Paul Newton 7/12/20 Paul Newton 7/12/20

Experimentation with light

Many of you know and a bunch of you don’t know that Photography and Filmmaking are actually all about light when it comes to the image. Light is the key to making an image look great. Not enough light and the image is noisy and the colors will look strange, the sharpness of the photograph will be terrible making the image look grainy. In film/video it’s even more of a problem. The sensors our camera use today is light years beyond what was available just ten years ago but even still, they aren’t even close to the old celluloid film and much less, the human eye with its big grey central computer with the far superior AI built into every model.

This last week, I jumped off the deep end and bought my first professional film/video/photograph light. I have never bought one before because of the high cost. With some models costing as much as twenty-nine thousand dollars, there was absolutely no way I would ever have a pro-level LED light of any kind.

The good news is, the technology always advances and the price comes down.

I searched the web and scoured the pro photography sites like B&H and Adorama and found that there is a brand out there that video/film creators have come to trust. The price point still being eleven hundred dollars for the buy-in though, I was hesitant. While I know that the price is pretty much the lowest it has been for this type of light, it is still a bit much. Actually, it is ALOT. I mulled it over and thought about the way it could improve my shooting. I wondered for a very long time if the light would actually be that much more powerful than the current Panel LED’s I was using. I scoured the internets looking for a direct comparison of the two types of light for weeks but found none. The unknown kept me from purchasing.

Then one night I was making a small thirty-second pitch to Imagine Impact about who My screenwriter Donald and I are and why out movie the “Conscript” should be made. I filmed Donald easily, as it was done in my home office against the couple of hundred books and an old manual typewriter I have laying around. Then I went to film my part. We wanted to separate the two of us and use the “atmosphere” to tell the viewer who we are since we did not have any time to use words for the explanation. I set up the lighting I had, two LED panel lights, in my yard against a spooky background. I wanted to use a Gel or a semi-clear plastic colored red to light the background and a blue, daylight color for my light or “Key Light”. I saw it in my head and it looked absolutely great. In reality, though, it was far from what I pictured.

The background was only slightly red and some foreground elements were red too. It is what cinematographers and photographers call “light Leak”. I tried to get it to look good but I couldn’t pull out the background with my Sony a7III SLR. I didn’t have enough light. It was such a colossal failure that Donald and I contemplated scrapping that idea and the footage to make something else. I hate having to go back and something again just because I cannot make it look right, especially when the performance was right. So, I caved and used it anyway.

Here is the final product:

It actually turned out pretty good and most definitely expresses that there is a major difference between Donald and me when it comes to the different approach to screenwriting and filmmaking. Mission accomplished, sort of. As a filmmaker, if I cannot match what I see in my head, it is actually a failure.

The only solution to my problem is to up my game when it comes to lighting. Because of the way I create is often spontaneous and usually happens fairly quickly, renting is out of the question. So the only choice I have left is to own the correct lighting so it is available when I need it. I have tried to plan shoots in the past but it hardly ever works out because of the commitments of other key players in the plan or lack thereof.

So this last week I ordered the Aputure 300D MKII COB LED Light. It actually scared me to spend that much money on such a thing. I mean I have managed to pull off some amazing stuff in the past ten years with the absolute cheapest lighting gear I could find, and you know, thinking like that is probably what has held me back.

Now, I didn’t just order the light and go on, I know I am going to be faced with lighting challenges that are going to be super technical and I will need everything I know to get the job done right. That means I am going to need an arsenal of light modifiers to help me get out of any future tricky situation.

It does come with a very good light “can” as I call it and it is super useful. But that isn’t going to be anywhere good enough to make the 300D MKII a rounded tool that is capable of lighting multiple situations. The light by itself only lends itself to what is called “Hard Light”. If you have ever taken a photo with your phone during the afternoon and thought that it could have been a great pic but there is something that just isn’t right, that’s because you shot it using the hardest light out there, the sun.

So, I also had to get three hundred bucks worth of other things: a softbox, a Fresnel (pronounced Frenel), and some barn doors.

