Lighting exterior shots at night, static and motion shots

K

Kugar13

Well-known member
Hello,

We begin shooing a full length feature in May. Most of the photography will take place at night. We have a number of exterior static, stabilizing, and tracking shots taking place. I was wondering if it would be best to rig a portable Chinese lantern for exterior shots, or to go with something like an omni-light. I need something that is flexible, versatile enough to work on the go.

Thank you,

Kugar13
 
Is it in city environmnet or in middle-of-nowhere? What's your budget for the lighting rentals? You can do many things. The hardest is to light middle-of-nowhere well obviously because there is no existing lights to work with so you have to fill the farme with objects lit by you. Get at least 3 1.2 HMIs. If possible 2 4k HMIs. If you can get a hold of a crane lift that 4k and back light the location as if it was a moon light -- it's gonan be a fake moon because real moon light is reflected light still as a backlight it's gonan look good. If you have real power you can get some white weather balloons and moun them say 30 feet in the air and then bounce the light from the HMIs of those so you will get "real" moonlight.

If you don't have access to 4k at least get 1.2 HMIs. Your DP should have some hook ups with individuals or rental place so you should be able to get those for cheap ( i know i have). Then strategicaly position thso elights to at least side light the action.

Links to some of the shoots we did, many with cheap lighting:
http://www.patrykrebisz.com/films_f.html
http://www.patrykrebisz.com/films_satisfied.html
http://www.patrykrebisz.com/films_goodtimes.html
 
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To ask if you should go with a china ball or an omni light is a question that can't be answered without knowing the specifics of your shot. Perhaps more details. Are you the DP or the producer?
 
I don't know what I was thinking!

I don't know what I was thinking!

I should have been more detailed. This is an indie film with just about no budget. We have two 1K lights and a 650w light. It within the city limits, rural area. There will be streetlights available. I was watching 11:14 behind the scenes and noticed they had a guy carrying a Chinese lantern behind the cast as they walked. I was thinking wow, how kewl is that.....
 
Lighting night is never about the foreground. I mean i can light your cast with a flash light and get decent exposure yet so what if you can't see where the characters are. They are in a cave... We need to see that they are in a cave so we need to light bg; they are in the forest... well we need to see trees in the bg and not only the few trees i can light with 650w... they are in the streets... you gotta see something in the back to give that idea. Still i should shut my mouth. Your lighting kit is very small barely enough to light interior of the house scene. If you can't afford anything else look for locations with enough stuff in the back.

Here is a short clip from a scene -- not a great lighting -- it's more as an example:
http://www.patrykrebisz.com/goodtimes/goodtimes_NYC.html

It utilizes the bg as much as possible. We lit the talent with 2 500w lights. Still i would love to have a nice powerful light to ight the bg behind the actress more. At least you see the principle. "Get locations with stuff in the back."
 
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Avoid really big, wide shots. The closer you frame, the less real estate you have to worry about lighting. On a no-budget production, that's really something to take into account.
 
Gee, if I only had a Lowell Omni and China Ball, I'd use the china ball to light the actors faces, and use the Omni to throw light on some trees or buildings in the background.

But are you really gonna shoot a feature that takes place mostly at night with only an Omni and a China ball?!?!!!

OUCH!!!!!




Well, at least it won't take long to light.
 
Sorry, I just read your response above. I'd get at least a couple more 650s and 2-4 300 watt lights. You should also get a couple of fluorescents (shoplights if you can't rent kinos) to play around with. You might also want to consider getting a couple of PAR cans:

http://www.lighting-effect.com/cgi-...u=1/ml=50/tf=category/to=x/tf=price/to=n.html

They're only like $40 each, and get narrow beam bulbs. You will probably be trying to light up trees and things from a long way away, this will help.

Don't buy the plastic ones. I'm not kidding.

At some point I'm sure you will be using all these items and will wish you had more.

Best of luck and have fun.
 
Patryk_Rebisz said:
Links to some of the shoots we did, many with cheap lighting:
http://www.patrykrebisz.com/films_f.html
http://www.patrykrebisz.com/films_satisfied.html
http://www.patrykrebisz.com/films_goodtimes.html
Click to expand...

Great work, luv the storylines
icon12.gif
 
I shot a feature that takes place mostly at night. First of all, a china ball is not going to cut it. Any diffuse source you use falls off incredibly fast and unless you've got an HMI in that thing, it's not gonna light up your actors without being in the shot.

A 650 fresnel is not gonna get you much. Since you are using a tungsten source and my guess would be that you want the shot to be balanced blue, you will need to tungsten balance then throw up a CTB gel which will eat up half your light.

What I suggest you seriously do is rent at the very least a 1.2K HMI. You need a bright source with throw which you can raise up high and either backlight actors, smoke, trees or foliage.

Get a smoke machine or hazer preferrably. One of the problems with night shooting is that black void that does nothing to help place your actors in an environment. A bit haze in the right places (depending on the nature of the story and location) will help provide a ground when backlit. In combination with an HMI you can get good effects.

You need a descent soft fill light at the very least, the 650 through a chimera softbank will do little due to the aforementioned effects. You can rent two or more Kino 4' 4Banks. They are a real workhorse.

You need alot of light to get descent exposure without using any gain compensation.
 
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