Match 3200K with Daylight

O

oneinfiniteloop

Veteran
What's the best way to match 3200K lights to daylight coming through a window with lots of stickers/posters on it (i.e. club window)? Gel the lights with CTB? Any suggestions?

The lights are 2 Arri 650 fresnel, an 1000w open face with Chimera softbox, plus 2 100w Arri's if needed.
 
You can gel the lights with CTB, and lose a good percentage of your light.
Or depending on the size of the window you could consider gelling the window with CTO, timing the daylight to tungsten.

You can also probably get away with using 1/2 CTB or even 1/4 on the lights instead.
It will get you close enough to daylight, but won't lose as much light as using a full CTB gel will. Plus the interior will look a bit warmer, which can be nice if that works for your particular shoot.
 
I'd gel the windows with CTO if that's a possibility. Depending on which direction you're shooting, it can be tough to overpower the sun without HMIs.

EDIT: You beat me, you damned Wookie.:)
 
So, in theory, if I block the majority of the lights coming from outside and only leave a small section exposed, I can gel this small section with CTO and be good, even if there is a little spill from outside?

What about overhead flouro's? I think I can turn them off, but if I can't?

This is turning into a lighting nightmare!
 
Hmmm... well, turn them off if you can.
If you can't, then you could gel those with a Minus Green gel - not sure how strong...all depends on the temp of the lamps I guess.

If you're going to have to block the light coming from outside - I would say forget it and go with a daylight balance. Gel your lights with CTB (or 1/2 CTB) and gel the Fluoros to match daylight if you can't turn them off.

Seems like it might be the easiest way to go - but you'll lose a decent amount of power from your lights that way.

Your other option is to replace the lamps in the fluoros with daylight tubes.
But that can get expensive.
 
Yeah, and the flouros are like 20-30 feet up...very high cielings. I think I can turn them off, and most of the front window is covered in posters (it's a indy coffeehouse) so I think I can handle that.

I might shoot the scenes both ways, gel on the window, and gel on the lights...problem is that I don't know how much gel I have available. If I block most of the daylight, will I get a decent shot without using gels on them? Or will this conflict too much with the 3200k lights?
 
If you block the daylight completely (blacking out the windows) then it's not an issue at all. You can light with your Arris and just use a 3200K white balance.

If you have some spill, then whatever spill of daylight coming in will register as blue light is you're shooting at 3200K white balance.

Without seeing the location it's hard to tell you what would be easiest - blocking the daylight, gelling the windows, or using the daylight. But those are basically your 3 options.


It also depends what this is for, and how long you'll be shooting.
If you try to use the daylight, keep in mind that it's going to change throughout the day.
Sometimes it's easier to block out all daylight and light the scene yourself - so that you'll have a controlled set all day long.
 
Well, Luis, maybe I need to fly you out to Jacksonville, FL for Saturday and get me a DP...what's your rates?

OK, just kidding...it'd be nice though. The rental has sucked me dry. I'll probably just try my best to black out the windows...buy a big black tarp and tape that up...this budget seems to keep going in the wrong direction...up!
 
How big are the windows you need to cover? I may be able to get you some nice heavy black vinyl that I have used for just this purpose.
 
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