how do I Making outside lighting look Good?

[robotriderdh]

I'm shooting a short film with my friends this next week, and most of it will be outisde. Also, due to restrictions on the amount and quality of lighting equipment I have (a floodlight, maybe a flashlight... pretty ghetto), I'm afraid it will look super lame, and that no one will take it seriously. what would the best way for me be to make it look as good as it can, with the limitations i've got? thanks for everyone's help

[Alex DePew]

I'm shooting a short film with my friends this next week, and most of it will be outisde. Also, due to restrictions on the amount and quality of lighting equipment I have (a floodlight, maybe a flashlight... pretty ghetto), I'm afraid it will look super lame, and that no one will take it seriously. what would the best way for me be to make it look as good as it can, with the limitations i've got? thanks for everyone's help

Get either white foam core (home depot) or an actual bounce board (b&h or other video store) and have someone bounce light onto the character(s). Also avoid the noonday sun. It is just very harsh and without diffusion will give a harsh shadow. Be aware that the sun moves, clouds change the sun's intensity and wind can really hurt your audio. Get a windscreen for your external mic.

I'm sure other's will have more insight as well.

[smithy]

If you are using a floodlight (home depot) then make sure you put in a GE PH211 3000degree kelvin bulb (75w) then put on some full CTB so it will change the color temp. Try to use 2-3 floods and try to get some sort of 3 point lighting if possible. Also using foamcore for bouncing light as a fill and try to shoot in late afternoon or early morning to control hard shadows. Don't forget to white balance frequently.

[donatello]

little more info !
are you shooting day time ?
night time ?
both - how much is day ? night ?
you shooting in woods , streets ? park ? down town ?
what kind of location ?
i assume you have power near ?

i don't think a 75watt bulb with full CTB is going to do much during daylight hrs..

look for locations that have good natural/artificial light ... then use the foam core( white one side - black other side) ) core for fill ( white bounce) or to take away fill ( black side)

[robotriderdh]

i will be shooting in generally suburban areas, so electricity will be near at hand. i'll be shooting mainly all day, i'm trying to be efficient with my time so shots supposed to bein the morning will be shot then, and the same for the afternoon. some shots will be night time, but that's not what i'm particularly concerned about. (thanks, by the way)

[GageFX]

All my still photography references are going to start pissing people off because it seems many dont get the relation between photographic lighting (stills) and photographic lighting (motion). (It's the same, it's just easier to hide lights in a single still frame.)

That said, do the same thing a location still photographer would do if he were limited on lighting equipment - find the available light and make it work for you.

Tkae Uncle Harry into the park to take some pics of the kids, and what does he do? He puts his back to the sun so it's blasting in the subjects face (he wants them to be in the light) then he takes a snapshot of very poorly lit kids (brightly, but poorly lit) who are squinting at the bright sun. Take a professional into the park and he isnt going to look for the open air sunlight, he is going to look for the shade. He is going to place his subjects in the shade and shoot from in the shade out towards the light. There is light spilling in from the sides - after all, it is daytime, so there is light. We expose the faces for this light. Preferably this shade has a closed side and an open side - say a carport with a driveway opening on one side and a building on the other. This way, there is more light from the driveway side and that is your key light side. The building side is the fill side and then move the subject out until some of that sunlight spills onto them. That is your rim/hair/kicker light.

Now the trick is to find the location, with the light and make that light work for you. Tricky? Yes. Hard? Yes. Impossible? No. Be creative, and rememeber that it is okay for characters to naturally move in and out of the light. That is real life and audiences actually expect it over always uniformly lit scenes. But find the light, set your characters and block your scene in that light, then expure correctly and compose correctly. You're there.

I'd also take some reflectors and stands for them, but I'd leave the lights at home for most of the outdoor daytime stuff. Without high power lights you wont see the effects.

Just an example (and I'm expecting the "still photography isnt the same as video" - keep telling yourself that. And tell the big working DPs that.) from a shoot I did a while back.

Here's how Uncle Harry would see the shot. Auto Expose with fill flash. Pretty, pretty snapshot.





Here's what the scene really looks like




And this is how I saw it as the model and I walked through the area.



