Great Lighting is such a treat ...

For me, lighting and chroma management makes or breaks the experience, whether it's a game, film, TV show, or painting. My wife and I went to see Avatar a couple of nights ago, and the lighting and chroma was superb ... that's not to say that the direction, other VFX, character animation, etc. weren't amazing (because they were) ... but, for me, the lighting was a real treat.

What was particularly enjoyable is that this was true for the entire movie, not just for the beauty shots or a few VFX shots that are exceptional.  For example, this shot of live action composited with UI animation is just one sequence that is representative of the entire film:

While I'm on the topic of great lighting ... something that I look forward to watching each week is CSI Miami - for just this reason alone ... it's the best lit show on TV right now ... hands down ... for example:

 

For a weekly TV episodic to reach this kind of production value is really noteworthy ... because it shows such a deep commitment to lighting each shot (especially on location) and then color grading in post production ... I wish more TV was like this!