Advice for night time shooting

Mj882

Mj882

Well-known member
What would be any ideal settings or additional advice for when shooting at night, in 720/24pn with a 35mm adapter.

My settings are of what Barry Green has suggested ideal for the filmic look.
 
What kind of production ?
What kind of night is is ? In the woods, in a city, in New York ?
Do you have any available lighting equipment ? (on camera, on a tripod)

I would advise you a low contrast setting (Cinelike V for instance) Amd above it all try to run some tests before the big day ...
 
A short film of relatively small scale.
The location will consist of the suburbs lit by lamposts only....and central London, where the city life and lights are prominent.

I do not have any available lighting equipment.
 
If you have no lighting equipment available, you're likely not going to get very good results. Shooting at night doesn't mean not using lights -- night scenes require as much light, if not more, on your subject as day scenes do.

1/3" HD cameras are at a disadvantage when it comes to "low light" shooting to boot. You need to have plenty. An image is made up of light; without it, you have no image. :)
 
David Jimerson said:
If you have no lighting equipment available, you're likely not going to get very good results. Shooting at night doesn't mean not using lights -- night scenes require as much light, if not more, on your subject as day scenes do.

1/3" HD cameras are at a disadvantage when it comes to "low light" shooting to boot. You need to have plenty. An image is made up of light; without it, you have no image. :)
Click to expand...

So what type of lighting would you recommend for night shoots. Bare in mind I'm on a tight budget.
 
Well, your first concern is getting a good level of exposure on your subject. Your second concern is keeping the light away from where you don't want it to go -- to create mood, but also to create sufficient darkness in the scene to give the impression of night. Your third concern would be to use an appropriate color of light so as to simulate your "natural" light source -- the moon, or a street lamp, or whatever. (This is a much lesser concern than the other two, especially considering the color adjustments which can be done in-camera and in post).

So, light is light, and there are many different types of lighting out there; you'll be able to get a good exposure cheaply, but the more professional the gear, the greater level of control you'll have over the light.
 
David Jimerson said:
Well, your first concern is getting a good level of exposure on your subject. Your second concern is keeping the light away from where you don't want it to go -- to create mood, but also to create sufficient darkness in the scene to give the impression of night. Your third concern would be to use an appropriate color of light so as to simulate your "natural" light source -- the moon, or a street lamp, or whatever. (This is a much lesser concern than the other two, especially considering the color adjustments which can be done in-camera and in post).

So, light is light, and there are many different types of lighting out there; you'll be able to get a good exposure cheaply, but the more professional the gear, the greater level of control you'll have over the light.
Click to expand...

So since lighting is really important for night scenes, should I leave my settings as it is?

I'm shooting in 720/24pN with 180.0 shutter speed and 24fps for a filmic look.
 
That's pretty standard, so it's fine. You'd change the shutter speed if you want the motion characteristic be different (choppier, or less choppy).
 
David Jimerson said:
That's pretty standard, so it's fine. You'd change the shutter speed if you want the motion characteristic be different (choppier, or less choppy).
Click to expand...

In the 720/24pN mode, what shutter speed would I change it to, to make it choppier....similar to what Wong Kar-Wai does in his films such as Chungking Express and 2046.
 
Faster shutter speeds create choppier motion. I have not seen those films, but you can experiment to see what you like. The smaller the "degree," the shorter the exposure -- which is a "faster" shutter.

The faster the shutter, the more light needed, though.
 
Do you have the 200 or 200a?

I have the 200a. I found that the redrock with the newest cinescreen and the HVX200a set to B-STR preset (all default scene file settings) gives me an ISO of 640 compared to 320 with the Cine-D scene file and redrock.

Also B-STR has the least amount of noise in the blacks than any other setting which would help you at night, and the best colors (IMHO) straight out of the cam.

If you have any lockdown shots or city landscape shots planned you might also want to consider the 2fps/350 degree shutter hack. It really helps with the low light shots as long as there is nothing moving in the frame. Or maybe you can incorporate that looking into your film.

For lighting you can get some china balls which are pretty cheap. Their about $15 $20 for a full set up minus the stands (if you need them). Work-lights?

What I would shoot for everything else is B-STR ,720PN, 1/24 shutter (gives you a extra stop of light over 180 degrees but more motion blur).
 
Keep in mind, though, at 1/24 (360 deg), you lose much of the cinematic motion cadence; the movement will start to look video-ish.
 
David Jimerson said:
Keep in mind, though, at 1/24 (360 deg), you lose much of the cinematic motion cadence; the movement will start to look video-ish.
Click to expand...

Yeah and that's exactly what I want to avoid. I want to maintain the film look as much as I can. What specific fast shutter speed would you recommend?

I own the HPX170.
 
Choose the "mood" your going for. In other words, when you light an object,
subject etc. they should be illuminated to be seen but not to the point where
it looks like it's been lit or artificial. Consider your "source" light and work from
there.

One of the perks of using a video camera is the viewfinder which gives you instant
results of your framing, lighting etc. If you aren't happy with what you see, make
the necessary adjustments until you come up with something appealing.
 
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