How to shoot from indoor to outdoor?

L

Lor

Well-known member
I was wondering how the pro shoot a scene where the camera and the actors are inside the house or a shade but the background of the actors are in the sun light or outdoor. How do I prevent the background or outdoor trees or landscape from being blown out when shooting inside a house or shade?
 
If you indoors looking outdoors, you cud stick ND gels to the windows... or you were outside, you could shoot with a large silk or net(?) behind them to bring it down a few stops.

Hope that helps in some way!

Tom.
 
Thanks for the response. It's not always the window...it could be the door too. If I put a large silk or net behind the actor, do the silk or net show up in the camera as just silk or net?
 
You've got to equalize the light somehow. Typically that would mean either using very powerful daylight-colored light indoors, or using a silk or net overhead to cut the amount of light falling on the background. You wouldn't put the silk in the shot, it's something that goes overhead and shades the scene. Unless you're talking about a huge net and it'll be completely out of focus in the shot, then you could put it in the scene.
 
I may have used the wrong term when i mentioned a silk behind... but i have seen some photos of an interview shot outdoors where there was some kind of netting behind the subject that brought the background down a few stops... thats what i meant anyway! :D
Bringing the light levels up indoors or near the subject would also be a good one!

Tom
 
Most productions that attempt this (even big budget shows) restrict it to night shots, or shots on a stage, because, per Barry's post, it is much easier to "equalize the light" in those situations.
 
Thanks for all the input. If the shot is out side then using a net or silk overhead is plausible; however, if the shot is inside looking out then it's hard to put silk or net overhead something that can be seen as far as the eyes can see. So, the next thing to do is hauling powerful daylight-colored light indoors to take the shot. However, if the light indoor and outdoor are now equalized, will that means I have to increase the f-stop since now it's too bright? And if I increase the f-stop, will that means I lose some depth of field? Perhaps, I may not care too much about depth of field if I want to also include outdoor with the indoor scene?

However, the biggest issue is mostly these places don't have electricity so hauling powerful light is next to impossible.
 
Lor said:
However, if the light indoor and outdoor are now equalized, will that means I have to increase the f-stop since now it's too bright? And if I increase the f-stop, will that means I lose some depth of field? Perhaps, I may not care too much about depth of field if I want to also include outdoor with the indoor scene?
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You can always use ND filters to compensate for that.

Lor said:
However, the biggest issue is mostly these places don't have electricity so hauling powerful light is next to impossible.
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To get anything that's strong enough to combat the sun you're not gonna be depending on household plug anyway. A generator is pretty much a must.
 
Thanks for all the input. Just curious, how powerful will the generator has to be?
 
Lor said:
Thanks for all the input. Just curious, how powerful will the generator has to be?
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Well, traditionally to fight daylight you need at least a 4k HMI. And you would never get exactly a 4kw generator so probably more like a 5500kw. And it would have to be crystal sync to work with the HMI fixture.
 
I see. Thanks. I'll check out the generator when the time comes...I believe renting is a better option.
 
Like Barry, said, you would need to use 5600K daylight balanced lights indoors so the indoor light will white balance the same as the outdoor light. An ND filter on the windows would just decrease the amount of light that comes through the window into the room by a certain number of stops.
 
Thanks for the input.

Besides the already mentioned above methods, any other creative ways to shoot with absolutely not artificial light?

One other creative way without using any artificial light is creating a set that looks like a house/room but without roof or use some silk or net so the light can easily be balance.
 
All good advice but let me throw in a cheaper option... tell the director to stage it in such a way that you don't have to do any of that... Simply shoot in one environment and creatively transfer to another. Say the people, leave the room (and the frame) then you cut to the shot outside where you changed your exposure to compensate for extra light. That way you don't have to play around with what's not "important" - the lighting and complicated generators, gripology and concentrate on the real beef - the performances.
 
I have a big roll of plastic "gel" that is orange (minus blue to correct daylight to tungsten) and also has a couple of stops of ND to reduce the overall brightness. It works in many places except where the exterior is very brightly lit (on the south side during mid-day.)
 
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