Some advice on shooting outdoors?

F

Fidelio

Active member
Hi all,

I'm a bit of a beginner, but I'm wondering if there is any advice as to shooting in natural light in the outdoors. For a narrative film that requires continuity, does changing light pose a difficulty to achieving a cohesive result? If so, is there any advice to keeping it as constant as possible?

Should one shoot at the earliest time light is available, such as in the early morning, even if the shoot will go on throughout the whole day, which I'm assuming the intensity of sunlight will fluctuate?

Thanks.
 
The constantly changing lighting conditions of the outdoors is one of the primary reasons many big productions will set up scrims and artificial light even when it would seem easier to use the sun. There's just too much variability to rely on natural light in a lot of cases. All it takes is a few clouds to wreck your ability to cut between shots taken just minutes apart, and you end up halting production.

That said, you do what you can with what you've got. If you don't have the lighting equipment to overpower the sun, just make a note of the sun's position, and any other lighting issues you may need to deal with (partly cloudy conditions are the worst).

Beyond the extreme lighting changes (both color and position) that happens around sunrise and sunset, you might find the lighting to be relatively stable throughout the day. As long as you group your shots logically, you shouldn't be able to notice lighting changes that occur between, say, 2 and 3 pm. Sunrise and sunset should probably be reserved for key scenes, as the dramatic lighting is going to be obviously different from other times of day.

Keep in mind shadows and reflections can be a real killer. When the sun reaches a certain point in the sky, you can get glare off of water, windows, etc. It's tough to cut between shots when one has a bright reflection from all the windows of a building across the street and the other doesn't. Or the sun dips below the treeline and everything that was brightly lit is suddenly in shadow. So scout locations very carefully, making note of the time frame you'll have to complete key shots.

Do your best to select locations with stable lighting. For instance, using either an open field, or an entirely shaded area, is easier than partial shade, where you'll be chasing sunlight across the location throughout the scene. Liberal use of reflectors might help in certain cases as well. And bring sunscreen.
 
I think you can go a long way with pre-planning (ie. scouting locations with a compass and sun-chart) so you can map out shot order etc. across a scene. If you're not doing too complicated setups you could probably manage with bounces etc.

I mean, if you story takes place outside during mid day, why not make it look like that?

This is of course based on the assumption that nature rewards you with either a complete cloud cover or no cover at all :)
The partly cloudy days are a killer for even still photography "30 secs till full sun... blah blah blah".
 
It's pretty simple actually. Just shoot the wides at the beginning or end of the day, then around the afternoon when the sun is overhead and not as optimal, you can silk it and add in reflectors or lights to mimic the light from earlier. You can very easily light a MS or a CU, but unless you have big units you're not going to light a wide.

If you don't have very much to shoot, I just try and place the sun as the backlight, then using an appropriate sized bounce to fill their faces in. It's easy and always looks good.
 
legrevedotcom said:
I think you can go a long way with pre-planning (ie. scouting locations with a compass and sun-chart) so you can map out shot order etc. across a scene. If you're not doing too complicated setups you could probably manage with bounces etc.
Click to expand...
If you're in a big city, an inclinometer is a must as well. This way you can tell the altitude angle at which the sun has to be to reach over a building and hit your set.
 
A butterfly scrim is invaluable under these circumstances, then as said, you can bounce light to make you CUs work. For the low budget stuff I've been doing I just avoid direct sunlight so I can recreate it by having the talent in "shade" or dappled sunlight, even for sunlight scenes. I go with shoot the wides first then punch in. Once you're in you can I've even used a 4X4 to scrim and didn't bother with the 8X8. Also, back light from behind when the sun is lower is really useful because it can be a rim light and you can bounce it back for fill nicely.

I have a web series episode (2) up now that has a whole day in a park shot that way. It's not perfect but if you want to see it www.kellyandlindsey.com
 
One defect that I see quite often in lower budget films shot outside is reflected color contamination where anything in shadow has this horrible green cast to it from the light reflected off green grass or green leaves.
 
Moseph said:
If you're in a big city, an inclinometer is a must as well. This way you can tell the altitude angle at which the sun has to be to reach over a building and hit your set.
Click to expand...

Yeah, definitely a handy tool to have.

You can also use the sunseeker app for the iphone...I know they have something for the android as well, it'll tell you where the sun will be across the course of the day. It also uses the camera to superimpose an image of where the sun will be ontop of what you see around you...That way it'll show you if it'll peak over buildings or shine in through windows.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top