TIPS TO CAPTURE STUNNING VISUALS WITH A LOW DYNAMIC RANGE CAMERA WITHOUT LIGHTS

The first camera I owned (and still own) is the Nikon D5100. It surely has a lot of limitations; things like low bitrate, poor low light capabilities, lack of in-camera flat color profile for greater flexibility in color grading and most of all low dynamic range. I know all of these because I've used the camera in a series of my personal shoots and have tried to understand all of it's weaknesses and strengths. In one way or another I've tried to overcome these limitations which has really helped increase the usability of the camera for video purposes. But even though some things can never be changed and especially when it comes to dynamic range (definitely using a flat profile like Flaat can help boost a bit of the inner dynamic range, rather than using Standard or Neutral color profiles).  But sometimes when you can't fight the limitations, you just have to embrace them and find a way to tell your story with the limited tools you have. 

Passing by Noam Kroll's blog, I found one of his posts talking about how to get stunning images with low dynamic range cameras without using lights which makes it even more interesting for low-budget filmmakers who can't heavily invest on expensive lighting gear. He notes though that this shouldn't be a way to make a filmmaker lazy when he doesn't feel like setting up lights if he has access to them. According to Noam Kroll, the 5 tips are:

1. Shooting Silhouettes
2. Blowing the Highlights
3. Using Bounce Boards
4. Using ND Gels
5. Shooting at the Golden Hour

To read more and see examples from each technique visit Noam Kroll's post on his blog. 

A few of my own tips would be:

1. Getting a good color profile. Shooting with the Standard or Neutral color profiles of the camera uses most of your dynamic range and little amount of color grading might lead to clipping of your highlights or shadows which might be unpleasant. Getting a good flat color profile can really help boost the inner dynamic range of the camera.  As for my Nikon camera, I use the Flaat color profiles from Similaar which are also faithful to the skintones. For Canon cameras you have the all-famous Cinestyle. Definitely several color profiles exist out there (like Visioncolor & VisionTech and the amazing CINEMA picture style for Canon cameras), but these are the ones I'd go to when using either of the two brands. 
2. Hacking your camera for increased bitrate. Bitrate is very important especially if you'll be doing a lot of grading in post. The lower the bitrate the more the compression the less room you have to push your image in post. As for my Nikon camera, I used the hack from Nikon Hacker to increase my video bitrate from 18Mbps to 64Mbps, ofcourse with some limitations but none the less worth it. As for Canon cameras you have the Magic Lantern software which not only gives you more features (including bitrate capabilities) but also RAW for some of the cameras.
3. Shoot, shoot, shoot. The only way to learn the ins and outs of your camera is shooting more and more. By shooting more stuff and applying the tips specified above you'll be able to master your camera even though some limitations might hinder you. Below I'll share some works that have been shot with DSLRs but also look stunning considering the limitations the cameras have. Some apply similar techniques.

Courtesy of Kendy. Shot with the Canon T2i/550D with Sigma 30mm f1.4

Courtesy of Salomon. Shot with the Canon 60D and 7D with Sigma 30mm f1.4

Courtesy of Artico Studio. Shot with the Canon 600D with Sigma 30mm ART.

Courtesy of Jay Salbert. Shot with Panasonic GH3 and Canon 5D Mark III.