While you may not think much of these things, I assure you, they make a monstrous difference when trying to control light. The softbox basically softens the light, the Fresnel Sharpens, and amplifies light and the barn doors keep light from spilling onto unwanted areas or creating a “sliver” of light for more dramatic stuff. All of these tools can be used in extremely creative ways that add nuance to any Photograph or movie and boy was I anxious to try them out.

I ordered the entire set up on Monday and wasn’t able to get them for almost a WEEK! Seems that COVID19 has dropped the speed in which you can get your stuff delivered from two to three days to as excruciatingly long as one can wait while still being considered express. I watched the FedEx tracking number like a hawk. You can go to the website and see exactly where all of your packages are, or at least, where they were, whenever you want. It isn’t very accurate and it also shows you just how inept large companies can be at keeping inventory centralized. It seems that three of the four boxes this stuff came in weren’t even in the same location. It also let me know that FedEx runs at least two trucks at the same time from New Jersey to the Kansas City area. I wonder if the drivers ever noticed that they pass each other on the highway but never go to the same place? Anyway, half the packages landed in Kansas City while the other half landed in Lenexa Kansas, at almost the same time and only ten to twenty miles apart. I sat at my desk cringing and then cringing more until finally, it said: “on the truck for delivery”. Man, that was a long day. Finally getting my packages I put off tearing into them immediately for about an hour trying to retain some respectability. But, I couldn’t take it anymore and unpacked it all, put the light together, and trying out each attachment so I could see.

Oh boy, did I see

Getting the light out and setting it up, I compared it to the small light panel, praying under my breath the entire time that it would be substantially brighter and my money wasn’t wasted. Thank God I was not disappointed. Comparing the two lights I discovered that the small light quickly was overcome by the 300D. In fact, the 300D overtook the (now confirmed) dinky light panel with only Seven Percent output. Seven Percent! That means it would take ten light panels to create the amount of light of the 300D. Holy Cow!

So now it was time to put it to the test. I arranged for a model to show up at the house to be a guinea pig for my new found light source. I decided to only use the 300D and no other lights for the test. Because of its massive amount of light, I figured the best first test of its natural ability would be to recreate the old Hollywood lighting from the days of Noir and before. Truly a good place to start learning the nuances of the light. Plus the Fresnel is basically a spotlight so I could definitely use that for this type of photography. Two for one!

The day of the shoot was hot, muggy, and miserable. Within ten minutes of setting up, I was soaked to the bone with sweat. The model was suffering too, her hair, while straight and quaffed at the beginning, by the end it was crawling off of her head like Medusa’s snakes. Add to that the approach of a massive lightning storm moving in, well, I was in a hurry. When I am in a hurry, I make mistakes, as we all do. Out of all the photographs, every one of them was underexposed two to three stops. ug…

This is a photo straight out of the camera. I was using a manual lens with a custom white balance and I thought I took the photo correctly. Sadly, I didn’t. I have been shooting film and video long enough that you would think I would recognize when the image is underexposed this much. When shooting film/video I always over expose the frame to I can bring it down in post to keep noise out of my black or dark colors. For some reason, that strategy went out the window and I didnt pay attention to my camera when it told me I was under exposing.

Again, I was in a hurry because it was seemingly about to rain and I wouldn’t have been a happy camper if I immediately lost my light to moisture before getting to use it for the first time.

The saving grace, once again, was the power of the little Sony a7III. In movie mode, it only has six to eight stops of dynamic range but in stills mode that shoots up to eighteen. In other words, I can raise the exposure three to four times the brightness of the original without losing the range of color or introducing noise to the photograph and ruining it. Thank God once again for technology that saves my worthless butt.

Putting the photographs into Lightroom I was able to see what I was after. A giant sigh of relief was exclaimed and I began working on the photographs. While these aren’t the most perfect set of images in the world, I think they are pretty damn good, considering.

Paul Newton 9/19/19 Paul Newton 9/19/19

Making short films always seems to turn into something bigger.

I love making films. If you didn’t know that already, well, now you do. Sometimes we have a fleshed-out script, and sometimes we don’t. The real fun of making films sometimes comes from not knowing what I am going to film and figuring it out as we go. I know that sounds dumb, but it always seems to work out.

