Preset for shooting at night

[lawyerjim]

I am shooting a movie on an XL2 and have one scene that will be shot overlooking the lights of the city of Las Vegas. There will be a couple about 20 feet away from the camera that will be lit with the city lights as a backdrop. We will be about 10 miles from the strip at an elevation about 1000 feet higher than the strip. I have tried some presets that I found elsewhere but nothing looks right so far.

Does anyone out there have a preset that might be what I am looking for?

Thanks,

Jim

[Huy Vu]

Hm, there's not really much you can do. You're gonna lose the details on them pretty easily unless you're going for a siluette effect. Might try Black Stretch, increase the Master Ped and Setup Level, bump gain up to +3db. But then you'll most likely end up with a washed out image with poor color rendition. Best to just get a generator and light them properly.

[PaPa]

ditto. light them.

[lawyerjim]

I plan on lighting the couple near the camera. What I am looking for is a setting to let me keep the city lights visible in the background. The way the lights of the city look is more important to the shot than the people, then when the city lights look right, I can light the people however I need to but first I would like to get the lights of the city to look as good as possible.

[Caution]

I am sure there are other ways but do try a test by setting the xl2 to its candle light setting. I have had some success with it shooting in low light conditions.

hope this helps

[peetdevos]

I agree with Huy that bumping the gain etc may give you an images that does not match the detail and richness of your day shots. I suggest keep gain at 0 and even crush the blacks. Test the distant lights with or without the couple and look at the results. If you're happy with the distant lights, keep exposure the same and light the couple to match your exposure.