Mixed light environments, skin tones

[Essami]

Hi!

Recently I've been doing some small work that requires me to film in locations where there are various light sources that can't be controlled. In bars and restaurants where there are windows that let in daylight and loads of different practicals and I'm looking to open a discussion on how to get the best compromise in situations like this.

For example if you have large windows that flood in daylight but loads of practicals that are tungsten is it a good idea to go with 4500K white balance? Or would you normally choose either depending on the dominating light source if there is one clear winner?

Just recently I shot a scene in a small restaurant that had greenish color fluorescent in the kitchen, daylight pouring from the top, purple fluorescent on the walls and some weird super bright yellow lights at the counter. Needless to say I spent a good few hours color correcting all those shots to match!

This brings me to my other question. What kelvin white balance could one choose to portray this kind of situation as accurately as possible? Accurately meaning as close to how a person perceives it?

I'm looking to hear your experiences on the matter and how you usually choose to proceed in difficult situations like this?

 

[j1clark@ucsd.edu]

Hi!


Just recently I shot a scene in a small restaurant that had greenish color fluorescent in the kitchen, daylight pouring from the top, purple fluorescent on the walls and some weird super bright yellow lights at the counter. Needless to say I spent a good few hours color correcting all those shots to match!

Realistically you can not compensate for a large number of 'different' light sources by simple Kelvin adjustments. The Sun produces a 'continuous' spectrum, tungsten lights do as well... but fluorescents have 'spikes' which can't really be compensated by the one button adjustment.

Here's an illustration of various spectra for various sources of lighting...

 

[abreu-canedo]

If you are unable to change the bulbs in the incandescent practicals to daylight bulbs, or are unable to gel the practicals to daylight (between bulb and lamp shade or within the various fixtures), then you could potentially gel the restaurant windows to match your practicals. Just make sure you keep your action away from the window, so you can blur it out, a bit. Then you can white-balance to 3200K, or whatever you want.

That said, if you can control the light that hits your actors (making sure your actors are only lit by one type of light), then it can sometimes be nice to have a warmer subject, with a cooler field behind them...or vice-versa.

Worst comes to worst, just make it black & white

 

[morgan_moore]

Roll with it.

Personally I rarely take my camera off 5500.

For example an tungsten room and camera at 3200 with blue pouring through the windows in the background looks gross esp if those blue windows are over exposed.

A 5500k camera interview lit by a window with tungsten practicals behind looks like a shot from national geographic

A 5500 camera interview lit with a kino and tungsten pracs behind also looks great.

One trick is to keep colour pollution off your subject, for example an office might have a massive north light window and harsh tungsten spots, if one of these hits the subject it can look bad.. so turn em off or blackwrap the spot that will burn the subjects bald patch (or put a black flag over the subject).

Lurk in daylight therefore wherever possible.

Of course there are no rules you have to sniff out your location. In a windowless industrial kitchen lit by puke flouro you may be best to add green to your lights and shoot at 4500 or white balance to the ambient.

One thing that is cheap is gel. I shot yesterday in a tungsten lit (music) studio to which I added my own tungsten lights. There was, however, one daylight window in the space (I was told 'no windows' by the client!) it was trivial for me to add CTO to that single window, making all light sources 3200, as it happened I shot at 4500 because I felt that the scene read better with a warm tone.

Gelling a single window can be trivial, gelling an expanse of modern window office is nigh on impossible.. so you gotta roll location to location.

S