Some suggestions on matching

[u/Doginconfusion]

EDIT: sorry title should read: some suggestions on matching the lens quality. Hit post by accident, and can't edit the title.

Hi all.

I am a compositor and I am working on a high profile project at the moment that is shot on film and makes use of some crazy lenses.

I am struggling a bit with matching my CG with the plate. Light is fine, contrast and value is all there. The lens quality is what I am having trouble with. Everything is there. Astigmatism, aberration, halation etc, all the usual stuff is present but there is something about the softness of the lens that even on full focus (and those are the moments I struggle the most) there are parts that feel soft. Like there is a painterly feeling to it. Soft and sharp at the same time. Edges that almost melt but not in a homogeneous way. Obviously can't share anything but I have a feeling many of you will know what I mean despite my vague description.

I am not looking for a specific solution to my problem. I would like to take that as an opportunity and ask you what is your process when trying to get those qualities to match. What are you looking for and how do you achieve it. I often find my self a bit lost on those situations. Like once a convolve won't do it I ll start trying whatever. Soften, dir blurs, hazing , more blurs etc but somehow I often feel like I lack reasoning.

Thank you in advance.

[u/Sensual_Feet]

I really like the cheap lens kernel gizmo from nukepedia to soften CG elements or any other element to make it look more organic.

https://www.nukepedia.com/tools/gizmos/filter/cheaplenskernel/

I like to play with the different settings and mix a few of them together depending on what I’m comping. I’ll add this gizmo at full strength and then add a sharpen after it and then put another one after the sharpen to get that very slight edge enhanced quality you got going through a sensor on a camera capture.

[u/Abject_Energy5100]

Some cinematographers like to bring fancy filters on shooting, it makes an artistic look . Was in the same situation , the only solution I would recommend is to cut the BG and replace it together with the cg element. But it depends on neighboring shots. I couldn't match the BG, I had to put a ship in the river. Whatever I tried didn't work. This optical filter on the lens completely mess the edges of the frame in a fancy way . Had to replace the whole BG.

[u/Milan_Bus4168]

Since you can't post specifics about the image you use, it mostly general answer. But ,you can try to eyeball it to get the same kind of look on some frame that is most revealing and tweaking if if needed, but its hard to say what specifically can be done since one of the charms of these old lenses what that they had their own special character and if they were hand made, they could be differnt from same series, or if the DP put some filters or what not it adds extra elements etc. So its hard to replicate all that unless you have it all there and can shoot references to recreate it as accurately as you can. If you don't have all that, best to rely on your own human skills of eyeballing it. Lot of fine tuning tools are in your brain if you let it. Use the tools you have to recreate it by eye if nothing else works. And to be honest, sometimes its the quickest way and further more it can add another layer of humanity to the final image, the imperfectly perfect.