Lighting in a warehouse

[PhilC]

Hello,
My challenge is to light a warehouse that has many skylights and banks of fluorescents. Tracking actors as they enter and meander leading to an area where most of the scene will take place. Using 300,600, 1k and china ball.
How do I balance the natural light with the artificial?
Thanks,
Phil

 

[paulears]

In a factory situation, I don't think you can. The solution I have always done is to white balance to the most prominent light source - so it could be the real light, or the flu. You will get colour fringes in the shadows, or where the two sources land on the subject - but it's only a problem when the wrong one is suddenly colour balanced to. If you balance to the flus - then the odd patch of sunlight just looks cold and a bit hard. The other way around has a less pleasant shift on white surfaces to my eyes. I tend to balance and then use the preset that matches best - and keep using it. Using the flu as the main source also means that if the sun outside changes from blue sky to cloud, the indoor colour balance is still fine.

 

[PhilC]

Cool, thanks for the advice.

 

[wgzn]

i always look for the most common source of mixed temps. balance to that and moderate it in the cc stage in post

 

[PhilC]

Thanks for the response. Good advice.

 

[Postmaster]

You don´t have to.
I actually love to shoot mixed light situations and often provoke them with gels.
If you need constant skin tones on your talents, dial in the faces by hand, let everything else fall in place and have an assistant carry a kino or china ball with them, when they move.

And get a haze machine - every warehouse looks better in haze.

 

[Al MacLeod]

Use the different color temps as a tool to advance the story. Sequence the lights to add to and reinforce the plot.

 

[Dan Frank]

I shot the above in a warehouse on a dvx 100b using two kino full two banks. I borrowed spare fluorescents from the ware house that matched the interior fluorescent fixtures and used them in the kino banks for the office scene. In the warehouse scene I turned off all the warehouse lights and used daylight fluorescents in the kino banks and the natural light from bay doors behind and in front of the camera.