Day For Night Shots with Tiffen Filters

T

TheThe

Well-known member
Okay, I am planning a movie (using an HVX) with tons of night scenes and I've been looking into Day for Night shots. I was wondering if anyone here has used Tiffen Day for Night filters and if so with what results. Also, has anyone used their Monochrome Day for Night filter? Does anyone have a screengrab of how it looks? Thanks in advance.

http://www.tiffen.com/literature/DayForNight_Lo.pdf
 
For digital, I am a much greater fan of filtering in post if it isnt a filter that needs to be on the camera. The D4N filter is a blue filter. Blue it in post. There are plenty of good tools that will easily allow you to do this. Filters such as a polarizer cant be faked later.

-GageFX
 
You could also just white balance against a colored gel or card to give the illusion of day for night. Just don't show the sky or it will give it away.
 
A friend of mine recently shot a film (using a DVX-100 Camera) with a *WARM* Day for Night filter for allll the outdoor daytime shots and then color corrected it in post. I have to say I was SHOCKED at the amazing color quality and picture by doing that trick. It was probably the closest thing I’ve ever seen to film using a digital camera. I've been looking for warm Day for Night filters for my XL2 for a while now, but it seems like you can only get warm Day For Night filters as a rental with a matte box. *sniff*

Just out of curiosity, does anyone know of any filter companies who sell warm Day for Night filters for the DVX-100 and XL2?
 
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For a DFN look, try shooting outdoors using the indoor white balance preset. Instant blue! You can underexpose a bit in the camera, and then nail the look in post.

There are lots of other factors in creating a good DFN look, like not showing the sky in shots, the angle of shooting into the sun to control tell-tale hard shadows, shallow depth of field like the human eye would have at night, etc.
 
Another thing you could do, especially if you can bring lights into the equation, but even if you can't, is to prioritize the highlights in exposure. What I mean is that for instance, if you had a 650 light, point it at the subject, turn up the light so it's fairly strong on him, then expose to the subject as normal. That should make the rest of the scene around him look darker, as if it were night, but he'll be properly exposed. Also yeah, don't show the sky, and add a blue tint (whether on camera or in post) and you're basically doing what the big hollywood guys do when it comes to Day for Night.
 
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