Shooting Outdoors In Sunny Conditions

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pilkiwilky

Member
Hey Guys,

I just got my HVX, so have no experience with this porblem, but on my DVX I always have problems shooting outside in bright sunny conditions. I always get over-exposed images and blown out skies. Is the HVX going to be any better or is ther some advice anyone can give me on the issue that is probably my fault.

thanks
 
You need to learn proper exposure dicipline. Buy a mattebox and ND grad filters if you still can't seem to balence you exposure.
 
I think the HVX will be just as "bad" if not "worse" in this regard. It is an inherent limitation of the lattitude of digital sensors--they can only handle a certain range, and daylight is way outa that range.

To address it (among other things), I would get a good set of ND filters; keep from filming the sky if possible; get a screen to diffuse the sunlight; throw reflected light onto the talent to bring up the dark areas.
 
I had a question along the lines of this thread. I am also shooting outside, quite a bit of boat stuff where hot spots are a dime a dozen. I wanted to know if anyone had any tips for settings that they liked on the camera. Which gamma setting provided the nicest image and if setting the knee point lower made a difference in the shot? Thanks for any info.
 
In Florida, we have to deal with the blinding sun on an ongoing basis.. and as I found out last year for the first time, HD really really hates blown out skies. I found them to get so nuked out it was far from Ideal. To compensate for this.. it's really about light management on your subject, along with proper filtering. We expereimented with some grad filters... that really worked nicely. Not sure of what we had as it was a full set of filters.. but we worked out a few favorites... One was like a 1 or 2 stop grad filter to about half way down the filter. We also used some sunset filters and a polarizing filter.

The other key thing that we did was to buy an 8x8 overhead butterfly. They aren't that expensive and they offer some great results. You can get them with several surfaces and when coupled with the shiny aluminum reflector surface.. you have one hell of a key light reflector.

What we commonly did was put either a 1 or 2 stop material on the overhead.. and we hung a 1 or 2 stop mess on the backside of the frame to cut down the background/sky. Ya have to experiement and the back material sometimes is a bit of trouble.. and for optimal results you should have a really really soft background.


With this overhead... it was also possible to combine some reflectors, kinos, and skrims/flags.
 
Thanks for those tips Justyn. I have been putting off shooting with the matte box(to my detriment I know) but now with HD like looks like I will have to bite the bullet. I am going to go that route with some graduated filters and see how that works out. As far as the butterfly etc, it is a pretty small boat that I am shooting out of and pratically it would be very difficult. But good to know and I appreciate the advice.
 
Jason, Sounds great. They do make smaller overheads as well. A 6x6 and a 4x4 as well. You could also string something together with a little DIY inspiration.

Another option is to also bring up the fill and key on your subject so that the exposure range isn't so dramatic... and then ND the whole thing down and or modify with filters. A nice silk on the overhead placed at a good angle to the sun acts as a great softening agent.. and might help to keep everything more pleasing.


What exactly are you shooting?
 
I am shooting whale research on a 22 foot open boat. Not a whole lot of space to work with and all natural light. Things are pretty cool until 7:30am then the light starts to get pretty harsh. So flexibility and mobility around the boat are key, you pretty much have to work with what the siituation gives you. Good challenge though and it keep the creative juices flowing. It is always nice to hear the thoughts from others and some of the tricks from the trade. Thanks again.
 
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