How Log Works

Learn the basics of how the Log recording profile works! Today's agenda:

- Learn how log expands the dynamic and tonal range to preserve light data.

- Compare log and Rec709.

- Discover how LUTs can help you elevate your video visuals.

Transcript:

Hello, I am Taylor Stannis from Stannis Creative. This video is being shot with log. Can't see it? Well, how about now? Log is a shooting profile. There are many different types of shooting profile. Rex 709 is most commonly used if you want a decent image right out of the camera. Log, however, allows for more flexibility in the edit for how you want the image to appear.

But why is this? What's the advantage of using log? How does it work? And most importantly, what do LUTs have to do with it?

First off, I want to say I'm not an expert in the log shooting profile, nor any shooting profiles. I simply have an interest in using log for future filming and wanted to share the basics of it with you.

Okay, so what is log? Well, log is a shooting profile or a gamma curve that gives the image a wider dynamic and tonal range. With regular shooting profiles, they clip the shadows and the highlights where it would not be discernible to the human eye, sacrificing that color accuracy for more file space.

For a simple example, consider this bar, which illustrates illumination and shadow. With regular shooting profiles, after a certain point on either side of the bar, they'll cut off light levels that go further than the cut off point. It helps save space. With log, it doesn't cut both ends of the spectrum. Instead, it expands this gray area so it covers more of the spectrum, making the image appear more gray and flat. This increases file size, but allows for more light dynamics in the final product.

Now that we understand more about how log works, how does this flat boring image become this beautiful colorful image? For that, you'll have to use a lookup table or a Lut. LUTs take the information in an image and compare it to its lookup table, applying the values to all the pixels in the image. This allows for more flexibility in the edit as you can just slap on any Lut and it'll change how the image will look.

So that's how log works on its most basic form. It boosts the gray area on the spectrum allowing for more dynamic range. And when a lut is applied, it compares that image to a table and applies those colors. That has been an explanation of how log works. I've been Taylor Stannis. Thank you for watching and I'll see you again next time.