{"id":94298,"date":"2017-09-07T06:00:34","date_gmt":"2017-09-07T11:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/?p=94298"},"modified":"2017-09-01T11:31:28","modified_gmt":"2017-09-01T16:31:28","slug":"understanding-tonal-values-and-contrast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/understanding-tonal-values-and-contrast\/","title":{"rendered":"Understanding Tonal Values and the Importance of Contrast"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tonal values are essential for communicating depth and points of interest in film and video. But many filmmakers think about contrast when it’s too late.<\/h2>\n

Cover image via Shutterstock<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Contrast is a term\u00a0that applies\u00a0to several aspects\u00a0of filmmaking: contrast ratios<\/strong> with lighting, contrast adjustments<\/strong> in color correction software, contrast in color<\/strong>, contrast in compositional shapes<\/strong> \u2014 the list goes on \u2014 but primarily, contrast refers to tone.<\/p>\n

What Is Contrast?<\/h3>\n

Have you ever set up a shot but felt there was something missing from the image itself? Or have you returned from a day of shooting to see that your footage doesn\u2019t feel that interesting? It appears dull, even though you shot it\u00a0with a great camera. It just\u00a0feels flat<\/em>. If this is the case, it\u2019s more than likely that your shot is lacking contrast<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

When filmmakers speak about contrast, they are talking about the tonal range of the image<\/strong>. Contrast is simply difference<\/em>, and in film, contrast usually alludes to tone<\/strong>, and tone denotes the brightness of objects.\u00a0Below is a very basic grayscale<\/strong>, and with a grayscale, we can measure tone.<\/p>\n

\"Understanding<\/p>\n

If you work your way up or down the grayscale<\/strong> and compare the two tones next to one another, they have very little contrast.<\/p>\n

\"Understanding<\/p>\n

However, if you were to take the darkest and lightest tones<\/strong> and pair them,\u00a0the tones create a stark contrast.<\/p>\n

\"Understanding<\/p>\n

We can see contrast\u00a0when tones of opposite values are near each other. Conversely, if tones of similar value are near\u00a0each other, we see affinity (similarity)<\/strong>. If there’s a large difference between the tonal value, the contrast is high. If there’s a small difference, it’s low.<\/p>\n

As\u00a0Bruce Block<\/a>\u00a0states in\u00a0The Visual Story: Creating the Visual Structure of Film, TV and Digital Media,<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The Principle of Contrast & Affinity states: The greater the contrast in a visual component, the more the visual intensity or dynamic increases. The greater the affinity in a visual component, the more the visual intensity or dynamic decreases.<\/p>\n

Contrast = Greater Visual Intensity<\/p>\n

Affinity = Less Visual Intensity<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

Ideally, you want to have high contrast in your clips<\/strong> to make the images look more vivid. Let’s have a look at this in practice using\u00a0two TV shows.<\/p>\n

\"Understanding<\/p>\n

In this shot from Hannibal<\/em><\/a> S01, E01, we can see high contrast<\/strong>. The darkest tone is completely black, and the lightest tone is a light gray.\u00a0Both tones are far apart on the grayscale, and as a result, we have an image with high contrast<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"Understanding<\/p>\n

However, in this shot from The Killing<\/em><\/a> S03, E12, \u00a0there is little tonal variation<\/strong>. The darkest tone is a milky black, and the lightest tone is a muddy gray.<\/p>\n

Between the two shots, one\u00a0certainly catches your attention more than the other.<\/p>\n

\"Understanding<\/p>\n

It’s important to note, however, that\u00a0there are times when\u00a0low contrast serves the story<\/strong> or production. The Killing<\/em>, for example, is a very\u00a0somber series that deals with dark themes \u2014 the low\u00a0contrast adds to the bleak world the filmmakers are creating. Hannibal, on the other hand, is a very stylized production, and the high contrast serves the artistic direction of the show.<\/p>\n

You will have noticed that to measure the tone, I converted both of the images to grayscale<\/strong>. If you want to evaluate your tonal range more accurately, take a black and white photograph, or switch the LCD to monochrome<\/strong>. By doing so, you’ll be able to judge your contrast better.<\/p>\n

\n

We live in a world of LOG profiles and RAW processing<\/strong>, so it’s easy to assume that contrast comes after production. But in reality, you want to consider how you’re going to work with tonal values before the camera has even started rolling<\/strong> (this is where contrast with lighting comes into play). Contrast will help with tonal separation<\/strong>, which is one of the ways the audience perceives depth. Lighter objects will appear closer, and darker objects will seem further away.<\/p>\n

