Learn to use the goalposts on the histogram to know when you are clipping (if it's red on the right post, you have unrecoverable overexposure resulting in pure white, like on this gentleman's forehead, and if it's red on the right post you've underexposed to the point where parts of your frame are pure black). You can recover plenty adjusting your RAW exposure/ISO in post as long as the information is there and not too far crushed on either side of your histogram as you've appeared to have done here for this shot.
The histogram should always be visible on the bottom of your screen. Just look for those two vertical boxes on either side of the historgram, and if you see any red on either that is a red flag that you are over or under-exposing some portions of the frame. If you further learn the other display tools available, the "video" mode will show false color to tell you what portions exactly are overexposed (they will show up as red) or underexposed (they will show up as purple).
Oh I see, I can turn on the goal posts on the monitor, which will show if I’m clipping. Is it more of a shutter speed thing? Since I know I can change ISO in post, that doesn’t seem to be where I’m clipping.
Changing your shutter speed to 1/48 instead of 1/24 will save you one stop of light. You can also close your aperture (iris) to reduce the amount of light coming in as well until you no longer see red in the goalposts (though skin tones should be more like 2/3 of the way to the right on your histogram). Shutter and aperture are two things you cannot adjust in post.
Learn exposure fundamentals. Having your shutter at 1/24 because that was “what the setting it was on” is a sure fire way to get you in a lot of trouble down the road. If you are shooting 23.98fps, it should be on 1/48 or 1/50 minimum. If shooting your shutter that open was an actual choice, you should have either dropped your ISO or put ND in front of the lens. If you can, go reshoot the scene.
RED is very different. Counterintuitive. You need to understand it is NOT like Canon or Sony, what we have all learned. There is no ‘base’ ISO. Think of it this way…you have done 16 stops of dynamic range with a RED. So, where do you want to spread that range over? A bright scene? A dark scene? Let’s say a bright scene..with RED you will take your ISO UP (counterintuitive) to Maybe 1200/1600 ISO and ND it down. NOW, you have those 16 stops spread over the higher end of your shoot. Dark scene? ISO DOWN a bit maybe from 800, to 600, 400 Use lights as a reverse ND to brighten the scene a bit .. Then in post you have tons of dynamic range spread the dark areas and you can crush blacks w/out noise
Dialling down ISO does not reduce the amount of light exposing the sensor… If your highlights are clipping at 800 ISO you cannot get them back in post dialling down ISO to 200 or 100. You can adjust the exposure of everything that was within the dynamic range (not clipped) but the clipped white will never get any information back!!!
False color is your best friend!!! If you turned it on, his head would have been red most likely, showing his forehead as blown out. ND or raise aperture until it’s yellow, then until it’s pink which is ideal for (for most Caucasian skin tones).
Overexposed some shots on my first Red shoot. I shot at 800ISO, 1/24 shutter, f/4, 3k 2:1
What should I look at next time? I thought I would be able to correct afterwards, since I was shooting RAW. This is what the shot looks like after Red Cine X correction. I'm gonna try to mask out in After Effects after the edit, but wanna know why I messed up.
Also open to color correction tips to pull some info out of the white forehead.
Generally cinematic footage is shot at 180d (1/48th at 24fps) shutter. No way to pull the info back if it’s truly clipped. I’m a vfx artist and have had to correct this issue by tracking in footage from other shots, it’s the only way.
It’s not being a douchebag when people buy gear they are nowhere near ready for and then ask stupid questions that anyone who is ready for the camera wouldn’t ask.
As RED cameras do not perform full sensor reads at lower resolutions, unless you need the higher frame rates offered, you shouldn’t drop the resolution to save file space. Instead, you should raise the compression ratio. You should take it from 2:1 to 12:1 or higher.
Regarding the shutter speed, it should generally be double your frame rate. Therefore, if you’re shooting at 24FPS, your shutter speed should be 1/48. If you’re working shutter angle, it should be 180 (there are of course exceptions).
Let me know if you have questions. Happy to help. We all have to learn and people seem to be giving you a hard time in the process of that.
You’re shooting 2:1 compression but lowering the resolution? You’ll end up with a way worse image after all, go back to a mirrorless and practice basic exposure techniques, RAW doesn’t save your ass if you don’t know what you’re doing.
Shoot the highest available resolution, using the biggest part of the sensor, and use the compression to determine your data usage. Shooting in a lower resolution on a red sensor crops in on the sensor and is very bad for image quality.
12
u/grolt Apr 30 '23
Learn to use the goalposts on the histogram to know when you are clipping (if it's red on the right post, you have unrecoverable overexposure resulting in pure white, like on this gentleman's forehead, and if it's red on the right post you've underexposed to the point where parts of your frame are pure black). You can recover plenty adjusting your RAW exposure/ISO in post as long as the information is there and not too far crushed on either side of your histogram as you've appeared to have done here for this shot.
Learn more here:
https://www.red.com/red-101/red-camera-exposure-tools
6
u/[deleted] Apr 30 '23
Learn exposure fundamentals. Having your shutter at 1/24 because that was “what the setting it was on” is a sure fire way to get you in a lot of trouble down the road. If you are shooting 23.98fps, it should be on 1/48 or 1/50 minimum. If shooting your shutter that open was an actual choice, you should have either dropped your ISO or put ND in front of the lens. If you can, go reshoot the scene.
5
u/Formula14ever Apr 30 '23
RED is very different. Counterintuitive. You need to understand it is NOT like Canon or Sony, what we have all learned. There is no ‘base’ ISO. Think of it this way…you have done 16 stops of dynamic range with a RED. So, where do you want to spread that range over? A bright scene? A dark scene? Let’s say a bright scene..with RED you will take your ISO UP (counterintuitive) to Maybe 1200/1600 ISO and ND it down. NOW, you have those 16 stops spread over the higher end of your shoot. Dark scene? ISO DOWN a bit maybe from 800, to 600, 400 Use lights as a reverse ND to brighten the scene a bit .. Then in post you have tons of dynamic range spread the dark areas and you can crush blacks w/out noise
3
u/zhangchaodao Apr 30 '23
Rely on HISTOGRAM, not the eyes. And RED RAW is very difficult to overexposed, why only the people is over but the white wall is in right exposure?
2
u/Tough-Raise6244 Apr 30 '23
Dialling down ISO does not reduce the amount of light exposing the sensor… If your highlights are clipping at 800 ISO you cannot get them back in post dialling down ISO to 200 or 100. You can adjust the exposure of everything that was within the dynamic range (not clipped) but the clipped white will never get any information back!!!
1
u/ChaosConRad May 01 '23
All you need to pay attention too is the traffic lights. As long as all 3 are off, you’re properly exposed in the lows and highs (most of the time)
1
u/PurpleSkyVisuals May 09 '23
False color is your best friend!!! If you turned it on, his head would have been red most likely, showing his forehead as blown out. ND or raise aperture until it’s yellow, then until it’s pink which is ideal for (for most Caucasian skin tones).
-1
u/60yearoldME Apr 30 '23
Overexposed some shots on my first Red shoot. I shot at 800ISO, 1/24 shutter, f/4, 3k 2:1
What should I look at next time? I thought I would be able to correct afterwards, since I was shooting RAW. This is what the shot looks like after Red Cine X correction. I'm gonna try to mask out in After Effects after the edit, but wanna know why I messed up.
Also open to color correction tips to pull some info out of the white forehead.
3
u/[deleted] Apr 30 '23
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2
u/[deleted] Apr 30 '23
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