2 Ways To Light Indoors?

H

Homunculus

Carbonite Member
Hello everyone.

As I understand it. There are 2 ways to light a room scene indoors.



1. You set your camera on tungsten white balance (3200k) and you gel all the windows so that the cool 5600k (or so) outdoor sunlight comes in matching your tungsten practicals (table lamps, wall fixtures, ceiling light, etc).

2. You set your WB for daylight and let the natural light come in the window...BUT.......here is the big question that is responsible for this thread: how do you then match all the practicals in the scene to daylight? All the warm color temperature tungsten practicals like lamps and all that, you can't gel them can you? I mean they just have lightbulbs in them, what do you do in such a circumstance?

Just assume that this hypothetical scene has to have both windows and table lamp, ceiling fixture etc type of lights in the same shots. I know if the window is NOT in the same shot you can pretend the light is motivated by the window but just use a warm colored artificial light to pretend it's the sun etc. But I'm talking about if both window(s) and lights are in the same shot/scene, how would you pull off #2? Or is #2 basically impractical/impossible and best to just always do #1?

Thanks for the help.
 
Well first, there's 100 ways to light indoors. All of them valid. Second, you do NOT need to gel every practical in a scene. I'd shoot myself if I had to do that.

The common choices are to light the scene naturally, which is what I prefer to do most of the time. That means white balance to daylight if it is the dominant light in the scene, and let the practicals go orange. This is EXACTLY what we'd see with our eyes if there was mixed lighting in a room. The trick is not to let the shift go TOO far or it doesn't look great on screen.

The other common choice is to re-bulb to match light. I tend to do this for all practicals that are NOT seen in the frame. having weird, off-color sources of light contaminating the frame is just bad form. It's different if the practical is in the shot, or the light is motivated by a practical that was in a previous shot.

There is nothing more boring or sterile than an indoor scene where every lamp matches perfectly. It's so unnatural, it draws attention to itself.

So get down to Lowes or Home Depot and pick up 8-10 compact fluorescent bulbs in each temp range, 2700, 3500, and 5500. Use the 3500s when your dominant light is daylight, and use the 2700s when your dominant light is tungsten. When you white balance to tungsten, the 2700K bulbs will read as basic incandescent. When your white balance to daylight the 2700K bulbs will read as an odd orange glow like fire light.
 
thanks that's the sort of practical experience from the experts I was looking for.

good ideas. I did not know they sell bulbs in different CT ranges...definitely gotta check that out asap.
 
You can change the practicals out for daylight CFL lamps. I also used to use a couple of mini-brute tungsten fixtures outside of windows to warm up the daylight spill if I did not have the window view in scene.
 
hey guys quick question because I didn't want to start a new thread for it:

someone I know is selling a used 1k mole richardson baby baby for 150$. is this a good price? It works, the lens is fine etc. just doesn't come with scrims or barn doors.

can someone advise if this is a good deal?
 
Homunculus said:
hey guys quick question because I didn't want to start a new thread for it:

someone I know is selling a used 1k mole richardson baby baby for 150$. is this a good price? It works, the lens is fine etc. just doesn't come with scrims or barn doors.

can someone advise if this is a good deal?
Click to expand...

If it works BUY IT! That is one of the best 1ks on the market and you'll find them on all kinds of productions. I'd buy it at twice the price.
 
Don't get to caught up on justifying every light source. Spend your time making it look good. The audience will appreciate it.
 
PerroneFord said:
Well first, there's 100 ways to light indoors. All of them valid. Second, you do NOT need to gel every practical in a scene. I'd shoot myself if I had to do that.

The common choices are to light the scene naturally, which is what I prefer to do most of the time. That means white balance to daylight if it is the dominant light in the scene, and let the practicals go orange. This is EXACTLY what we'd see with our eyes if there was mixed lighting in a room. The trick is not to let the shift go TOO far or it doesn't look great on screen.

The other common choice is to re-bulb to match light. I tend to do this for all practicals that are NOT seen in the frame. having weird, off-color sources of light contaminating the frame is just bad form. It's different if the practical is in the shot, or the light is motivated by a practical that was in a previous shot.

There is nothing more boring or sterile than an indoor scene where every lamp matches perfectly. It's so unnatural, it draws attention to itself.

So get down to Lowes or Home Depot and pick up 8-10 compact fluorescent bulbs in each temp range, 2700, 3500, and 5500. Use the 3500s when your dominant light is daylight, and use the 2700s when your dominant light is tungsten. When you white balance to tungsten, the 2700K bulbs will read as basic incandescent. When your white balance to daylight the 2700K bulbs will read as an odd orange glow like fire light.
Click to expand...

Agree 100%.
 
phudsontx said:
Don't get to caught up on justifying every light source. Spend your time making it look good. The audience will appreciate it.
Click to expand...

Agree 100%. Motivating every source is what you do when you're in the middle of your journey learning to light well.
 
phudsontx said:
Don't get to caught up on justifying every light source. Spend your time making it look good. The audience will appreciate it.
Click to expand...

Well said, I agree. The practical lighting of a set or location can be a starting point, but the story and context of the scene, and the mood that needs, should be the guiding force in how you light.

As for balancing the window daylight to tungsten lighting or using daylight artificial lights to match the window daylight, well, that is pretty much a logistic question these days. It used to be that we always just gelled the windows with CTO and lit the interior with tungsten lights. Now, with the availability of inexpensive daylight sources, the issue is not so simple any more. With HMIs, LEDs, day light balanced fluorescent and, especially, cheap daylight balanced CFLs, the choice has broaden, and is really just a matter of what you have available and how you want to shoot the scene. Now the question may be more of how you control the intensity and consistency of light coming in from the windows than just the color temp of the light.
 
Just to clarify, a "practical" is a light source that is in frame. Such as a desklamp or flashlight. If it's not visible in the frame it isn't a "practical".
 
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