Low light!

[flvideo50]

I shot a piece Friday That was in extremly low light. It was a party and they didn't want the lights up. They wanted the mood light. Does any one have any idea how I can illuminate the footage in its entirity. I import via firewire so I don't have the option going in. It doesn't need a lot but some. My camera pretty well whay my eye sees as a rule and my eye wasn't seeing much. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks Bob...

[IanPearson]

Hi Bob
There is an effect that will give you some help here, but unfortunately there is no real substitute for restoring initial poor light footage.

From the edit menu go into “Special” and scroll down to an effect called “Control Image”, which opens a menu where you can adjust brightness, contrast, saturation and gamma.

First click on the button “Full screen”, which will show one frame of the scene as a still. You can click on the slider “Frame” to scroll through the footage and find a suitable frame to carry out the effect. Then I would start with “Gamma”, which when increased will brighten the scene, but to some extent keeps the rest of the settings more or less the same. It’s a matter of taste, but I would not go much above 10, since it will look washed out. If you don’t like gamma, you could reset to zero and try the “Brightness” setting.

When you have the light improved, you may need to bring up the contrast and saturation a little just to give the picture more body. Go easy on the contrast as this makes the picture go grainy.

Before clicking the “OK”, just go back to “Frame” and scroll through to see if the whole scene has improved.

Hope this helps, but as said there is no real substitute for good light in the first place.

Ian

[BobFoster]

I usually tell the person that wants LOW light in the room that "video without light is just radio". If they don't want to adjust even a little, then what you see is what you get.

[RonaldPawlak]

I've had the same request at times not to us lights. I often ask them if they ever been to a live television show or sporting event. Did they notice the amount of lights they use.Then I ask them if they watch a televison program at home and think the picture is great.
Then I shot a piece of video with the lights down low, show it to them on the side screen or view finder. I always ask, "is this the type of picture you want to watch for the entire program. If they say yes, then I tell them "I can not be responsible for the quality of the video" and don't come complaining to me about it later. Make sure you have someone there with you to verify what the client stated.
One thing I don't do is overly saturate the area with annoying lighting. Just enough to shoot in an acceptable level, while letting the client look at the side screen and decide when the amount light is acceptable. Always worked for me.

[flvideo50]

I tried to get them to raise the light and they did a little but it just wasn't enough in my mind. I did show the client my monitor so they won't be surprised at wht they see but I like to produce a product that I can be Proud to show to another potential client. Ian, I'll try what you said. I have a program I shot Saturday and another this morning that have to be out before the Friday show. I am just happy to be working. So many of the people in the business are sitting idle right now. Thanks for your input all.. Bob...

[TimKennelly]

I would play the combination of Gamma and Brightness to bring up the "lights" and boost contrast to minimize the wash out.

You can do a lot of tweaking with this function and improve a lot of footage, but there are limits, especially when the issue is low lighting.

[HansJoachimKoenig]

In Bogart 4.x you may import AVCHD-Footage via USB-Record.
There is an "OPT" button.
If checked you can change Brightness, Contrast,Saturation and Gamma
during the import procedure.
Also Audio level can be changed.

[HansJoachimKoenig]

I never used this opt function before.
For testing I changed a low light scene with "opt"
and it came out perfectly.

[LouBruno]

Just keep in mind, that if you do increase brightness etc. in the Control Color area, you could introduce lots of gain IF you boosted the gain of your camera during shooting. A good rule with three chip cameras is not above 9db for gain settings.

Do the rest in post to minimize grain by adjusting gamma-crushing the blacks a little. We need DENOISER software that was discussed at MGT a few years back to reduce grain. DENOISER, made by the people who produce TWIXTOR would be a top seller.

[flvideo]

Well I enhanced all the scenes, it seemed like it took me for ever. I used brightness and a little contrast and on several I used saturation. It still isn't the best but its better. Thanks for the help. Bob...