This last weekend, we did exactly that. We had outlined a few scenes and practiced some stunts with the actors. It worked out alright; it was one of those times when working on a wing and a prayer just felt right.

I made a few mistakes along the way, though. I accidentally recorded in SLog3 instead of 2 and damned near lost all of the takes. But I am a guru with Premier Pro and got most of it back. It took a little doing and a lot of noise reduction, but I think the footage is salvageable.

We did lose an actor along the way (a common occurrence), so I got to kill my screenwriter. Ok, no he’s not dead but its the only part that he can really nail. Yes, that’s a joke but not far from the truth. I am sure he will be complaining about me bashing him tomorrow. Screenwriters have thin skin sometimes.

The short film I am working on is supposed to be a scary, art/horror piece that is meant to drive tension in the viewer. Through the use of heavy sound effects and long, arduous takes, the stillness of the film is intended to bring dread and dark suspense to the viewer. Maybe I am accomplishing that, and perhaps I am not. Only the final product will tell.

I’m trying to schedule a re-shoot for a couple of shots. All I can do is hope the weather holds out and they show back up. No one is getting paid for this and, if anything, it just costs me money. So I understand why people would not want to spend bucks to work for free. The thing is; to be a working actor, you must work for free and build that reel. Because, if you don’t have a reel, you aren’t getting any work.

And Honestly, that’s part of the reason I am shooting this on my own dime. That and I really love making films.

Paul Newton 6/13/19 Paul Newton 6/13/19

On the set; A film that took six years to make.

As you know, I love filmmaking. The one thing that always brings a smile to my face is when a project is finished, and the world gets to see.

On The Set of

The “Tech Files” by Joseph Hitchcock

As you know, I love filmmaking. The one thing that always brings a smile to my face is when a project is finished, and the world gets to see. Just the other day, I worked on a film set with one of the most exciting filmmakers in NWA Joseph Hitchcock on a project that has taken six years to finish principal photography.

Yes, you read that right, Six Years.

For me, that is an insanely long time. I tend to get my projects done in record time. It works for me, and I consistently win awards for my films. But not everyone who makes films does it this way. Sometimes, for an artist to really get what they want, it takes forever. It isn't a good thing or a bad thing, it is just how they operate.

No, he is not related to Alfred, but I do share the same birthday as the heralded filmmaker of classics such as "North by Northwest) .

**Alfred Hitchcock and I have the same birthday!**

Many years ago, Hitchcock asked me to film an action sequence for him. It was in a parking garage somewhere in Fayetteville, and I was more than excited to do it. Remember, I think this stuff is super fun and would do it all day for free if I didn't have bills to pay. He had some shots he wanted to get, and I talked him into getting some extra stuff that I thought would be super interesting. The shoot ended and I thought that was the end of it. I looked and stalked his online profiles for about a year, hoping to see the final product, It never appeared.

Oh well, I thought, such is filmmaking. Maybe it wasn't any good, or perhaps the other shots were so different from what I shot that it blew up the entire project. This is something that happens when you have several different shooters on a film. One may be conservative with their shots, and another is super aggressive, causing the film to look disjointed and hard to watch.

Turns out, that wasn't the case with this film (called The Tech Files), it was more of a matter of not having the time to do it, I would suppose. In fact, Hitchcock just got back from Eastern Europe where he has been living for the past year or more, and before that, he was living in L.A. while he was touring the country for his music career. He just did not have the time and opportunity to finish the dang thing.

Action sequence I shot from the film “The Tech Files”

As always, there were significant hiccups with the production. The warehouse that was scheduled for shooting canceled. I hate that. Hitchcock was scrambling hard to find a warehouse to shoot in with only hours to spare. We brainstormed for a while and came up with a couple of solutions. Finally settling on a place called "Free Geek." The lady who runs the place is pretty nice, she let us use the warehouse without any restrictions.

For those of you that don't know, Free Geek is a non-profit that recycles old electronics. If you have a bunch of hardware left over from dead or dying computers, printers or whatever, that's the place to take them rather than throwing them away. If they can refurbish them, they do. If they are just dead, they break them down into parts and send them to the appropriate places rather than just the landfill.

