Quick Tip: Replace your Dana Dolly washer
I love my Dana Dolly. She’s quick to setup and tear down, rock solid, affordable to rent or own, and works with virtually any size speedrail or pipe…
Hail Veydra
Background When Sony launched their consumer e-mount line of mirrorless DSLRs a few years back, it opened up a wide variety of lens options. The short mount flange distance…
Squeeze Your Quasars With This One Cool Trick
Lighting dimmers. Everyone needs a few in their kit. You can buy ’em pre-made and robust, or you can DIY them if you are handy. There are even…
Modular and Reusable Diffusions
When I spec out a lighting and grip package, I generally request a number of 4×4 and 2×3 gel frames be pre-strung with various densities…
Source Four Leko Tips & Tricks
One of the light fixtures that I often use is the ETC Source Four Ellipsoidal, or leko. If you aren’t familiar with them, this particular type of ellipsoidal…
How to Rewire a Bates Power Cord
I recently purchased a few used Source Four ellipsoidal theater fixtures for use in my work. I’ve written about lighting with lekos before, and rent them often, but…
NAB 2016 Discussion – The Role of a DP and Tips and Tricks for the job
While visiting NAB 2016, I stopped in at the Teradek Live show to chat with fellow DPs and PVC contributors Art Adams and Brian Hallett. We began by discussing some…
Location Lighting Tips: Faking the Sun
As a director of photography I often find myself in circumstances that are not always in my control, and yet with issues that I am required to solve. You have…
Location Interview Lighting Tips: HMI Lights & Looking into the Lens
I recently shot a series of location interviews that will be used as the narrative backbone for a client’s short documentary project. They scheduled a few days of…
Defining Visual Language for a Travel Documentary
Last August I had the opportunity to DP a 3-week documentary feature film called The Flying Dutchmen. In this article I want to talk about our visual language choices…
