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Why is so much porn (esp. US porn) so poorly lit these days? I'm not talking about low budget home made stuff, but proper stuff where it's clearly a decision to light it (or, rather, not light it) in such a manner.

Because it's cheaper, it puts people like me out of work, it doesn't matter because it still sells the same amount, they don't know how to light it, ..............shall I go on ?

I think the lighting levels are generally ok even in the lower budget movies. If anything some of the bigger studios who try to be more arty have worse light levels (intentionally). I think the view these days, especially in close up shots is generally pretty good.

Good call! I get seriously bugged by stuff shot on cameras obviously on "Auto"mode. I know this has it's place but you get that few seconds of under/over exposure every time the camera moves and the aperture finds it's new setting. I know nobody expects lighting on a par with a Kubrick film but there really is no excuse for this. Likewise am I alone in thinking that those shots of a model's "Business Area" that are incredibly brightly lit look absolutely fucking replulsive? It's hardly flattering, it always reminds me of a Christmas turkey under operating theatre lights.....with acne!

Most of the US porn I've seen has okay lighting. What the hell is John Thompson actually doing? GGG and 666. Why the orange low level lighting? Of the ones I've seen, most have crappy lighting. How does he improve folks?

Wow dude I'm all for getting the pros to shoot better porn but hiyiya watching a film to see if the camera is in Auto Mode is even to sad for me?

DG

So, Nicola Holt goes in front of a window and wham, she goes silhouette. Do I want to see a well exposed window or Nicola Holt?

Prime examples of (presumably high budget) movies that seem terribly dark to me are the several Barely Legal (Hustler) DVDs that I've recently acquired.

It's a rare foray into US porn for me (and it's on topic, as I was buying them for some British girls), but I can do without it all being so dark.

Many years ago when my dick was firmly implanted in my trousers, I was a theatrical lighting designer, working both in provincial theatre and the West End. Anyway, I had a mate called Sir Ben Dover, of course he hadn't been knighted then, who knew of my talents and asked me to light his new film "Anal Manor". Well I'd never been involved in porn before so I jumped at the chance to be surrounded by naked sluts. So I turned up at the "Manor" with what I considered to be a "small rig". That was over 40 lights, scaffolding,dimmers etc etc.......I even had to wire up all the phases in the house to give myself the power to run the rig and as a finishing touch covered the whole inside of the house in cobweb spray. (Which took 2 days to get off!)
Anyway I think it worked quite well and I even got a mention in AVN as I recall.
However I soon learned that in most cases in porn, its just not practical to drag kit like this around, as it takes too long to set up for each scene and its also too dammed hot with all them lights. Also I learned that no one gives a damn about lighting in porn, so my services weren't really appreciated.
The final straw was a certain photographer coming up to me and saying, "Look mate you don't need all that crap let me teach you a thing or two, come and see my rig". So he took me to his set and proudly showed me two B & Q garden floodlights stuck on sticks, in front of each he'd hung a semen and stool stained white sheet, "To like flatten the light,mate its sort of h'artisic"
I broke down in tears realising my lifes work was in tatters and it now explains why half the time now I just use a camera light and nothing else! Which I think is quite good!

James....You made my monday morning mate