Lighting the Desert...

J

Johnny5

Member
Hello! I'm going to be filming out in the desert (on a dry lake, and later in dunes) and am looking to get some advice from those with experience in regards to what types of issues arise when filming in such a location. I haven't had extensive experience when it comes to lighting, so I'd appreciate any advice you can throw at me. I'm thinking about using mainly bounce cards for fill and letting the sun do most of the work but my concern is that it will be too harsh (going to be shooting mid-day). Is using a diffusing scrim typical to tone down the sunlight? I'm also assuming I'll have to use ND filters (maybe graduated ND's?) to prevent the sky from blowing out. Any tips?

Thanks...
John
 
Filming in the desert is tedious, draining, and subject to the unexpected. Be sure to get a rain slicker or other protection for your camera -- you *have* to keep dust out; it will cause massive dropouts as well as weasel its way into your focus and zoom rings, etc. Seal up your camera as best you can.

The desert can be completely unpredictable -- we spent five days out there earlier this year and got hit with swarms of killer bees, gusts of wind, clouds, bikers, a bomb exploding at the air force base nearby, bugs bugs bugs, etc.

There can also be a lot of sounds, especially at night. Be prepared for that too.

If you're shooting in the daytime, your most useful lighting accessories are going to be reflectors and maybe a silk on an overhead or butterfly frame. Reflectors should be hard board surfaces, you don't want to try shooting outdoors with flex-fills. Get some heavy-duty yoke-mounted boards, some heavy stands, and some weight (sandbags) to weigh them down with.

If you're shooting with the sun at your back, some fill light from the reflectors will go a long way towards cutting the contrast and giving a nice look. If you're shooting into the sun, you'll need some major bounce to bring the light level up to keep the sky from blowing out.

If you want a soft key light you can use an overhead/butterfly with a mild silk, but it'll cut your exposure significantly -- which can lead to overexposed backgrounds and blown-out skies. Instead you can use the soft side of a silver reflector, or a white bounce board, to bounce some softer light on your subject.

Will you have the flexibility to reposition your subject so that the light's where you want it? Or will you have to be chasing the sun? Be aware that the sun moves QUICKLY; once you set a reflector you may only have a very short while to get the shot before the sun moves and the reflector isn't working anymore.

Graduated NDs are great for landscape shots, less valuable for talking heads etc -- if you can frame a shot such that the sky is isolated to a horizontal band of your frame, then yes a graduated ND is a great tool to have. Otherwise it can make things tricky.

Consider a polarizer as well; it'll help cut glare and darken skies depending on your angle to the sun (if you're shooting directly into or directly away from the sun, a polarizer will be useless; if you're shooting at a 90-degree angle to the sun a polarizer can be quite effective).

Shooting mid-day is the ugliest time to be shooting outdoors; the sun is directly overhead and makes for some very unflattering shadows. You can compensate with a white bounce into your subject's face (on closeups) or maybe a silk to soften it up (with the aforementioned caveat that you may end up overexposing the background). The more you can time things such that the sun isn't directly overhead, the better-looking your shots will be.

If at all possible, practice practice practice before getting out there...
 
The other great thing about a big butterfly when shooting in the open is that your talent and crew can have a place to get out of the direct sun. A shoot that I was on in June for a music video for a French band was on the cliffs above the ocean just down the coast from Morro Bay. The park department wouldn't let us get our production vehicles down to the location (other than one car which was in the shot) so we set up a spare 20' x 20' frame and used it over the craft services table. Everyone was happy to hide out under it when the sun was beating down on them. We even improvised a little protected area under one corner of the frame to be used by the film loader (kept them out of the direct sun and blowing dust). Keeping things clean and organized is one of the bigger challenges when shooting in any dusty area.
 
I Echo everything Barry said, and there are few other things to think about as well.

First I'll tell you that outdoor shoots suck ass for video. It can be a nightmare! You really have to think hard about your time of day and the scenes you're shooting, so they will cut - rememebr that your light, and more importantly, the ANGLE if that light is changing every 15 minutes! try and time the days relative to what time they take place in the script, which means you may be shooting the same setup three or four mornings in a row to have the same light so things will cut, especially if you have shaddows that will show in the shots.

You may want to consider taking a greenscreen out there for you coverage - if the budget allows. That way you can take footage with sky properly exposed and throw in the characters in post, though they were filmed there in same place just with a greenscreen so the exposure could be right on them while having the same lighting angles from the sun and the same room tone. This will trip everyone out and have them asking how you got that to look so good. a 12x12 chromakee is around 275 at Norms and worth every penny.

In addition to the grad and polariser, you might want to consider a coral filter to add real color and zest to the horizon for any establishing shots, particularly morning or evening.

You may wish to take a clear filter to protect the lens from blowing sand scratching it. ANd try and keep the camera in the shad as much as possible.

Umbrellas!

if you have to do any walking a ways, you may want to get everyone a canteen and belt, and the day before have everyone fill them
3/4s full of water and put them in the freezer, in the morning add water till full. Crews that are carrying a lot of stuff should have two canteens.

If you're going to a federal park area GET A PERMIT!!!! I been on gigs where the producer got a 500 dollar fine!! ANd I've heard of fines as much 2,000!!!

Plan ahead in case of accidents or snake bites - have a map and numbers to the nearest clinic or hospital.

Tell all the talents and crews NO PERFUME OR COLOGNE! Seriously, it attracts bugs.
You may want to have cordless leaf blower on hand for crucial scenes. This may help you if it is windy and times and not others to match up in the cut, and can also assist in getting bugs away from talent during a shot, though it'll require ADR.

