Deakins answers technical lighting questions in public

The image

The document at hand is a single forum post on rogerdeakins.com, the site Roger Deakins, CBE, ASC, BSC operates under his own name. In a thread titled Torch / Blue Hour, a filmmaker asks what white balance to use for a choir of children holding torches after sunset, noting that 5600K makes skin read too orange. Deakins replies directly, in a post timestamped September 2026 and still live as retrieved: 'Perhaps, split the difference around 4,400K. You do want the evening light to appear cool if not blue.' That single reply, not a manifesto, is the object this entry examines.

What the documents show

The site's public forum, as currently structured, mixes questions from working and aspiring filmmakers with direct replies from Deakins, credited under the account name 'Roger Deakins.' A second thread, Are the best Cameras uncool now?, records him answering a question about camera and format prestige by naming that some of the best films of the 1960s were shot on 16mm black and white, that certain Westerns used two-perforation pulldown rather than standard 35mm, and that IMAX's silvered screen has its own falloff toward the corners; he closes with 'Story, story, story.' Both answers are specific to the question asked and dated to their posting. The same site's navigation shows a separate, members-only section grouping scene-by-scene lighting breakdowns of Deakins's own films, including Skyfall and No Country for Old Men, which this entry could not open and does not describe further. The site also carries a 2025 announcement for his book Reflections: On Cinematography, confirming the domain as Deakins's own published outlet rather than a fan-run archive.

Production context

Editorially, the forum functions as an open technical clinic: filmmakers post a concrete lighting or format problem, and Deakins or other credited industry members, such as a moderator identified as a working cinematographer, answer with a specific number or example rather than general encouragement. The color-temperature figure in the torch thread is a working number tied to one described scenario, not a rule for all night exteriors.

Reference versus imitation

Quoting Deakins's own dated reply, with attribution and a link to the live thread, is a documented record of a stated answer to a stated problem. Extending one reply about torchlight into a claim about his general lighting philosophy, or presenting a members-only breakdown of a specific film as public record without having opened it, would overstate what this site actually shows.

• Is a quoted answer tied to a specific, described problem, or generalized past what was asked?
• Can the cited page still be opened at the given URL, or has it since changed?
• Does the source distinguish the respondent's own film work from general craft advice?

As a living document, the forum will keep accumulating posts; this entry reflects two specific threads as they read on 16 September 2026.