Re: Critique My Frame!
The first one looks like your white balance might be of. As for the second shot it looks really nice. The harsher lighting is usually accomplished by upping the contrast in post/using un defused lights. You usually want to keep your contrast a bit lower while filming though.
I disagree. Harsh lighting does not mean boosting the contrast in post. Movies shot on film had lower contrast, yet were still able to achieve harsh lighting. Yes, taking the paper off the lamps to make them not-diffused does help, but the thing that really makes lighting harsh is the in-camera contrast. The difference between white and black, and light and dark. Using only one lamp and avoiding any fill-lights or fill-material helps create that harsh effect.
As for that night-time frame, it looks fine, a bit too dark IMO. I don't think it needs to be bluer. Night does not automatically mean blue light. It's only our eyes that makes night look blue. Since moonlight is white, I usually like to light my scenes with more white light at night, with only a slight blue.
However, I do think that some distant light source would be good to have. It looks like he is in a dark alley, or on the street in a city. If so, I would put a light in the distance, not necessarily pointing towards the character. Think of this light as maybe a street-light or a parked car.