This may be why you find your images flat. There might not be anything inherently wrong with them, but they lack tonal difference<\/strong>. Try experimenting with tonal evaluation on your next project, and see if it brings more depth to your visuals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tonal values are essential for communicating depth and points of interest in film and video. But many filmmakers think about contrast when it’s too late.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":72,"featured_media":94481,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4519,3843,583],"tags":[121,3091,5655],"class_list":["post-class-post-94298","post-class-post","post-class-type-post","post-class-status-publish","post-class-format-standard","post-class-has-post-thumbnail","post-class-hentry","post-class-category-cinematography-2","post-class-category-filmmaking-2","post-class-category-video-production-2","post-class-tag-color","post-class-tag-contrast","post-class-tag-tones"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nUnderstanding Tonal Values and the Importance of Contrast<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Tonal values are essential for communicating depth and points of interest in film and video. But many filmmakers think about contrast when it's too late.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/understanding-tonal-values-and-contrast\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Understanding Tonal Values and the Importance of Contrast\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Tonal values are essential for communicating depth and points of interest in film and video. But many filmmakers think about contrast when it's too late.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/understanding-tonal-values-and-contrast\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Beat: A Blog by PremiumBeat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/premiumbeat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uglymcgregor\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-09-07T11:00:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-09-01T16:31:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/pbblogassets.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2017\/09\/01110149\/tonal-cover.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"584\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lewis McGregor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@lewismcgregor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Premiumbeat\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lewis McGregor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/understanding-tonal-values-and-contrast\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/understanding-tonal-values-and-contrast\/\",\"name\":\"Understanding Tonal Values and the Importance of Contrast\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-09-07T11:00:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-09-01T16:31:28+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/7a152cc21e9a209453f30a642d47bf67\"},\"description\":\"Tonal values are essential for communicating depth and points of interest in film and video. But many filmmakers think about contrast when it's too late.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/understanding-tonal-values-and-contrast\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/understanding-tonal-values-and-contrast\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/understanding-tonal-values-and-contrast\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Cinematography\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/category\/cinematography-2\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Understanding Tonal Values and the Importance of Contrast\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"The Beat: A Blog by PremiumBeat\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/7a152cc21e9a209453f30a642d47bf67\",\"name\":\"Lewis McGregor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/de88e7e5980dc53d66134d79f539bfa0ddc177d52f458cce762afcf65fc69ab8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/de88e7e5980dc53d66134d79f539bfa0ddc177d52f458cce762afcf65fc69ab8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Lewis McGregor\"},\"description\":\"Lewis McGregor is a freelance filmmaker, a certified DaVinci Resolve trainer, and online content creator from Wales. His interests are firmly rooted in cinematography and the science of color. He first picked up a camera at the age of 15, and he hasn\u2019t put one down since. Along with freelance work, Lewis also runs Indie Tips, a filmmaking website focused towards new filmmakers.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.indietips.com\",\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uglymcgregor\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/lewismcgregor\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/author\/lewismcgregor\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Understanding Tonal Values and the Importance of Contrast","description":"Tonal values are essential for communicating depth and points of interest in film and video. But many filmmakers think about contrast when it's too late.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/understanding-tonal-values-and-contrast\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Understanding Tonal Values and the Importance of Contrast","og_description":"Tonal values are essential for communicating depth and points of interest in film and video. But many filmmakers think about contrast when it's too late.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/understanding-tonal-values-and-contrast\/","og_site_name":"The Beat: A Blog by PremiumBeat","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/premiumbeat","article_author":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uglymcgregor","article_published_time":"2017-09-07T11:00:34+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-09-01T16:31:28+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":584,"url":"https:\/\/pbblogassets.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2017\/09\/01110149\/tonal-cover.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Lewis McGregor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@lewismcgregor","twitter_site":"@Premiumbeat","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Lewis McGregor","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/understanding-tonal-values-and-contrast\/","url":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/understanding-tonal-values-and-contrast\/","name":"Understanding Tonal Values and the Importance of Contrast","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-09-07T11:00:34+00:00","dateModified":"2017-09-01T16:31:28+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/7a152cc21e9a209453f30a642d47bf67"},"description":"Tonal values are essential for communicating depth and points of interest in film and video. But many filmmakers think about contrast when it's too late.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/understanding-tonal-values-and-contrast\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/understanding-tonal-values-and-contrast\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/understanding-tonal-values-and-contrast\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Cinematography","item":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/category\/cinematography-2\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Understanding Tonal Values and the Importance of Contrast"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/","name":"The Beat: A Blog by PremiumBeat","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/7a152cc21e9a209453f30a642d47bf67","name":"Lewis McGregor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/de88e7e5980dc53d66134d79f539bfa0ddc177d52f458cce762afcf65fc69ab8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/de88e7e5980dc53d66134d79f539bfa0ddc177d52f458cce762afcf65fc69ab8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Lewis McGregor"},"description":"Lewis McGregor is a freelance filmmaker, a certified DaVinci Resolve trainer, and online content creator from Wales. His interests are firmly rooted in cinematography and the science of color. He first picked up a camera at the age of 15, and he hasn\u2019t put one down since. Along with freelance work, Lewis also runs Indie Tips, a filmmaking website focused towards new filmmakers.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.indietips.com","http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uglymcgregor","https:\/\/twitter.com\/lewismcgregor"],"url":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/author\/lewismcgregor\/"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/tonal-cover.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pab9JK-owW","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/72"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94298"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94298\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94512,"href":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94298\/revisions\/94512"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}