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"Lighting" in post with light-fixture emulation
  • jrdjrd

    I'm not talking about color correction which assumes that the DP shot with controlled lighting ratios, but actual lighting emulation, with a choice of controllable lighting instruments, for material which was shot with available light or haphazardly.

    PPro has one filter with a subset of 5 controllable lights (omni, directional, spot), which can produce interesting results -- better than the original footage, anyway -- but I'm wondering if there are any dedicated plugins or packages with more control or options?

    Anybody?

  • 8 Replies sorted by
  • nomadnomad

    Well, so called re-lighting is a typical task in grading software like DaVinci Resolve. But you need to keep in mind that if there's no depth information, anything more than minor enhancements will look fake.

  • radikalfilmradikalfilm

    Well. If the material was shot haphazardly (severely underexposed, blown highlights) there is precious little you can do to it. If the material is shot flat (well-exposed in the middle) in view of relighting in post, then it becomes a rather involved compositing matter.

    • 3D tracking for extracting virtual camera information (point cloud)
    • 3D light source placement, adjust quality of light (soft/hard)
    • color correct plate, composite 3D lights with plate, render

    It's a job for Smoke/Flame, Nuke, Fusion. Scratch has a 3D space, the lights themselves would come from Sapphire plugins. I don't think Resolve, even in upcoming vers. 10 has a 3D space. . AE/Motion are also options for layer-based compositing.

    Or ummm just light it properly on set? Just saying. You'd normally relight greenscreen shots, where you have to integrate with the plate.

  • jrdjrd

    Yes, the assumption is the shot is more or less properly exposed, so there's something to work with.

    A full-blown 3d workflow would likely be impractical (or impossible) -- if there was time and money for that, there would be time and money to light the set properly. I guess the question is, how far can the process be taken in the 2d realm, to create a subjective, if false, impression of lighting effects. It's understood that this approach won't produce shadows, contouring, etc.

  • nomadnomad

    So you've answered your own question. Get Resolve for free, it's tracker is excellent and well integrated, practice and see what you can achieve without having it look cheesy.

  • jrdjrd

    So you've answered your own question.

    Well, not exactly. So far, I've found the PPro "Omni" effect useful for lighting select areas of flat surfaces (walls, floors) and background objects, with a 2d tapering-off effect which would be more difficult to achieve with a power window. The result can give an otherwise flat image a sense of depth, and it looks more or less realistic, if you don't do too much of it.

    So I guess I'm wondering if there's any more mileage in the technique, or if there are better fixture emulation plugins. But we shall see....

  • radikalfilmradikalfilm

    What's the use case really? Salvaging already shot but marginal footage with relatively little effort? Yes you can eyeball the light source so it looks sort of right and avoid the 3D tracking, but a discerning audience would know it's not right. Whatever you do, get out of Premiere. It's a job for Resolve10+Sapphire OFX, or Scratch+SapphireOFX, or AE if you must.

    For yet to be shot scenes the cheapest overall solution is to light properly on set. Intentional Re-lighting is by necessity a high end workflow for commercials/film greenscreen.

  • jrdjrd

    The use case is extremely common these days, though it's nothing to boast of: dramatic material shot with non-dramatic available light.

    Don't get me wrong: no miracles are expected. But relatively small adjustments do appear to make a difference. Determining the limit of the technique, or finding better tools to accomplish it, before it looks plastic, is the source of interest now.

  • radikalfilmradikalfilm

    In order of priority:

    a) Stop doing your use case b) Relight purposely as a high end workflow and not as a salvaging technique c) The better tools are Flame/Smoke

    I guess we're entrenched by now, might as well talk to the wall :) I mean well. Cheers.

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