Outdoor Light Intensity

F

Fidelio

Active member
Hello,

Before now I have primarily kept my shoots indoors, but for my next project I will be shooting a short narrative outdoors on a grass field.

Now, my worry is the differences in light intensity between footage that I will shoot at say 9 compared to footage I will shoot at 3, all of which I will cut together as one cohesive, continuous short.

Are there any manual ways or some sort of metering device for digital video of keeping track of the exposure balance to keep the image looking the same at 3 as it does at 9?

I'm planning to shoot it with the XL1.
 
3 and 9? You first need to begin working in f/stops to accurately balance your exposure.

It is a rule of thumb that as long as your contrast ratio is the same, your exposure doesn't have to be consistent. Basically, the amount of fill compared to the key source, creates a ratio, the higher the number, the more contrast you have.

What time of day will you be shooting? You will most likely have to shoot over several days, at the same time of day, or during the morning, and then again in the afternoon.

Fill us in a little on some details, and I'm sure we could help you out more.
 
You might be able to get away with shooting 9 and 3 or something like that, by rotating the actors to keep the light coming from the same side. If that is not an option shooting over multiple days might be best.

Try not to shoot at noon, it will not match with more side like lighting from other times of day and usually looks like sh*t anyway.

I second more details.
 
What details might you guys be looking for?

I only have one day to shoot, two days at most if people are available for the second day, and it will be a day long shoot outdoors on a grassy slope from about 9 AM to maybe 5 PM.

I am primarily a director and I have no technical understanding of lighting whatsoever, I'm still an amateur learning the craft and thus it is why I have decided to consult the experts here.

I understand that the lighting will be different throughout the day, so I was just wondering what I could do in-camera or with lighting that I can try to keep it looking as consistent as possible over the course of the day, in other words, keep the contrast ratio or exposure relatively the same through adjustments with the aperture and shutter... maybe?

I really don't have much clue of the technicalities... I'm sorry if I did not offer enough technical information...
 
Fidelio, are you a one man crew on this one ? I ask , because the use of silks, and overheads/butterflies would certainly add to your consistancy lighting wise. A couple of grips added to your crew and 3-4 hundred bucks for rental equipment could solve this issue.
Your location does seem like an ackward place to set up gear like this, but it's been done.
My 2 cents.
My comments are intended for use when talent is involved, obviously, wide shots of fields would be quite a different animal.
 
Last edited:
if you don't have the budget for some serious HMI lights or silks to diffuse the sun, then your next best bet would be to shoot on a cloudy day. Nature's diffusion is the best kind there is, and its free too!
 
Details that are important to know:

1) Crew size
2) Shoot duration... are we talking 2 or more pages of dialog? The shorter the script/scene... the more you can likely get out of this scenario successfully. If you are shooting a 15 min short with many shots and setups you are in trouble.

3) Resources... can you get 12x12 or likewise butterfly kits to diffuse the light? What are your limitations?

These things are key amongst others. Let us know more.

As far as exposure, unless you are shooting at sunrise or sunset, the scene will not have dramatic shifts in exposure unless a cloud passes infront of the sun and whatnot. Your biggest challenge is infact the position of the sun. Actors who are back, side or front lit in the morning will soon enough be top lit and eventually back, side or front lit in the opposite manner again.
 
From the sound of your project, I would recommend the following:

1. Good planning. Write out every shot, time will be your enemy and you don't want to be making up your shots as you go on top of everything else your into. Take time in pre-production to study the light throughout the day on your set. Bring out your camera and some stand ins and begin to comp and get a feel for exposure. ND filter is your friend.

2. As Andrew stated, the most important thing about exposure is to keep it as even as possible. For what you are doing, I would recommend setting your camera to auto iris to see what it says, then locking the iris down for your shot. White balance often to compensate for the shift in color temp as the day wears on. And as mentioned always be aware of the direction your light is coming from. If you find yourself shooting the last two shots of a previous scene 6 hours later you will have to get creative and "move" your light source or comp tight and move your actors.But if you keep everything evenly lit you will have some breathing room in post to bring shots up and down and color correct.

3. I would recommend having at least one grip (person who is handy), a white board (poster board), a shiny board (with aluminum foil taped to it), and something to use as a flag (dark, light absorbent). These are the basic tools for delivering bounced sunlight into dark areas of the frame (usually faces), and cutting off light when one particular area is over exposed. Most cameras have a function that will display little line patterns in the areas that are overexposed, use it.

Again, plan, plan, plan. Think out how you will get the shots you need in the time you have.

Good luck.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top