How best to shoot a scene with very different lighting conditions for a reveal shot?

[Rogerc]

I am doing a lot of reveal and general drone video footage lately. One problem I am having is that there is a drastic difference in The amount of light from the beginning of the reveal shot as compared to the end of the shot.
I am locking Auto Exposure on so that I don’t get that awful jump when the camera changes exposure half way through the shot. What techniques can I use to help get a good overall exposure setting for the entire shot?
Any advice on how to better use exposure settings is greatly appreciated.
Thanks
RC

 

[SkyeHigh]

I am doing a lot of reveal and general drone video footage lately. One problem I am having is that there is a drastic difference in The amount of light from the beginning of the reveal shot as compared to the end of the shot.
I am locking Auto Exposure on so that I don’t get that awful jump when the camera changes exposure half way through the shot. What techniques can I use to help get a good overall exposure setting for the entire shot?
Any advice on how to better use exposure settings is greatly appreciated.
Thanks
RC

I’m assuming you meant switching auto exposure OFF. Manual exposure is your best option and run a test flight first to set the exposure to the most important part of the scene. Exposure for parts of the scene that are too dark can then be corrected in your editing software. The dynamic range of shadows to bright light such as the sun is too much for the sensor to handle and a compromise is needed.

Smartphones with HDR processing can give the appearance of a much wider dynamic range by automatically bracketing shots and combining them into a single shot.

Some cameras in drones are now starting to give a similar effect in video.

 

[Thomas B]

I am doing a lot of reveal and general drone video footage lately. One problem I am having is that there is a drastic difference in The amount of light from the beginning of the reveal shot as compared to the end of the shot.
I am locking Auto Exposure on so that I don’t get that awful jump when the camera changes exposure half way through the shot. What techniques can I use to help get a good overall exposure setting for the entire shot?
Any advice on how to better use exposure settings is greatly appreciated.
Thanks
RC

What drone are you flying?

 

[Rogerc]

Flying magic 2 pro. I use manual exposure mode but still getting too big of an exposure difference with certain shots.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Try doing 2 same reveals at correct exposure for both areas, edit with a short dissolve transition at the critical point.
If possible try the same run, easier if vertical as you can just travel up / down / up again to do the shots.

 

[SkyeHigh]

Try doing 2 same reveals at correct exposure for both areas, edit with a short dissolve transition at the critical point.
If possible try the same run, easier if vertical as you can just travel up / down / up again to do the shots.

I was about to say the same if he can match the two shots.

I look forward to the day image sensors can match the dynamic range of our eyes. I think I’ll be waiting a long time.

One more option:

If you expose for the mid to highlights then process the resulting video to ‘lift’ the low to mid range levels you may get away with it unless there is too much noise. A contrast curve would be more effective. I used to do the same with a broadcast camera, which had far lower noise levels and sadly couldn’t fly.

 

[BigAl07]

You're asking a LOT from your equipment. You want to set the exposure for the "middle" of the scene and then try to fly in a way as to not get too far from that level. It's almost impossible (for this camera) to handle such a wide and dramatic range. Even we have to put Sunglasses ON and take them OFF sometimes within a matter of seconds and our eyes are AMAZING. Contrast that to the very limited range of your camera and you see the hurdle you're facing.

Currently, there are some shots that just aren't possible with our current technology.

 

[Dave Maine]

Try picking the lowest contrast range setting from the choices in the camera menu. Then pick a manual exposure using the histogram tool to pick an exposure that barely clips the highlights in the brightest scene. Fix the darks in post.

This is a far from perfect solution, but with any image sensor, no matter how good, this the best you can do. Most high end cameras can do dynamic ranges of 14-15 stops. The DJI sensors are much worse than that.

 

[Dale D]

Flying magic 2 pro. I use manual exposure mode but still getting too big of an exposure difference with certain shots.

where can I buy a magic drone?

 

[jspil]

where can I buy a magic drone?

I'll sell you one. Limited time offer it comes with a bridge in NYC! ?

 

[rcourtney671]

where can I buy a magic drone?

They're produced by "DGI" ?

 

[SkyeHigh]

They're produced by "DGI" [emoji23]

DGI ??

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

DGI ??

Maybe in reference to this typo ?

DGI GS

Does DGI GS work with the Mavic Pro??

mavicpilots.com

 

[rcourtney671]

Maybe in reference to this typo ?

DGI GS

Does DGI GS work with the Mavic Pro??

mavicpilots.com

Yeah, just poking fun at people that write "magic' instead of "Mavic" and those that write "DGI" instead of "DJI". I've seen quite a few in the forums. ?

 

[SkyeHigh]

Yeah, just poking fun at people that write "magic' instead of "Mavic" and those that write "DGI" instead of "DJI". I've seen quite a few in the forums. [emoji23]

I Haight auto correct two!!

 

[FlyingFilmmaker]

That's a very tough thing to do, struggled with it myself. The idea to do two identical shots and merge in post is genius IMO! Never tried it but I think it could work for simple, repeatable shots. Otherwise, I would set the exposure somewhere between the two, and use D-LOG to get the maximum dynamic range out of the sensor. In post you can keyframe the exposure to change from brighter to darker as the shot progresses to squeeze the max detail out of what the sensor has captured. Here's a shot where I used that method with pretty good results. https://www.instagram.com/p/CNRGnZZBsAo/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

 

[rcourtney671]

I seem to get a good balance of lights and darks shooting in HDR mode on my Mavic Air 2. Not sure if the Mavic 2 Pro has an HDR setting. If so, you might want to give that a "shot" if you're recording video. I don't think HDR mode is an available option on the MA2 for photos.