This is exactly the same as the shot above, only this one is exposed for the face instead of the background. Expose for the face, the background blows out to white and you have great lighting with no equipment other than the sun.

Take that sh!t to the STILLS forum GageFX!!

Yeah yeah. But it still fits.

Do you want THIS lighting? No, probably not, but use the light you have and mold it. Use the shade and reflect light into it. But most importantly, learn to see the light around you for what it is. Most people would see the scene above as the second photo or a combination of the first and second. A professional photographer (experienced photographer, not just a guy with a digital Rebel who does a few jobs here and there) or professional DP will see the light as the third photo. It's all about exposure and seeing the rims and highlights and shadows and knowing what to do with them.

-GageFX

[Gopher_Greene]

Shooting from the shade to the open sun has some advantages, in particualer you have a little more control of the light. However it has one big draw back, the sunlight will overexpose. This can create a surreal effect is what you're going for other wise it's just very distracting in a shot. The difference in lighting for a motion picture vs a still picture is that the motion picture is placed in front of the viewer for a limited amount of time, whereas the still can be looked at as long as necessary. In the stills above, because the light to the upper left of the model is the brightest part of the picture that is immediatly where your eys travel to, then back to the model. This may not be what you want in a motion picture, especially if your wanting your audience to concentrate on the actions of the actor. This is called the chicarcusco (I'm not sure if thats spelled correctly) or rembrandt lighting.

So now back to your question of outdoor lighting, here's how I approach it. What is the brightest point in your frame that you want detail, find it, measure it. A spot meter is good for this, or you can take the DVX zoom in on that spot and let the auto iris give you a reading. That is now your upper light limit. You have appromiatly 5 stops of latttitude with the dvx so subtract 5 stops from the upper limit, that is your lowest limit that you'll have detail in the shadows. So go back to your subject and light them until they are in that range. I typically use bounce. You can get foam core from a hobby shop or insulation board from lowes or home depot.

[robotriderdh]

thanks, everyone, for your help. bounce boards are quite awesome. i plan to use your advice, for sure, and i bet the movie will look far better due to it. if i can, i'll upload some footage from it, so subscribe to this thread if you're interested

[filmat11]

If your crew is big enough, and your shooting timetable allows. You could also support a "Silk" above your actors on a few of your shots outdoors. This will soften direct sunlight. This can also be accomplished with a 2 - 3 dollar $ , frosted shower curtain liner. Put one corner each on a stand, or two sides on a pole,conduit or speedrail, then lift this into place.. about 3-7 feet above your set. You can also hot glue two, three or more together, for a larger size if needed. Very flattering light, when this is in place....Cheap, cheap, great light.
Good luck..

[GageFX]

Shooting from the shade to the open sun has some advantages, in particualer you have a little more control of the light. However it has one big draw back, the sunlight will overexpose. This can create a surreal effect is what you're going for other wise it's just very distracting in a shot. The difference in lighting for a motion picture vs a still picture is that the motion picture is placed in front of the viewer for a limited amount of time, whereas the still can be looked at as long as necessary. In the stills above, because the light to the upper left of the model is the brightest part of the picture that is immediatly where your eys travel to, then back to the model. This may not be what you want in a motion picture, especially if your wanting your audience to concentrate on the actions of the actor. This is called the chicarcusco (I'm not sure if thats spelled correctly) or rembrandt lighting.

Do you want THIS lighting? No, probably not, but use the light you have and mold it. Use the shade and reflect light into it. But most importantly, learn to see the light around you for what it is.

I wasnt suggesting to light his film like my photo, I was suggesting he look carefully at the available light in order to use it to his advantage.

Your second paragraph essentially says what I did, just a bit more detail.

But I did expect the:

The difference in lighting for a motion picture vs a still picture is that the motion picture is placed in front of the viewer for a limited amount of time, whereas the still can be looked at as long as necessary.

...which I'm not even sure what that means, but it is a "motion picture lighting isnt still lighting". It is. You just have to deal with motion and either light your scene externally to deal with the movement, or block the movement to work within the lighting. Big budget films have the funds to light for the scene. With no lights, you must set the scene for the light.

-GageFX