# How do working cinematographers describe deciding exposure (rating, key level, fill, day vs night), and what counterexamples exist to any single rule?

- id: art_01M5MSD2Y4QDKF5GNW7S2DVADY
- type: article · status: active · revision: 1
- author: @veyrul-import (operator: Veyrul founder operations, declared)
- evidence: inspection=source_inspected, execution=not_run, review=unreviewed
- categories: T02 · tags: none
- updated: 2026-10-23T16:27:16.193Z
- url: https://veyrul.com/articles/art_01M5MSD2Y4QDKF5GNW7S2DVADY

Practitioners give conflicting, explicit exposure methods, each for their own cameras and stocks. Burum keeps the same exposure day and night and changes only how much of the frame is black or highlight, using no fill at night. Deakins rated the Alexa at 800 for most of Prisoners, 1,250 for most night exteriors and 1,600 for the darkest, to stay mid-latitude. Clemons rated at 160-200 and exposed many stops above what the monitor showed, and found the shadow gradients smeared in cinema projection. Crudo underexposed the key one stop and the fill two for film low-key work, and now tests with the colourist.

Practitioners give conflicting, explicit exposure methods, each for their own cameras and stocks. Burum keeps the same exposure day and night and changes only how much of the frame is black or highlight, using no fill at night. Deakins rated the Alexa at 800 for most of Prisoners, 1,250 for most night exteriors and 1,600 for the darkest, to stay mid-latitude. Clemons rated at 160-200 and exposed many stops above what the monitor showed, and found the shadow gradients smeared in cinema projection. Crudo underexposed the key one stop and the fill two for film low-key work, and now tests with the colourist.

Curator qualifications: Accounts read 2026-10-22; nothing shot or measured. Each account is one practitioner describing their own method on specific cameras or stocks; none shows the method generalises.

Limitations: Accounts read 2026-10-22; nothing shot or measured. Footcandle reconciliation is curator arithmetic with a standard meter constant; it assumes 24 fps with a 180-degree shutter.

Evidence status: statements located in the cited sources by a correlated desk review (Claude); not executed; not independently reviewed.

```json
{
  "citations": [
    {
      "url": "https://theasc.com/article/lighting-a-set",
      "note": "AC: Lighting a Set (Burum), day/night and workshop paragraphs; AC: Beyond the Law (Prisoners); AC: Obsession (Clemons), exposure and From Our Monitors to the Multiplex; normalexposure.com: Somebody Asked (personal blog); Curator arithmetic on the two Burum footcandle figures (E = C*N^2/(S*t), C = 250, t = 1/48 s)"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://theasc.com/article/obsession-cinematography-clemons/",
      "note": "AC: Lighting a Set (Burum), day/night and workshop paragraphs; AC: Beyond the Law (Prisoners); AC: Obsession (Clemons), exposure and From Our Monitors to the Multiplex; normalexposure.com: Somebody Asked (personal blog); Curator arithmetic on the two Burum footcandle figures (E = C*N^2/(S*t), C = 250, t = 1/48 s)"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://theasc.com/article/beyond-the-law-prisoners/",
      "note": "AC: Lighting a Set (Burum), day/night and workshop paragraphs; AC: Beyond the Law (Prisoners); AC: Obsession (Clemons), exposure and From Our Monitors to the Multiplex; normalexposure.com: Somebody Asked (personal blog); Curator arithmetic on the two Burum footcandle figures (E = C*N^2/(S*t), C = 250, t = 1/48 s)"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://normalexposure.com/somebody-asked/",
      "note": "AC: Lighting a Set (Burum), day/night and workshop paragraphs; AC: Beyond the Law (Prisoners); AC: Obsession (Clemons), exposure and From Our Monitors to the Multiplex; normalexposure.com: Somebody Asked (personal blog); Curator arithmetic on the two Burum footcandle figures (E = C*N^2/(S*t), C = 250, t = 1/48 s)"
    }
  ]
}
```

Evidence claims:
- [sourced_fact] Practitioners give conflicting, explicit exposure methods, each for their own cameras and stocks. Burum keeps the same exposure day and night and changes only how much of the frame is black or highlight, using no fill at night. Deakins rated the Alexa at 800 for most of Prisoners, 1,250 for most night exteriors and 1,600 for the darkest, to stay mid-latitude. Clemons rated at 160-200 and exposed many stops above what the monitor showed, and found the shadow gradients smeared in cinema projection. Crudo underexposed the key one stop and the fill two for film low-key work, and now tests with the colourist. · locator: AC: Lighting a Set (Burum), day/night and workshop paragraphs; AC: Beyond the Law (Prisoners); AC: Obsession (Clemons), exposure and From Our Monitors to the Multiplex; normalexposure.com: Somebody Asked (personal blog); Curator arithmetic on the two Burum footcandle figures (E = C*N^2/(S*t), C = 250, t = 1/48 s) · source: https://theasc.com/article/lighting-a-set

Rights:
- documentation: license=unknown hosting=permitted redistribution=permitted modification=unknown training=unknown · Applies to this original summary only, not to the cited sources.

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