Pixar Cinematographer Sharon Calahan: Light

References for you to watch later when you have more time....

Sharon Callahan came here a few years ago and gave one of the best talks I have heard from industry people.  This is from an interview of her at CGSociety.  Good references here.  The rest of the talk is good too. 

"For Sharon Calahan, great cinematography requires a "strong sense of design and style." She adds, "It definitely has to serve the story well and have an emotional resonance with the audience." Several internationally acclaimed cinematographers standout. "Roger Deakins [Fargo] is somebody whom I greatly admire, Caleb Deschanel [The Natural], and some of the greats like Conrad Hall [In Cold Blood]; they had and have a strong artistic vision that takes your breath away. You can watch the movie with the sound off and be amazed by how beautiful it is." Calahan believes, "Understanding how light works is vital, which is why I paint; it forces you to look closely and understand what’s happening. There’s no shortcut to learning that."

Maya Depth Map Shadows

Get settings from the site Weecho gave us

Under Shadows Tab-
*Select Depth Map Shadows
*Resolution: 1024
*Filter size: 5
*Disk Mapped Dmaps: overwrite existing dmap(s)

Under Mental Ray tab-
*Use mental ray shadow map overrides
*take settings from Maya
*play with softness

You can also use the linear decay rate to soften the shadow over time

Heather's Lighting Inspiration

Cindy Lighting Inspirations

My lighting inspiration for the beginning in the dark room with the flickering light.

Lighting ideas for inside the Vivarium

Raye's Lighting Inspiration

Stills from "Tuck Everlasting"

lighting references...maybe?

Visions of Light

Please watch this over the weekend as Weecho suggested.
Find light references for your own work.
(This is a wonderful, life-long subject, and will open your eyes to possibilities.)

Lighting Ref for Lighting Exercise

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4314743/lightingStuff.zip

http://userpages.umbc.edu/~bailey/Courses/Tutorials/RenderingDemo/DepthRayShadowDemo.html

http://i.istockimg.com/file_thumbview_approve/415988/2/stock-photo-415988-abstract-grass-and-leaf-shadow.jpg

Lighting Tutorial

Here's a tutorial that goes over the basics of lighting in Maya.
Follow along as best you can. I don't know what he's talking about in the beginning with a weird blue circle tool, so ignore that. Just place them where you want them and use Panels > Look through Selected (with the spotlight of your choice selected) to see through your spotlight and move it around as if it were a camera.

• 3 point Lighting: http://www.3dtotal.com/index_tutorial_detailed.php?id=527&page=1#.TxZOSNXQcoM

It'd be nice if you guys at least take a look at this tutorial by the next time we meet so we can go through the demonstration quickly.

On a side note, you guys are doing awesome!!! I can't believe how quickly you're all picking this stuff up! Keep at it, it'll be hard, but you guys' hard work will be worth it in the end!