Shooting in BRIGHT sun with DVX

K

kevcol

Member
Hi there,

I'm working on a project that involves shooting a personal trainer and client working out in a park here in sunny SoCal.

Problem is, the sun is SO bright, I had to put on ND-1/64 filter and close the iris a bunch to get rid of zebra stripes (white blowouts), and my footage ended up looking very blue. (I did white balance -- honest.)

I'm pouring over my Barry Green DVX User book now, and wondering if anyone else has suggestions since the project will be primarily shot outdoors.

See the footage here, if so inclined:
http://cooltales.com/blue_tint.mov

Or YouTubed version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O40WUVVUPuk

Any suggestions warmly welcomed.

Grazie,
Kevin
 
Was this early AM or Late PM ?

What are your Zebras set too ?

Did you get an error upon doing a WB ? Did you alternately select a PRST aftr WB'ing ?
 
It was late morning -- about 10 a.m.

I had the camera on the F5 preset, with zebras turned on. Zebra Detect1: 80%, Zebra Detect2: 100%

The white balance switch was set to PRST, and I ran the AWB before shooting and did not notice an error (perhaps I overlooked -- not sure.)
 
It sounds like you set to AWB, looked at a white paper, then switched to PRST, which was set to 3200K. When set to PRST, did you press the button so the camera switched from 3200K to 5600K?
 
Maybe look into using an extra ND filter for your camera if it's still too bright, as well as shooting using one of the presets for more consistancy - the clip can be colour corrected in post anyway

What are your scene file settings?
(particularly the gamma)

Ideally, you'd be better off shooting this in the early morning or late afternon when the sun's lower in the sky

Are you shooting this on your own or have you got extra people helping out - I'm pretty sure that silks would be the big-ticket solution in an ideal world (but require a fair frew people to manage them)
Maybe someone with a reflector/bounce card could help even out the harsh shadows in many of the static shots

Mind you, I'm no expert by any stretch - these ideas are worth what you paid for them :)
 
Maybe I goofed on the PRST switch as you mentioned, rogue_09. I'm gonna give it another shot at the same approximate time tomorrow and will see if things turn out better.

MasterP, I used the default F5 settings, so gamma was CINE-V. I'm shooting solo for these tests, then should have one guy helping -- but he'll be busy with a boom mic ;)

I'll keep messing with settings and will post updates on how things go.
 
Remember, Auto White Balance will automatically adjust as long as it's on. The presets are 3200K and 5600K and must be selected by pressing the set button on the front. Using A or B is when you set the WB manually by focusing on something white and hitting that same button.
 
Also try keeping the sun to your back or sides.

Seems you were shooting right into the nastyness of overexposure hell on those shots.
 
kevcol said:
Hi there,

I'm working on a project that involves shooting a personal trainer and client working out in a park here in sunny SoCal.

Grazie,
Kevin
Click to expand...

I have seen this sort of 'white balance' and in 'the wild' balanced on the 'grey' cement, like the area where the person runs to nearest the camera in your sample clip.

If you have time to balance correctly, well of course do so... but if there's no time, manual balance on something 'grey' till it approximates what you 'see' with your eyes...

I'm sure someone will be up in arms about such advice...
 
Right, thanks, guys. I thought I was manually adjusting the white balance, but I probably had the preset selection on, so I flipped to 3200K instead.

I'll give it another shot (no pun intended), and hopefully get better results.

And will look to avoid bright backgrounds.
 
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