Plus, if you need something, they probably have it at a price that's much less than new. They also help out the community when technology is, but there are few funds to pay for it. The non-profit I run, Arts and Entertainment Council, get stuff from there every now and again.

Needless to say, we shot some pretty exciting stuff. I am eager (once again) to see the final product.

On that note, I do have a few projects of my own coming down the pipe. I am holding the first rehearsal or table read for a three page short about a Queen who has finally captured the leader of the resistance. This should be interesting, and honestly, it comes right before the giant fight scene that would typically be there.

The other project of consequence is Three "twenty-somethings" who find themselves being hunted by the most dangerous supernatural monsters imaginable only to find that the supernatural is also what can save them as well as gain a great friend. Yeah, I am still working on that logline.

Paul Newton 4/11/19 Paul Newton 4/11/19

Bomb Cyclone brings end to photo shoot

I went to the University of Arkansas to find a great spot to get the stadium and all that traffic. The video I got was all made in camera and isn’t the quality that I will get when I do it for real. This is just a scout to see what it might look like. Honestly, I am not going to use that spot again, it’s just not that interesting. But that’s why you scout!

If you didn’t know, the mid-west is being bombarded with what the newsies are calling a “Bomb Cyclone. It is a blistering cold weather event that is over 800 miles wide. They even canceled school in the Denver area, that’s bad. Denver Schools never close.

When I lived in Denver there was a blizzard that put almost four feet of snow on the ground in three hours and it didn’t melt for a week. The Denver Schools were open the entire time. That means this must be something big.

I was out trying to discover the choicest places to shoot some time lapse videos. The camera does them nativity at a slightly lower resolution, meaning I was going for just a test shot, just to see. Soon, I will be receiving a new piece of equipment that calculates the perfect camera settings to get the ideal chance for a time-lapse.

Most time-lapse videos you see are actually hundreds of photographs compiled together. This takes forever to get right, and if wrong, they look terrible. I have produced every kind of video you can think of, except a time lapse. It takes a lot of patience and planning to get it right, and I just haven't made time for it. Now it's on my bucket list, and it's going to get done. If you haven't seen a time-lapse, here is one I found from Chris Pritchard on Vimeo. I love watching these things.

These are great for City-scapes as well. Here is one of NYC by Michael Shainblum.

As you can see, these videos can be mesmerizing, to say the least. But they have to be planned out. IN the NY time-lapse you actually get to see the camera move while the city literally runs at hyper-speed. Technically the second video is more of a Hyper-lapse, but a static shot for my work will have to do for now. Those take a motorized slider hooked to a computer to accomplish, and I just don’t have the 2K at the moment to afford the gear. Maybe I could rent it… hmm, that’s a thought.

That’s what I was doing tonight, scouting for a place to shoot my time lapse. I went to the University of Arkansas to find a great spot to get the stadium and all that traffic. The video I got was all made in camera and isn’t the quality that I will get when I do it for real. This is just a scout to see what it might look like. Honestly, I am not going to use that spot again, it’s just not that interesting. But that’s why you scout!

Typically, shooting video in the wind isn’t that problematic, and since these were really just for reference, it really didn’t matter.

Living in Arkansas, I didn’t think the “Bomb Cyclone” would effect us down here, but it sure as hell did. Tonight the wind gusts are so strong that it almost blew over my tripod while I was shooting. My “sticks” aren’t the super expensive Manfrotto ones, but they aren’t junk either. They are light though, carbon fiber is the majority of the materials used to make the legs. That wind just toppled them right over. Good thing I was holding onto them at the time. I really don’t want to file an insurance claim for a new camera and lens.

I did get to practice my long exposure photography though. Being that I have a new camera and I haven’t ever gotten to practice with it due to crappy weather, I thought I would share. But these also suffered from the wind. When leaving the shutter open for Thirty seconds, every little shake makes an impression. While this is the sharpest one of the bunch, it is most definitely not that great. Its composition needs a lot of work, but I proved to myself that I do understand the technicals of the camera well enough to really set up a beautiful shot in the future.

