More Grecco: Martin Scorsese Time-Lapse

It is not often you pick up a watershed tip from a BTS vid, but this Michael Grecco time lapse of a Martin Scorsese shoot was just that for me. The tip is all about using a grid spot to selectively compress the tonal range of a subject. And in this case the black overcoat being worn by Scorsese does not stand a prayer of reproducing any texture -- until Grecco fixes it.

He underexposes the ambient and lights Scorsese from camera right with a warmed-up softbox. Nothing new there. But at camera left, there is a low-and-tight grid-spot flash that is there solely to bring up detail in Scorsese's black coat and give dimension to the crates at the bottom.

That's great attention to detail (no pun intended.) It brings the coat well into the reproduction range, and gives tone and texture where there would be none. The photo would look fine without it, frankly. But that's a good example of the nuanced thinking that separates the Greccos of the world from the other guys.

He inserts several finished still photos in at the appropriate times. Pause it and check out the coat to see what I am talking about.