Shooting in the snow

D

Dli151

Member
Hey i have this fourty-five minute feature im Dping, its a fourteen day shoot and two of thoses day will be in the snow the rest are interiors and during the fall. My question is if its going to be as hard to exposes as i think it is. with balancing for my subjects the snow,and the sky. my other concern is the main actress is black, and her counterpart is white ive already done a couple of shoots where i had too shoot this senario, but never in the snow. Just really want to know if you guys had any suggestions, cause i usally just expose for the white actor and just added a dedicated lamp for the black actor, and this has been inside. Now is having lamps outside in the snow a bad idea, we will have a 3 ton truck so we will have things like heavy duty bounce. Im not sure if that will help cause the snow will give me a flat look because its reflective right? Plus im in pittsburgh and we only get 52 days of sun a year im not sure if i want to wait and hope the sun comes out any advice will be helpful. It is my first feature with a budget and i just want it to as good as possible. im shooting hvx with m2 encore will have nd trying to get one with gradian. will be using fog filter not sure if for whole thing yet. tbx in advance.
 
Dli151 said:
My question is if its going to be as hard to exposes as i think it is. with balancing for my subjects the snow,and the sky. my other concern is the main actress is black, and her counterpart is white ive already done a couple of shoots where i had too shoot this senario, but never in the snow.
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This would be difficult even for film which has a greater latitude... There is texture in snow... The 'white' human subject is about 1-2 stops lower in value than the snow, and your 'black' human subject is probably 2-3 stops lower.

I think selective screening from 'sun' if it exists at the shoot, over the 'white' subject, and some bounce to soften the the subject's 'dark sockets' for eyes, would help. (Or sunglasses, because of the high 'light' environment, people squint in snow... unless it is a very murky, muddy day...)

For the 'black' subject, perhaps some powder to lower the shine (again if it is a bright sunshine day...), and perhaps some form of bounce from the side to give the person's face contours (presumably this is not a nude or near naked shoot, so only the faces are problematic... obviously use clothing that is less of a contrast with the back ground, but still sufficient to have detail...).
 
lairhair said:
Dont want to sound like everyone else on this site but if you search this you will find your answer.
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I did went to search and typed in snow nothing.might be cause i dont have internet and doing this from my T9 phone thx for your help.
 
j1clark@ucsd.edu said:
This would be difficult even for film which has a greater latitude... There is texture in snow... The 'white' human subject is about 1-2 stops lower in value than the snow, and your 'black' human subject is probably 2-3 stops lower.

I think selective screening from 'sun' if it exists at the shoot, over the 'white' subject, and some bounce to soften the the subject's 'dark sockets' for eyes, would help. (Or sunglasses, because of the high 'light' environment, people squint in snow... unless it is a very murky, muddy day...)

For the 'black' subject, perhaps some powder to lower the shine (again if it is a bright sunshine day...), and perhaps some form of bounce from the side to give the person's face contours (presumably this is not a nude or near naked shoot, so only the faces are problematic... obviously use clothing that is less of a contrast with the back ground, but still sufficient to have detail...).
Click to expand...
Hey i wanna say thanks for your help it will really help me in choosing how i shoot scenes, and in choosing what gear I take out those days.
 
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