Lightning.... the ol' pain.

[Ryan Patrick O'Hara]

So here I am again, requesting the opinions of my peers.

Lightning.

I need to have some. Not sure the best way to go about it.

I am not going to do this in post. If anything, I'll do a real 'flash' and help it along in post. Post can't mold the proper shadows and highlights that occur when lightning go off, unless you roto the difference in, which takes a long time.

So with that said, do I use a high powered flash photography bulb within an umbrella? Do I use a light shutter? Two years ago, I had a bout with lightning. I tried to hook up 2 2k's to a flicker box which boasted lightning capabilities... looked awful. We ended up abandoning lightning on that production. It's round two and I'm looking to master the fish that got away.

Help me replicate lightning. The biggest light I can get is a 1.2k hmi. Do those huge photography bulbs work? Can I get the duration of flash longer then a typical flash? I know photography, but I never light with flashes so those are new to me. (Not talking about onboard flash, talking about those large umbrella flashes)

Thanks in advance.

Can't wait to hear what you guys think. :beer:

 

[j]

Ryan,

Depends on your budget.


If you can afford it, get lightning strikes.

If you have no budget, you can gather every camera with a flash you can find and get a bunch of volunteers to set them off at once. It looks very convincing on a budget. This won't work with CMOS sensors.

Yes, flash bulbs will work too. They should work with CMOS sensors as the flash lasts a little longer.

A flicker box on a 2k won't work. The ramp up and down is too slow, and the color temp is off.

If all you can afford is a 1,200, you can just rent manual shutters. They're very cheap but can look quite realistic. I'd recommend putting one on a 1200 full flood for the foreground, and one on a 1200 spot on the background, a wall, hillside or tree. This will help sell the lightning effect lighting up the whole area, not just the foreground.

Try Wooden Nickel up in Burbank.

 

[Ryan Patrick O'Hara]

A flicker box on a 2k won't work. The ramp up and down is too slow, and the color temp is off.

Hahaha! Yeah, hence the epic fail I had two years ago!

Thank goodness we are not shooting CMOS. I am a CCD man all the way.

Wooden nickel is the rental house we are committed to.

What is a "lightning strike"? Never seen one of those you speak of. The shutter might be my best bet. I'll see if Mole Richardson can hook me up, and then I'll check with Wooden.