



5 Rosco SoftDrop Backdrop Techniques
Picking the right backdrop for your scene is essential to create the perfect atmosphere and setting the right mood for your project. Rosco’s Academy Award® and Emmy® winning SoftDrop backdrops are a popular choice for filmmakers because of their versatility and practicality in delivering photo-realistic…






Filmmaking Lighting Guide: Dedolight and Lekolite
The Dedolight kit is one of those tools you’ll find on every electric truck, especially when it comes to interior shoot days. These lights are the king of accent lighting and help make your image pop.
In this lesson, Shane Hurlbut, ASC, and gaffer Eric Forand take you through the dedolight and where…

Lighting Black Skin Tones with Sade Ndya
Cinematographer Sade Ndya spent her youth traveling the world, observing most of it through the scope of a lens. As a Black, Indian, and Jewish-raised woman of color, Ndya’s unique approach to cinematography portrays a surreal, dreamlike style of imagery. It's rooted in her personal experiences and…

Where Should I Place My Key Light?
Light is to filmmaking what paint is to — well — painting. So, for anyone who might be thinking, “Where should I place my key light?” don’t worry, you’re in the right place.
The way you place your key will have an impact on your mood, dimension, and color tones, but you probably already…

How To Light Characters and Create Room Tone
Understanding how to light characters and create room tone is one of the most important and subtle tools you can use to take your storytelling to the next level. In fact, the nature of your ambient light hinges on how you light the background, mid-ground, and foreground.
This video shows you a glimpse…

Foot Candles: The best way to gauge light
Shane Hurlbut, ASC, reveals one of his best tips for gauging light and it's all to do with a Spectra light meter, Foot Candles and an old 4 inch thick book!

Demystifying False Color Live Instagram Lesson
Shane Hurlbut, ASC takes you through False color, one of the key building blocks of learning how to expose your digital negative.

Softbox – Construction and Theory
You wanna know how to make a Softbox that can rival the most expensive ones on the market? I like to make my own equipment so it works for me on screen. Now I'm revealing one of my best kept secrets using materials that cost next to nothing - even using BEDSHEETS! You won't want to miss out on this explosive blog that will give you the edge on set.

Light Quality: What Is The Best Light for the Job?
This month, we're taking a deep plunge into lighting! Get ready, we're taking your lighting technique to the next level, including commentary on essential tools, how to light large spaces, power your lights, and work with Chimera soft banks, Rosco LitePads, and DIY lighting.
Play it here:
February…

Macro: How to Make Images LARGER Than Life!
Question: There’s an interesting lens coming out on a macro probe lens 24 millimeter that seems to make amazing techniques but won’t be out for a while. Is there a way to do this kind of shooting or similar shooting? Also very interested in how you approach lighting for studio macro lens shooting,…

Trash Can Gag – Fire And Lamp Light
Some of my favorite setups throughout my career have been trying to emulate fire and lamp light. In terms of complexity and logistics, this has to be one of the hardest setups to execute. Fire is such an organic and spontaneous source to replicate and it takes time to figure out how to get it right.…

Trash Can Light – The Professional Build Video
Time to let one of my best kept secrets out of the bag, "The Trash Can Fire light"!
I thought I’d share my innovation and creation from Into the Badlands. It starts with a light that I don’t think a lot of you know exists. It’s an awesome light to have in your arsenal.
It’s called the…

Murder Scene Cinematography
For this blog post we're gonna be getting dark and gritty. We're going to be making a murder scene on a budget. Grab your popcorn kids!
Here's a question I once got asked...
What is your best advice for shooting a dramatic murder scene at night on a desolate road with little to no power supply?…