COMPOSITION
DESIGN
COLOR
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Photography basics: Why Use a (MacBeth) Color Chart?
Read more: Photography basics: Why Use a (MacBeth) Color Chart?Start here: https://www.pixelsham.com/2013/05/09/gretagmacbeth-color-checker-numeric-values/
https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-a-color-checker-tool/
In LightRoom
in Final Cut
in Nuke
Note: In Foundry’s Nuke, the software will map 18% gray to whatever your center f/stop is set to in the viewer settings (f/8 by default… change that to EV by following the instructions below).
You can experiment with this by attaching an Exposure node to a Constant set to 0.18, setting your viewer read-out to Spotmeter, and adjusting the stops in the node up and down. You will see that a full stop up or down will give you the respective next value on the aperture scale (f8, f11, f16 etc.).One stop doubles or halves the amount or light that hits the filmback/ccd, so everything works in powers of 2.
So starting with 0.18 in your constant, you will see that raising it by a stop will give you .36 as a floating point number (in linear space), while your f/stop will be f/11 and so on.If you set your center stop to 0 (see below) you will get a relative readout in EVs, where EV 0 again equals 18% constant gray.
In other words. Setting the center f-stop to 0 means that in a neutral plate, the middle gray in the macbeth chart will equal to exposure value 0. EV 0 corresponds to an exposure time of 1 sec and an aperture of f/1.0.
This will set the sun usually around EV12-17 and the sky EV1-4 , depending on cloud coverage.
To switch Foundry’s Nuke’s SpotMeter to return the EV of an image, click on the main viewport, and then press s, this opens the viewer’s properties. Now set the center f-stop to 0 in there. And the SpotMeter in the viewport will change from aperture and fstops to EV.
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RawTherapee – a free, open source, cross-platform raw image and HDRi processing program
Read more: RawTherapee – a free, open source, cross-platform raw image and HDRi processing program5.10 of this tool includes excellent tools to clean up cr2 and cr3 used on set to support HDRI processing.
Converting raw to AcesCG 32 bit tiffs with metadata. 
LIGHTING
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Polarised vs unpolarized filtering
Read more: Polarised vs unpolarized filteringA light wave that is vibrating in more than one plane is referred to as unpolarized light. …
Polarized light waves are light waves in which the vibrations occur in a single plane. The process of transforming unpolarized light into polarized light is known as polarization.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polarizing_filter_(photography)
The most common use of polarized technology is to reduce lighting complexity on the subject.
(more…)
Details such as glare and hard edges are not removed, but greatly reduced. - 
Vahan Sosoyan MakeHDR – an OpenFX open source plug-in for merging multiple LDR images into a single HDRI
Read more: Vahan Sosoyan MakeHDR – an OpenFX open source plug-in for merging multiple LDR images into a single HDRIhttps://github.com/Sosoyan/make-hdr
Feature notes
- Merge up to 16 inputs with 8, 10 or 12 bit depth processing
 - User friendly logarithmic Tone Mapping controls within the tool
 - Advanced controls such as Sampling rate and Smoothness
 
Available at cross platform on Linux, MacOS and Windows Works consistent in compositing applications like Nuke, Fusion, Natron.
NOTE: The goal is to clean the initial individual brackets before or at merging time as much as possible.
This means:- keeping original shooting metadata
 - de-fringing
 - removing aberration (through camera lens data or automatically)
 - at 32 bit
 - in ACEScg (or ACES) wherever possible
 

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Convert between light exposure and intensity
Read more: Convert between light exposure and intensityimport math,sys def Exposure2Intensity(exposure): exp = float(exposure) result = math.pow(2,exp) print(result) Exposure2Intensity(0) def Intensity2Exposure(intensity): inarg = float(intensity) if inarg == 0: print("Exposure of zero intensity is undefined.") return if inarg < 1e-323: inarg = max(inarg, 1e-323) print("Exposure of negative intensities is undefined. Clamping to a very small value instead (1e-323)") result = math.log(inarg, 2) print(result) Intensity2Exposure(0.1)Why Exposure?
Exposure is a stop value that multiplies the intensity by 2 to the power of the stop. Increasing exposure by 1 results in double the amount of light.
Artists think in “stops.” Doubling or halving brightness is easy math and common in grading and look-dev.
Exposure counts doublings in whole stops:- +1 stop = ×2 brightness
 - −1 stop = ×0.5 brightness
 
