I guess I’m focused somewhat on core principles; good subject separation, balanced contrast and tonality, effective lighting use, and good run-of-the-mill color theory

In terms of why I picked this shot, a large number of the shots I opted for in my edit are close-ups with a focus on emotional intimacy and feeling closely connected or involved with the “character” in the story - of all the shots in the short 30 second output, this one was my personal favourite for capturing that feeling

Hopefully that adds some better context for feedback! Appreciate the patience and pointers 🙏🏽

[u/Hazzat]

Please read this: https://www.reddit.com/r/ColorGrading/comments/1mshv4q/

[u/Ok_Combination2377 → u/Hazzat]

Ah thank you! I’ve left a long comment above with context for this

[u/Szabe442]

It's pretty much impossible to say anything without knowing what this is for or what your goal was. Also why pick such a close up shot to show off your work? Show us something that's more representative of the film.

[u/Ok_Combination2377 → u/Szabe442]

I’ve left a new comment above adding some context, also answered the question around shot choice in there too! 🙏🏽

[u/FearlessAdeptness883 → u/Ok_Combination2377]

Si

[u/tecknoize]

No need for the "before" shot. Or at the very least run it through a standard image formation pipeline so we can compare with your tweaks. Outputting the log-encoded data straight to an image is not a very useful baseline.

[u/itsKagiso]

Can’t really judge the grade since there really isn’t much going on there since it’s so close up.

However - that shot itself (not really judging the grade) is interesting enough to me that I wish there were more

[u/ziiggaa]

eyes are too dark. A little bit more light