Shooting against driver side car window- typical ND

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Peem Washikiat

Active member
Aloha Folks,

I'm embarking on a spontaneous road trip next week through Nevada desert and will be filming the driver. I was hoping to get some feedback on the use of ND gel to keep the background in acceptable exposure. I don't have any gels to test with yet and would like any hints on what amount of Fstop I should be looking at. Im racing the clock so educated and experienced guesses are welcome. Don't have a lot of $ for gel sheets so Im hoping to hit the right stop close and order from BH.
Thanks for your help.
Cheers
 
ND will also make the driver darker...especially if the windows are tinted. Unless you're lighting the driver, you might as well let the background overexpose.
 
I'm not sure, it really depends on the time of day, and luminance of background elements; but I'd assume at least 4 stops (ND 1.2). Setting up a couple small LED lights will help you maintain a constant exposure and bring your subject closer to the outdoor light value.
 
You need a portable battery operated LED light, that allows for control of the lights intensity as well as adjustable color balance. Light the driver and adjust the color to match the exterior light and you will get a perfectly exposed shot without getting an over exposed background. Be sure you can adjust the color balance, or use an exterior balanced light. Forget ND filters and gels. If you cannot afford an LED light, you might try reflecting light on to the driver, which may not be too easy, but possible.
 
JRJphoto said:
ND will also make the driver darker...especially if the windows are tinted. Unless you're lighting the driver, you might as well let the background overexpose.
Click to expand...

The title of the thread indicates that the driver will be shot against his side window. If the OP was to ND that window, it wouldn't affect the camera-facing exposure on the driver, just whatever ambient or sun would be backlighting him. That is actually a very effective way to achieve a balanced image. Without adding any lighting I'd recommend N.9 to N1.2 depending on time of day and type of topography outside windows.

The caveats of using ND is that as you start to lose ambience at end of day, you may foreshorten your shooting opportunities as you will run out of exposure earlier. And you have to do a solid job taping it to the car so you don't get wrinkles or flapping in the wind. And of course it will have to be removed if you plan to shoot at night. Depending on the lens in use, you may need to add some to the driver's rear window, and this setup would preclude panning from driver to the view through windshield without some nimble iris pulling.

For most car work I use flexible LED taped to the ceiling (we use Lightribbon but there are many brands out there such as Aladdin) to augment and smooth things out. For this scenario I'd have one unit on the ceiling inbetween the seats and another on the driver's visor. Generally I wouldn't consider this enough to bring up ambient on the subject to where it could balance to the exterior, especially if the sun is behind camera, but it will improve things by 1-2 stops and restore some missing level (the camera and operator will block ambient from the passenger window). So a combination of this lighting plus a light ND (N.6) may deliver best results.
 
Ok. I'll be shooting with the DVX200, keeping camera movement to a minimum. I've read that applying gel with a little dish soap works.

Thanks again for the input folks!
 
My apologies: I don't know how I didn't read that the OP specificaly said ND GEL. Completely stupid response on my part. That's what I get for speedreading threads on my phone.
 
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