Let’s all hope that all we get is some more wind and a few days of sixty-degree weather rather than the pounding of snow and ice the north is getting.

Get Your Swag!

Paul Newton 4/3/19 Paul Newton 4/3/19

The sure-fire way to improve your photography

The very first thing about taking photographs is the “Rule of thirds”. This rule is something that every photographer uses and will always use. This doesn’t mean that every photograph you take should follow it. It is not a rigid thing that cannot be broken. More of a great technique to build your shot around. Once you get it in your head and find yourself applying it without thinking about it, that’s when you know it’s time to start finding great ways to break it.

I have been taking photographs for a long time. In high school, no one knew that I was an intern for Craig Duffy, the local hotshot photographer at the time. I would help him with whatever he needed and learned a lot about how to shoot great photographs just by being there. It was immensely enjoyable, and I really liked it. If it wasn’t for him, I might not have really thought about what I liked and didn’t like about shooting. During those days we lived in the stone age. Not really, but compared to today’s technology, it might as well be. I had to learn everything about the camera I was using. It was just an old Pentax, but it got the job done. But that’s not why your here, is it? You want to know just how I am going to help you take way better photographs. I can teach you theory, mechanics and color. Do you want to know all those things? Maybe…

I can hear you guys now yelling at the screen. I thought you were going to tell me how to take better pictures NOW!

Ok, ok… I can do that.

Learn the Rule before breaking it

The very first thing about taking photographs is the “Rule of thirds.” This rule is something that every photographer uses and will always apply. This doesn’t mean that every photograph you take should follow it. It is not a rigid thing that cannot be broken. More of a great technique to build your shot around. Once you get it in your head and find yourself applying it without thinking about it, that’s when you know it’s time to start finding great ways to break it.

What is this Rule?

The rule of thirds is easily applied to almost any image. Basically, you overlay four bars on the image. These bars break up the photograph into three separate segments.

Rule of Thirds.jpg — The Rule

Where these segments intersect or cross, indicate where the focal point of the image should be placed.

It’s that easy. Yes, it really is. I use it all the time.

In fact, It has gotten to the point that most of the time I don’t even know I am using it.

Every photograph you take and have applied this rule to will be better. In fact, I bet you have used it and didn’t even know it. Go back and look at some of the best photographs you have taken. No, I am not talking about the pictures of grandma that you took as a kid and love because they remind you of grandma. You like that photograph for a totally different reason. Someone who never met your grandma probably won’t feel the same way about it as you do.

I am talking about the photograph that you took that just seemed terrific, and you really didn’t know why. There is a good chance you can see where this rule is why it is one of your favorites.

If you would like to purchase any of the images in this blog, please visit the store or just click on the photo. I have many different types of prints that can fit in and with almost any decor or color scheme.

Get Your Swag!

Paul Newton 3/6/19 Paul Newton 3/6/19

New podcast!

New podcast from me! Listen and subscribe.

As of today, I have a new podcast available on Apple podcasts called “Aul G Newton on Everything”. Go to the podcast app on your apple device or visit the page or go to the page if you don’t have an Apple device or use iTunes.

https://www.paulgnewton.com/paulgnewton-on-everything

Paul Newton 3/5/19 Paul Newton 3/5/19

Work, Work Work...

Working for a job I’m not supposed to have?

Today was exciting, to say the least. Many of you don’t know, but I was laid off from my job as the Video Production Manager at a national orthodontic firm about three weeks ago. Usually being laid off means that you don’t work for that company anymore, strangely, this time that’s not what’s happening.

It seems that the company may have been a little premature with my departure from the company. Hey, don’t look at me, I didn’t want to leave after all. Last week I spent all week up there and nine hours today making videos for them. I don’t mind, since it’s too cold anyway, and it gives me something to do. But good grief...

The good news though is that I seem to have stumbled upon another opportunity. It seems the State has a program that will allow me to go back to school for Graphics Design. That’s pretty cool!

I already know a hell of a lot about color, composition, Photoshop and more but to get free training in all the other stuff, well that’s cool. Once I’m into the program, I actually may be able to qualify for a few grants as well. Maybe that will allow me to travel even more and get the really great shots I am looking for.