This gives perceptually even controls across both bright and dark values.
Why Intensity?
Intensity is linear.
It’s what render engines and compositors expect when:- Summing values
 - Averaging pixels
 - Multiplying or filtering pixel data
 
Use intensity when you need the actual math on pixel/light data.
Formulas (from your Python)
- Intensity from exposure: intensity = 2**exposure
 - Exposure from intensity: exposure = log₂(intensity)
 
Guardrails:
- Intensity must be > 0 to compute exposure.
 - If intensity = 0 → exposure is undefined.
 - Clamp tiny values (e.g. 
1e−323) before using log₂. 
Use Exposure (stops) when…
- You want artist-friendly sliders (−5…+5 stops)
 - Adjusting look-dev or grading in even stops
 - Matching plates with quick ±1 stop tweaks
 - Tweening brightness changes smoothly across ranges
 
Use Intensity (linear) when…
- Storing raw pixel/light values
 - Multiplying textures or lights by a gain
 - Performing sums, averages, and filters
 - Feeding values to render engines expecting linear data
 
Examples
- +2 stops → 2**2 = 4.0 (×4)
 - +1 stop → 2**1 = 2.0 (×2)
 - 0 stop → 2**0 = 1.0 (×1)
 - −1 stop → 2**(−1) = 0.5 (×0.5)
 - −2 stops → 2**(−2) = 0.25 (×0.25)
 - Intensity 0.1 → exposure = log₂(0.1) ≈ −3.32
 
Rule of thumb
Think in stops (exposure) for controls and matching.
Compute in linear (intensity) for rendering and math. - 
Bella – Fast Spectral Rendering
Read more: Bella – Fast Spectral RenderingBella works in spectral space, allowing effects such as BSDF wavelength dependency, diffraction, or atmosphere to be modeled far more accurately than in color space.
https://superrendersfarm.com/blog/uncategorized/bella-a-new-spectral-physically-based-renderer/
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HDRI Resources
Read more: HDRI ResourcesText2Light
- https://www.cgtrader.com/free-3d-models/exterior/other/10-free-hdr-panoramas-created-with-text2light-zero-shot
 - https://frozenburning.github.io/projects/text2light/
 - https://github.com/FrozenBurning/Text2Light
 
Royalty free links
- https://locationtextures.com/panoramas/
 - http://www.noahwitchell.com/freebies
 - https://polyhaven.com/hdris
 - https://hdrmaps.com/
 - https://www.ihdri.com/
 - https://hdrihaven.com/
 - https://www.domeble.com/
 - http://www.hdrlabs.com/sibl/archive.html
 - https://www.hdri-hub.com/hdrishop/hdri
 - http://noemotionhdrs.net/hdrevening.html
 - https://www.openfootage.net/hdri-panorama/
 - https://www.zwischendrin.com/en/browse/hdri
 
Nvidia GauGAN360
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Ethan Roffler interviews CG Supervisor Daniele Tosti
Read more: Ethan Roffler interviews CG Supervisor Daniele TostiEthan Roffler
I recently had the honor of interviewing this VFX genius and gained great insight into what it takes to work in the entertainment industry. Keep in mind, these questions are coming from an artist’s perspective but can be applied to any creative individual looking for some wisdom from a professional. So grab a drink, sit back, and enjoy this fun and insightful conversation.
Ethan
To start, I just wanted to say thank you so much for taking the time for this interview!Daniele
My pleasure.
When I started my career I struggled to find help. Even people in the industry at the time were not that helpful. Because of that, I decided very early on that I was going to do exactly the opposite. I spend most of my weekends talking or helping students. ;)Ethan
(more…)
That’s awesome! I have also come across the same struggle! Just a heads up, this will probably be the most informal interview you’ll ever have haha! Okay, so let’s start with a small introduction! 
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