diagram: meow wolf – keying with color

The first feature is that the user can set the start and end hues in color sweep mode.

The second is that these lights are able to be toggled between maximum and constant output in both CCT and HSI modes.

Independently, they’re useful features to have, but combined they made it incredibly easy to blend into the colorful world of Meow Wolf Convergence Station.

Because almost every light has some form of movement to it at Meow Wolf, a key light that shone only at 5600K or 3200K didn’t look right as a key for our talent.

So the DP and I swapped into HSI mode, but a static color also felt like it could’ve used something more.

To give our key light the movement we were looking for, I tried out color sweep mode. Because of the tunability provided by the kelvin lights, the DP and I were able to eliminate the hues that didn’t appear flattering to our talent.

And this is where the constant output was so handy to have. Usually LED lights have large exposure differences between their red, green, and blue emitters. But with constant exposure mode, the output stayed the same as the unit swept through our chosen hues!

A couple Aputure Infinibar PB12’s helped provide shadow fill and a rim light, and a second kelvin also on hue shift mode tucked in the back helped provide some lift to the background.

This was such a fun shoot! Meow Wolf is a dream location to gaff in, and I wonder if I’ll ever get to key a commercial interview in hue sweep mode again!

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prod: Meow Wolf
dp: Ross Stoner
a cam: Riley Clinton
b cam: Sean Farney
ac: Max Green
gaffer: Tyler Trepod
sound: Jeff Brannon