Importance of extra lights while shooting outdoors on a bright sunny day?

X

xhridhar

Active member
I am wondering whether one needs big lighting equipment whilst shooting outdoors on a bright sunny day?

Scenes - mainly hand to hand combat rapid action scenes with some running involved.

Some close ups and medium shots with dialogue .

Does one need a lot of lights and consequently a generator to power them or let the sun provide the light and just use Battery powered LEDs in addition for the close ups?

What do you folks do?
 
On a sunny day and a budget you're better off using reflectors, silks and bounce. You can buy them on collapsable frames at B&H or Adorama, I believe it's Impact that makes the nice cheap ones. On a cloudy day you might want to bring out the lights.
 
xhridhar said:
I am wondering whether one needs big lighting equipment whilst shooting outdoors on a bright sunny day?

Scenes - mainly hand to hand combat rapid action scenes with some running involved.

Some close ups and medium shots with dialogue .

Does one need a lot of lights and consequently a generator to power them or let the sun provide the light and just use Battery powered LEDs in addition for the close ups?

What do you folks do?
Click to expand...

You would do better to use bounce and screens. Any 'light' enough to match up with 'sun light', would require a generator on a trailer...

Look at the BTS clips on DVD/BD films, and one will often see 'outdoor' shots, that consist of several 10-20K Watt lights, and even then bounce and screens set up on frames.

Alternatively, schedule your fight/running scenes in late afternoon, and use bounce cards running along out of the field of view of the camera.

Wide shots may have large bounce screens behind the camera in some cases, but most likely are too big to handle for a small crew...
 
Unless you can afford a big generator and big HMI's you are better off working with and molding the light you have.
 
you'll have to put the light like literally in there face.
unless you get some hmi's and a gennie like Paul said.

Reflectors or negative fill (flag) will work.
or pray for overcast weather. :)
 
Paul Hudson said:
Unless you can afford a big generator and big HMI's you are better off working with and molding the light you have.
Click to expand...

Bounce card, silks, reflectors, a compass (For location Scouting), up to date weather reports, sun light time tables, back up interior locations, careful scheduling and pre-planing, patience and a good sense of humor are all tools that one needs to shoot out doors with a low budget.


Noel Evans said:
Negative fill can also be your friend.
Click to expand...

I am finding that to be more and more true. I read the AC article about the making of "Tree of Life" and Emmanuel Lubezki ASC, AMC, talked about using Negative fill to help eliminate "Light Sandwiches". I have been thinking about that ever since; testing some methods of using negative fill. It is subtle, but really helps to shape the light, in many circumstances.


What I really want to add to my gear for shooting in daylight is a series of graduated ND filters. I think they would indispensable. If I had a buck for every time I was shooting outdoors and thought, "...Dang, I could really use a graduated ND for this shot...." I could afford a quality set!
 
I think I paid $50 for my ND grad, use it all the time.

Yes, in a perfect world 20' silks and a half dozen 12K HMIs would be awesome, but as noted you'll probably have to muddle through with some limited negative fill.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top