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Send us a frame you lit.

A still, and a few sentences about how you lit it. We post one a week, with your credit and your handle.

It doesn't have to be from a job. Tests count. What tends to be worth reading is the constraint you were working around, so write about that rather than the gear list.

Two people sit across a kitchen table in a small Irish cottage, lit softly from above, with a condensation-covered window and a lit lampshade behind them.

Not It, A Short Film

Leon Forristal, Cinematographer

@leon.mf leonforristal.com

“We shot this scene on a shoestring budget in a tiny Irish cottage kitchen with a low ceiling. There was no space for light stands inside this room but the ceiling offered a series of exposed wooden beams that we used to clamp an array of Astera Titan Tubes to. We then layered unbleached muslin across these and skirted the edges a bit just outside the top of the frame, creating a beautiful soft top light on our subjects.

“We created some condensation on the window and bounced a small Aputure 300D light into it from outside to create some moonlight depth and texture on the window. Outside of this we used household tungsten practical bulbs on dimmers in the lampshades and small bounce boards for fill outside the frame.”

A still from something you lit. Narrative, doc, commercial, a test, something nobody paid for. It has to be yours to share.

How you lit it, and what you were working around. Time, money, a window you couldn't move, a director who wanted it darker.

We read everything. One goes out a week, so most wait a while and some won't run. If yours does, it runs here and on Instagram with your credit and your handle.

Send it.

The frame

A still, as large as you have it. If the file is too big to attach, paste a link below instead.

Permission

We don't sell or share anything you send us. Frames are used for posting, with your name on, and nothing else.

Cinematographers at a Salon gathering

The work stays free. Someone still pays for it.

Every episode, every article, and both of the Resources tools are free to use. No paywall, no membership fee, no login. That is not a growth tactic, it is the whole point: learning to light a scene should not depend on what you can afford.

Sponsors cover part of it. The rest is people chipping in.

Monthly or yearly, from $5 a month, less than the price of a coffee. It costs real money to keep the podcast, the writing, and the tools running, and supporting is what covers it.