I can't these shots Right! I NEED SOME HELP!!

[Richard J. Johnson]

I am shooting a feature Length Film. Now here is the problem that I can't seem to figure out. When the actor is in front of a window or opening a door, The light outside is blown out. when the door is shut the shot looks great when the door is opened it is solid white out side. OR outside of windows are pure white. I am using a DVX100a with the Letus Extreme. I tried changing the iris level and that worked but the subject was way too dark. And when I change the F-stop on the lens, same thing. Do I light the subject inside and intermix day light and tungsten? It is driving me crazy and ruining my shots. My shots look great with Artificial lighting, and they look fine outside but when I use both I am losing. This is my first film so Please forgive my Ignorance. Any help would really be appreciated.

 

[David Jimerson]

Daylight is much, much brighter than you think it is, compared to indoor lighting.

In order to match the exposure between your indoor subject and the outdoor lighting, you either have to light your subject much brighter, or do something to take the outdoor brightness down.

It's far easier to light your indoor subject with much more light.

Yes, the conflicting color temperatures will be an issue; this is what CTB (color to blue) gel is for. What you would do is light your subject indoors with tungsten lighting gelled with CTB. (There are different grades of CTB; the more blue it gets, the more it diminishes the brightness of your lights.)

Or, you can use CTO (color to orange) gels on the windows. This will change the color temp of the light coming in from outdoors, and it will also darken the light, so it does two things for you. But you need a LOT of gel for that, and you can't really use it if you're going to have an open door or something like that.

You could also use neutral density gel on the windows, but it doesn't change the color temp, and the same difficulties apply.

So, the easiest thing to do is to light your subject more brightly, gelled blue.

 

[Richard J. Johnson]

Thank You so much! That makes complete sense. I will order my gels today.