Help to get that "flickery sunlight through the trees onto the couch" effect

C

colebennett

Active member
Help to get that "flickery sunlight through the trees onto the couch" effect

I'm currently reading through Lighting for Film, by Kris Malkiewicz - I bought the book, along with the Lighting Technicians Handbook, as per words of wisdom from a couple users on here. I'm learning a lot about the different light units available, how they can be controlled, etc.

But then I noticed this light, coming in through the window. And I'm wondering how it could be recreated. I'm wondering a few things in particular:

1. If it wasn't already incredibly sunny, would a 650 Watt Tungsten spot be strong enough to cast a light like this if I was shooting at say F4, ISO 320, shutter speed 1/50th? I'm having trouble understanding exactly how bright a 650 Watt Tungsten would be. I don't know what to bench mark it against. I'm a photographer who usually uses strobe lighting. As I say, I'm reading through these books, and probably the answer is there somewhere. But I haven't come across it yet, and I'd like to invest in some Tungstens (probably some cheap ones to start with) - and I don't want to buy too much light, or alternatively buy too little. Three years ago, for my still photography, I bought two 600 watt strobes, and they're far too bright for 99% of my work. But then I'm reading about Gaffer's wanting four 20K HMI's in their kit - and I'm thinking "What, are these guys lighting, Mordor??" I can think of a few applications for lights that big, but for a basic kit for some narrative work, and some commercial use, I need three or four lights I can run off a standard 15 Amp circuit, from what I'm gathering.

2. How would I achieve this flickering effect on a budget?

 
I highly doubt a 650 would create that in mid day lighting. You would also need to kelvin match it to the existing light which looks to be around 5,000-6,000 kelvin. As for getting that "light through a tree branch look", you could simply use a cookie cutter, stack two, and have a grip move one on occasion to simulate the trees blowing in the wind. For best results, I would rent a 5k hmi. Then go from there, and experiment.
 
I did it once on low budget with a slides projector and a slide with a branch/leave pattern I shot for that purpose.
Went alright for what it was, but yeah a HMI and one or two cokoloris will do the trick much better.

Frank
 
Brancholoris - no need to re-invent what mother nature has already made for you, use a real branch with leaves.

But yes, you will need a bigger gun than a 650 tungsten - which would be the wrong color anyway.
 
Keep in mind that the look is sun coming through multiple layers of branches & leaves - there's a psychedelic "shifting" to the pattern that makes a cookie solution look fake for motion.

But having two grips and two actual leafy branches, a few feet apart, moving them slightly... suddenly it gets real-er.

You could pull this off with open faced lights of necessary - those are common up to 2K, and a couple 1ks close together might do it OK. The warm temp may or may not work for you though.
 
It's funny to hear two responses telling me to use actual branches - that was my first thought - I think I was expecting something more official. That's good though, nice and cheap!

Thanks guys!
 
None of the heads mentioned above would be able to compete against actual sunlight to produce that level--you'd need an 18K for that. While the Mordor comment is funny, there's a very compelling reason to need lights with that kind of firepower for everyday applications where we have to compete with "nature's gaffer". If one wants to see out the windows without blowout on a sunny day, you need to apply at least ND9 to the windows to be able to work with reasonable size heads inside the room--this means you are cutting the transmission through the windows to 1/8, which means that 18K is now effectively a 2K--no longer that impressive, right? I had to do just this on a spot where the client wanted to maintain the vista outside the windows; I had three 18K fresnels outside and 6k and 4K pars inside--and we were shooting with the 5KMKII (seems like a crazy combination, but that was what 2010 was all about--5D's in unlikely places)!

Yesterday I was shooting a scene where the characters had to come through the front door with sunny exterior behind, so no ND'ing was possible. The interior required a 1.8 HMI in a Chimera, two Parabeams, an 800 bounce and a diffused 6K through a window. The difference was the extended dynamic range of the Alexa I was using--several stops more latitude means I could "push" the exterior hotter and still maintain values (that same scene shot on a 5D would have been near-total blowout).

Now: if the dappled light effect was being created at night and we could work in a tungsten environment, for a 500 to 800 ISO camera I'd probably still want a BJ (2K watt) or more likely a Junior (5K) fresnel to achieve the visual heat of direct sun, especially since it is going through a lot of breakup via the branchaloris (and yes, I too would spec a series of leaf branches on c-stands to achieve that effect). You need some distance from the gobo and subsequently subject to get the effect to have enough hardness to define properly, so a smaller head placed closer will result in a mushier pattern (moving the branchaloris will look more like the light is just being dimmed). I would recommend a fresnel over an open face to get the harder pattern.
 
@CharlesPapert, Thanks a million for taking the time to explain all that! You definitely answered my questions for the larger lights. Seeing that spot that you linked to, along with your description really helped me visualize what you were doing and why it was necessary to use that kind of equipment.
 
If it is sunny a mirror board will be more than strong enough.

Two if the angle is too oblique. In which case put one on the ground in the Sunlight, & bounce it into the other mounted on a stand.
 
That's a compelling point Bern, although the danger with mirror boards is that the light projection has sharp and defined edges, so using it direct in a situation like this may result in an odd cut to the effect.
 
I do this kind of "accidental spill of light" all the time. Usually with 750w lekos - you don't have to worry about it being tungsten because those accidental sun spills are by definition warm.

Check out this trailer - pretty much every shot inside has some kind of accidental light spill (all done with one or two lekos):
http://tupeloproductions.com/work_dev_love.html
 
Charles,

DVXuser is lucky to have you aboard.

Agree with your comment. Convincingly simulating direct Sun is one of the harder tasks (usually specular but soft, often with slightly blueish shadows), while mirrors themselves can be a bit tricky.

When simulating direct Sun I try to scale the key to the Sun's diameter, & if it's an artificial source, place it as far away as practical in order to avoid diverging shadows, & falloff. If I extend the tip of my finger far away from my eye it's just wide enough to blot the Sun, so use this as a reference. A couple dozen feet of atmosphere normally takes the edge off, & if not a frame of thin diffusion will, but given the option I'd go much further away with the strongest source.

As much as I love "natural" light, I hate to rely on the weather, or schedule, so in the OP's scenario would prefer to have a big par on stand-by.

Best,
Bern

PS sorry for the sloppy reply. Seems I perpetually Jet-lagged.
 
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