indoor daylight/natural light settings...

I

Ian Schneider

Member
I'm shooting a scene tomorrow for an online art magazine promo spot thing, and wanted to uitilize the natural light in the one bedroom sized room that I'll be shooting this painter in. The room has two windows, which I believe would provide more than enough light. The cuts will be like a second or two, so I dont really need any fancy dramatic lighting. Any suggestings for scene settings? I will be shooting either in 30p or 60i. I would like to have some continuity between this shoot and the others I will be doing for the spot, some of which will require a lighting set up. Any ideas??
 
no your not late, my shoot got bumped back a little bit... anyways, thanks for the response! so why 30p, besides the obvious aesthetic benefit? any other insights? i've been messing around with this thing on and off for a while, but am just now starting to get serious, so ANY pointers are very welcome and wont insult me at all...
 
try doing a Google search, but everyone i know shoots progressive especially for the web. interlace is or is almost impossible to encode from what i hear. i'm by no means an expert, but that's what experts have told me. good luck.
 
I love windows as a source. They are large and your subject is usually near so the lighting casts soft shadows. Stand by a window with one palm up and then touch it with the index finger of your other hand pointing straight down and see for yourself. Repeat this little exercise with a typical room incandescent at night and notice how sharp those shadows are. Window light also comes in with a lot of horizontal component and I like that look too.

Well, I should say that window light is hell to deal with if the direct sun is coming in, but in all other cases it's nice and smooth. Use it as a key light and often there will be enough scatter from that window and the other window that you will have decent fill. In fact, you will probably have to set a flag, 4X4 floppies are ideal, for some negative fill on the fill side to increase the contrast across the face. Or not.

Go to Google images and punch in Vermeer. Old Johannes posed a lot of his subjects near a window and the lighting on their faces, clothing and props is beautiful.

BTW, if you're into lighting or cinematography it's a great idea to find not only DPs whose work you love -- I'll take Nestor Almendros and Roger Deakins, for starters -- but old masters whose paintings you love as well and study how they lit them. I adore Vermeer, Rembrandt, Titian and John Singer Sargent.

I almost forgot, window light from a blue sky is very blue indeed so you'll have to cope with that and windows are bright compared to your room so if you're going to include the window in the shot put your subject right next to it so you don't have a couple of stops or more difference between the window and your subject's face.
 
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