If the crew is big enough and you're there long enough you may want to bring some picnic tents for comfort and shade.

SUNSCREEN!!!!!!!!!!!!

and also SUNSCREEN!!!!!!!!

and oh yeah, did I mention SUNSCREEN!!!!!!!!!!

WHen doing outdoors shoots it pays to find out ahead of time if anyone is alergic to bee stings or if anyone has history of seizures.

Best of luck my friend, I hope all this info doesn't scare you, it's still a lot of fun when it all goes right.
 
khmuse said:
....above the ocean just down the coast from Morro Bay. The park department wouldn't let us get our production vehicles down to the location (other than one car which was in the shot) so we set up a spare 20' x 20' frame and used it over the craft services table. Everyone was happy to hide out under it when the sun was beating down on them.
Click to expand...

Yeah those Morro Bay tempertaures are murder, huh? :laugh:
 
Wow. Thanks so much for the quick replies...that's a ton of great info...although I think I'm scared now :). I hadn't really even considered the more practical issues...like bugs. I can just imagine having a whole group of already irritable cast and crew getting swarmed by flies and bees...not fun. I like the idea of bringing a greenscreen along to compensate for tricky exposure. I'm heading out to the location this week with the camera to do some tests so I guess I'll see how it goes. I'll let you know how it turns out...

-John
 
John_Hudson said:
Yeah those Morro Bay tempertaures are murder, huh? :laugh:
Click to expand...

Actually the place was 'Montana de Oro' and like Morro Bay doesn't have high temperatures (even in the summer). The place is wide and open and without a tree in sight, shooting there from sun up to sunset even with sunscreen, everyone was starting to turn rather pink. The butterfly was the only haven we had.

Hmmm, complaining about being on the coast shooting all day instead of being in the air conditioned office; I guess I am turning into a bit of a wimp in my old age! :undecided
 
Another small point: I'm not sure if this is fiction or non-fiction, i.e. a documentary or short/feature production, and whether there are people involved in front of the cam. This may effect how you want to handle make-up:
If, for instance, it will be extremely hot, and your characters have some costume or some such, you may need to correct profuse sweating, as it may not look good. Of course, that also might be a desired effect depending on what exactly it is you are aiming for.

Just another thought.
 
Remember lots of water and different changes of clothes. The desert has its own strange weather system. Can be blazing hot during the day and freezing cold at night.
The desert and dunes make for such awesome landscapes. Its very breath taking. But the dunes around mid day become very flat with no shadows. The beautiful rolling hills get lost with the high midday sun. You might want to plan your days with wide shots in the morning and in the afternoon with close ups shot during mid day. I agree with everyones comments above about equipment. 12x12's, silks, griffs, reflectors, b-boards. Not unless you have the means to get a 4K and a genny out there. Good Luck, Hope this helps.
 
I live in the desert and everything said is good advice. I don't know about lighting, but my camera has already been kinda F***** up by the sand. My focus ring sounds kinda grainy if ya know what I mean. I even have a rain slicker, the sand is sneaky! If you're out there and the camera isn't covered your pretty much ****ed. I heard it's $800 to clean my camera, anyone else heard of it being that much?
 
Hudson ain't kiddin'

sarlacc2dc.jpg
 
Great advice in this thread! We custom built a 20x40' lite gridcloth for light control and the comfort of the crew. Set your south-southwest side with a griff or lite gridcloth (studier than polys) for an even key throughout the day, filming out the open backside to the desert beyond.

When our operators (camera, audio, grips and gaffers) spend a lot of time in windy and sunny conditions, Camelbaks ($18 - $80) make thoughtful and much-appreciated gifts - remind your team to stay hydrated, drinking even when they're not thirsty.

On the racetrack set this summer, we each consumed over thirty litres of Gatorade and water per day, so definitely assign a craft services person to even the smallest desert shoot to keep the crew safe.

e
 
This one no one has mentioned yet, but you may need to think about it even though it's not something we like to think about:

People need to take rest room breaks from time to time. In a dry lake bed area there are no places like bushes for people to go hide behind. Not a problem for most guys but it is for gals. If you're out there all day you may need to rent a porta-john, or at least take some type of portable shower curtain and one of those cheapo portable jons. If you use these make sure they're set a fair distance from the staging and shooting areas, and not down wind of craft services or all the food will taste like crap! :(
 
ONe other thing, not eactly lighting but....

The desert is one huge place, if I remeber right Lawernce of Arbia was shot on 65mm film. I tell you this because of the great expanse your shooting in. Use the format with the most detail you can.
 
If you are going to use a butterfly, look into getting light grid material instead of a silk. A silk is too thick and your contrast ratio will be better with light grid cloth. For closeups in bright daylight, I use a 4x frame of opal as close to the subject as I can get it. This softens the direct sunlight just enough, but doesn't make it look like they are in shade. A 12, or 20x of opal like material would be a great invention.
 
Just wanted to let everyone know that we've had our first desert shoot and all of your info was put to use yielding some great shots. Funny thing is that the lighting looked great and despite all my worryiing our real problem was the WIND! By the afternoon the wind had become downright gale-force and we had to close up shop. It chopped the hell out of a lot of our audio and we had to lose some shots. And despite my best efforts at keeping the camera covered in a makeshift rainslicker a tiny bit of dust did get into the focus ring...it's barely noticeable, but it's there and warrants a cleaning. Great shots, but you pay a price...

-John
 
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