HVX latitude and the outdoor window

puredrifting

puredrifting

Major Contributor
Hi all:

Looking for comments and advice from real DPs and gaffers.

Scouted a location yesterday. Director wants to shoot talent in foreground with view behind them out of 25th floor high-rise with LA skyline behind talent. Like a schmuck, I did not bring my lightmeter, this was strictly a scout for location and sound so I didn't even think to bring it (original concept did not involve seeing out windows)

Here is where I need your experience.

Camera will be HVX-200. Tiny crew doing this shoot. Lighting package is small, no generator, small tungsten (1k is the biggest) package but I do own two of my own Diva 200s with daylight tubes that I can bring. I would like to ND the window but it's a large window, we won't have the time and crew to do it right, I think. We have limited access to this location and a tight schedule.

If director wants to see the city skyline behind talent, we have a small lighting package and scant time, do you think using a 4x4 or 6x6' frame with double netting behind talent would lower contrast ratio enough to capture outside daylight with inside exposure on talent using either both Diva 200s as key or a 1k open face through a Chimera (yeah, I would lose most of it's punch with the CTB, I know) What I really need is a 1200 watt HMI but no budget for it.

Looking for someone who has low end HD shooting experience that would know, I know that this camera doesn't have a whole lot of latitude and my problem is that I don't have any lighting horsepower to balance the contrast out. Would a double net do it or do you think I would need to use ND instead? Double net on a Scrim Jim is 1.5 stops. Doesn't sound like enough cut for what I need to do.

On the plus side, windows look like they may have some dirt on them and perhaps some polarizing/ND type of treatment (slight) already since they are a western facing window with a lot of exposure during the day. Shoot will take place in AM so we won't have direct sun blasting us.

Opinions welcomed.

Dan
 
First thought that came to my mind:

Shoot it twice and composite the shot. If there's no camera movement, then you could literally shoot with talent in, get the scene, then take talent out and shoot.

Then merge the two together and adjust opacities in post to match.
 
Kholi said:
First thought that came to my mind:

Shoot it twice and composite the shot. If there's no camera movement, then you could literally shoot with talent in, get the scene, then take talent out and shoot.

Then merge the two together and adjust opacities in post to match.
Click to expand...

HDR for Video? Very interesting idea Kholi. Director is the editor, I might run that by her. Also, I am hammering producer to just rent me a 1200 watt HMI PAR and be done with it. That would be the easiest and would look the best. We'll see what happens, but thanks for the suggestion. This is killing me because I sold my own HMI 1200 watt PAR a number of years ago because I didn't use it much. But I did get more for it than I bought it for and I used it for 4 years. HMIs are a GOOD investment. When I make some big bucks, think I will pick up a full HMI kit.

Dan
 
I think Richard's Coollight HMI's might be a really good deal, just depends on how you can control the crazy 2400w.

From my newbish lighting thoughts: you could definitely do an HMI if you can avoid the "Lit" look on the interior. It would definitely take a little time to set up.

Compositing with solid video and no GreenScreen is pretty easy, though. However, I'm not sure if ,in this case, you would do a greenscreen behind the actors to avoid having to matte later on.

It could work really well if you light and shoot 1080 for that specific shot.
 
While ND w/ HMI is optimal, you can also consider gelling the windows with CTO (if it's plentiful), which will allow you to maintain the full output of your tungsten lights. All of the above would be much easier if shots are limited to MEDIUM and CUs.
 
Keep in mind, you can shoot at many different times of the day to reduce the contrast.

I'd suggest shooting in the early am and getting the shots where the window will be in the frame, and then schedule your other shots (reverses, coverage, etc) for later i nthe day when the sun is nasty high.
 
I was actually gaffing for an almost identical situation a few days ago. We had a 1200 HMI with a blown bulb (d'oh!), a Mighty, a Baby, and a Kino Flo Diva. Outside in direct sunlight was at a good solid 22, while the brightest I could get it inside was around a 5.6. In the end we had to meticulously tape cto on the window frames so we could take the ctb off our lights. That got the ratio a lot closer, but (of course) not spot on. The inside was still under by about two stops, but that was acceptable because we were shooting on color negative, so we had plenty of latitude to work with.

I'd recommend not "fixing it in post", as I think that approach can become too easy after a while, and could impede your developing skills with the camera and lights. If you're an aspiring editor though, thats a different story.


This thought occurred to me on set but I didn't have time to test it out:

If you put two layers on the window, one layer of 1/2 CTB and one layer of 1/2 CTO, would they essentially act as a full ND layer? Sounds crazy, and I assume it wouldn't work... but... in theory, that sounds feasible doesn't it?
 
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