Big lighting, small latitude

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FatBird19

Well-known member
I have an upcoming project where I'm going to have to do a lot of car shooting. Obviously if I were to just pick up a camera in a car and videotape, I'd have to choose between either a silouetted person against a well exposed background, or a person against white.
I'm trying to think of ways so that more of the shot will be well exposed.

I had a few ideas and I was wondering if anyone could help:
First of all, underexpose a little with no grain. That way I can boost the lattitude a bit in post.
Maybe I could get some lighting in the car? Would a few small chinese lanterns in the car work?
I also thought I could try to make some sort of an ND filter to go on the outside of the car. I thought that maybe I could get a large piece of plexiglass tinted, and then mount it to the side of the car. That would allow for the outside to be seen better maybe.

Any suggestions?
 
Put ND gel on the windows of the car, absolutely definitely do that. You can get window-tint material at car supply stores, apply it to the car windows with water & a squeegee. It'll make a huge difference in the quality of your in-car footage.

Then add lighting in the car. Even a small 12v light powered out of the cigarette lighter will make a big difference. In Zombie Hunter I used a 250w light powered off an inverter that was plugged into a Booster Pac, and accented it with my 75W Frezzi mini-fill powered out of the car's cigarette lighter.
 
Barry_Green said:
Put ND gel on the windows of the car, absolutely definitely do that. You can get window-tint material at car supply stores, apply it to the car windows with water & a squeegee. It'll make a huge difference in the quality of your in-car footage.

Then add lighting in the car. Even a small 12v light powered out of the cigarette lighter will make a big difference. In Zombie Hunter I used a 250w light powered off an inverter that was plugged into a Booster Pac, and accented it with my 75W Frezzi mini-fill powered out of the car's cigarette lighter.
Click to expand...

Awsome. You just affirmed some of my ideas. Thanks! :thumbsup:
Can you just buy window tint material in sheets? If so, then that saves my butt in a lot of areas for this project.

For the light, what would you suggest to diffuse it(if that's the right term) so that the shadows aren't strong?
 
I have some sheets of something called "Solar Stat", it's home window tint stuff that's sold by the sheet and clings to the window with static electricity; I've used that for cars before.

For diffusing the light, the situation is the same as with any case; you can shoot through a piece of 216 or 250, you can bounce it off of a white card (or, depending on the color of the car's headliner, you may be able to bounce it into the ceiling); you can mount a softbox on the light (I have the MFSB-II for my Frezzi); pretty much any diffusion technique would work fine, as long as it doesn't sap too much of the light. You're going to have trouble getting enough light because you'll have to gel it to blue, which cuts your light output to 1/4 of what it would otherwise be (which is why I used a 250w; gave me about 60 watts of usable blue light). The more you can cut the outside light through the window, the less interior light you have to use.
 
"First of all, underexpose a little with no grain. That way I can boost the lattitude a bit in post."

That will add noise, just what you are trying to avoid.


"Maybe I could get some lighting in the car? Would a few small chinese lanterns in the car work?"

Sure but it will be light putting balloons in a car and you will not be able to fit anyone in. Is it daytime, or nighttime. Must the car move if it's nighttime or can we simulate it.

"I also thought I could try to make some sort of an ND filter to go on the outside of the car."

You can stick ND to the windows with a squeegee and some soapy water.
 
"Maybe I could get some lighting in the car? Would a few small chinese lanterns in the car work?"

Sure but it will be light putting balloons in a car and you will not be able to fit anyone in. Is it daytime, or nighttime. Must the car move if it's nighttime or can we simulate it.

it's morning, and the car is moving

"I also thought I could try to make some sort of an ND filter to go on the outside of the car."

You can stick ND to the windows with a squeegee and some soapy water.

Are you talking about an actua ND sheet, or can I ghetto rig something for cheap? Like window tinting.
 
Window tinting will work fine. The car is moving. Try tinting the inside windows, leaving whatever window you shoot from untinted and see if you can iris up enough. I bet you can. If not get electronic ballasts flouros from HOme depot and a 200 watt inverter and plug them in and place them in the car below or above the actors.
 
Walter_Graff said:
Window tinting will work fine. The car is moving. Try tinting the inside windows, leaving whatever window you shoot from untinted and see if you can iris up enough. I bet you can. If not get electronic ballasts flouros from HOme depot and a 200 watt inverter and plug them in and place them in the car below or above the actors.
Click to expand...

thanks. :)
 
If you tint the outside of the windows, after you do the soapy water application, tape the edges securely. If you're doing a moving car the tint will dry up and blow off. Tinting is a great solution for the daytime car interior shot, but it's a pain in the butt. It's hard to get the wrinkles out, hard to cut to the exact size, and hard to get it to stay in place. I like to use double net material (solar screen patio cover material at your local hardware store is a bit coarse, but can work under certain conditions) as an alternative sometimes, but it depends on your depth of field. If the net is in sharp focus, you'll see the pattern.
 
Walter_Graff said:
"First of all, underexpose a little with no grain. That way I can boost the lattitude a bit in post."

That will add noise, just what you are trying to avoid.


"Maybe I could get some lighting in the car? Would a few small chinese lanterns in the car work?"

Sure but it will be light putting balloons in a car and you will not be able to fit anyone in. Is it daytime, or nighttime. Must the car move if it's nighttime or can we simulate it.

"I also thought I could try to make some sort of an ND filter to go on the outside of the car."

You can stick ND to the windows with a squeegee and some soapy water.
Click to expand...
:grin: Nd gel applied to windows Just a note an old timer at the studio told me they used "seven -up" soda to make the gels stick to windows
Ill bet on location thart the flies love it even if the audience doesent love the look ..Somday Ill try it during a test. :grin: :shocked:
 
You've probably already shot this already, but one thing that hasn't been mentioned is what I refer to as shooting "night for day".

Shoot it really early in the morning, when the sun's just coming up. With a few lights in the car, you might be able to get away with not putting the tinting on the windows.
 
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