How to light an outdoor scene: flat light, or rim / hair light?

gabrielflorit

gabrielflorit

Well-known member
This Saturday I shoot a scene outside, a conversation between two people, happening in the afternoon. The location is a dead-end road, flanked on both sides by woods. I don't know how to shoot outside: I'm comfortable doing indoor lighting setups, but outside? Should I use bounce boards? Should I bring LED lights and use them as eye/face lights? Should I run fresnels with CTO's off a generator (plus stingers)?
 
If it's a scene for a film I would follow the simple advice of a DP who does really great work: the light has to make sense.

For example, if you have a hair light on the talent, the question comes to mind: What's the source of that light?

After setting up a scene she would look carefully at everything. If it all made sense, she would say "I'd buy that". And the camera would roll.
 
You're going to need quite a bit of light to make a difference outside. A rule of thumb is that a 1.2k HMI is your smallest light when you try to shoot in broad daylight.

Because of this, your best access to lots of light is the sun. Reflectors, flags, and diffusion are the best ways to control sunlight. I don't know much about your scene, but what I've done before is put up a 6'x6' (or larger if you can) overhead with silk to diffuse overhead sunlight, and bounced light in from the sides using reflectors.

If you do have lights powerful enough, keep in mind that daylight is 5600k, while tungsten is 3200k. Putting CTO on your tungsten lights outside is going to make the color difference even greater, and the tungsten lights will appear even more orange.
 
I have a theory that I plan on testing next time I do an outside shoot. I wanted to use the 6x6 diffuser like Drew said with maybe a reflector for fill. But take a small light and aim it at the side of the actors face from the direction of the sun. So it works more like a hairlight/backlight. I think people take too much contrast away when doing outside shots, so by adding a little light from the Sun's direction I think it'll look more natural, and you can place the light wherever you want (as long as it makes since). I haven't tested this yet, but just some food for thought. But the Diffuser is a way to control the amount of direct sunlight. If you get a cloudy day you won't need it, cause the clouds will diffuse for you.
 
I recently shot an outdoor scene near sunset (6:30pm) with woods and barns as a backdrop and very little sky in the background. It was one single actor giving a dialog. Used a classic 3-point setup with a 150cdm as a key, a 220w 5600k flo (up close) as a fill and a 650w tungsten with a 3/4 CTB as a kicker. Couldn't be happier with the results. The direction of the backlight was consistent with the direction the sunlight was coming from. Totally believable--came out well. The flo was anemic as you would expect. Had to get it in real close. Might have gotten similar results with foamcore for the bounce/fill.
 
Drew Ott said:
You're going to need quite a bit of light to make a difference outside. A rule of thumb is that a 1.2k HMI is your smallest light when you try to shoot in broad daylight.

Because of this, your best access to lots of light is the sun. Reflectors, flags, and diffusion are the best ways to control sunlight. I don't know much about your scene, but what I've done before is put up a 6'x6' (or larger if you can) overhead with silk to diffuse overhead sunlight, and bounced light in from the sides using reflectors.

If you do have lights powerful enough, keep in mind that daylight is 5600k, while tungsten is 3200k. Putting CTO on your tungsten lights outside is going to make the color difference even greater, and the tungsten lights will appear even more orange.
Click to expand...

Ditto....your best option...
 
Thanks everyone! Off to the rental shop for that silk. I already have two reflector boards. Will I need an eye light?
 
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