Lighting for a Night Scene

Forum for the discussion of lighting and camera techniques.

Moderator: Moderator Team

Post Reply
slimdog55
Posting Freak
Posting Freak
Posts: 456
Joined: Fri Feb 14, 2003 1:28 am
Location: Huntley, IL, USA

Lighting for a Night Scene

Post by slimdog55 »

I need help with lighting a night scene. I'm making a new movie, I actually have been for the last couple of months, and only filmed a whole 3 scenes. (Time to get more done.)

One of the next scenes I'm filming is going to be at night. I don't want to do the "Day for Night" trick. I would actually like to light it up. But I am on a low-budget. I was thinking of buying one of those work lights you can buy at a hardware store. (The two lights on a stand, each light 500-watts.) I could then diffuse the light. (Put wax paper in front of light.) I also have two of those silver clamp lights that I could use. Also, forgot to mention there is a light on the porch, but it won't light much of the scene.

What camcorder settings should I use when filming? Should I white balance to an orange color to get a blue tint? (Or should I do this in post-production?)

After filming, in post-production I am definitely going to have to do something to the footage. What should I do to it? Lower the brightness+contrast? Add a blue tint?

Thank you very much. Any help at all is appreciated.
User avatar
Zacatac927
Forum Addict
Forum Addict
Posts: 588
Joined: Sun Mar 20, 2005 7:34 pm

RE: Lighting for a Night Scene

Post by Zacatac927 »

work light good
@Zacatac927

www.vimeo.com/zac927
Knightly
Senior Member
Senior Member
Posts: 109
Joined: Sat Apr 21, 2007 4:03 am
Location: MN, USA
Contact:

RE: Lighting for a Night Scene

Post by Knightly »

The effect you'll probably end up with (depending on where you're shooting etc) is called tenebrism ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenebrism ). The reason you'll get this effect is that the lights you'll be using aren't big enough to light up a whole area effectively for capturing well on camera. Good low light response in cameras is cr**, they all want more light than regular lighting to look really good and not all grainy. Make sure you have more than one work light 500 - 1k watts (and more than one circuit for running extra lights as needed). To get a nice soft light on your talent as well as some light on the back ground, use the edge of the light that's thrown out from the work light (the falloff) on your talent and point the rest of the light at the background.

Remember that if you double the distance from light to an object, you quarter the light that makes it there...and it will be a smaller light source, therefor harder light.

Could you either post an overhead sketch of the setting or a pic of the location from right about where you want the camera...but wider so we can see where to put the lights?
Low/No budget cinema that looks like a million Bucks!
---------------------------------------------------------
http://www.yafiunderground.com
slimdog55
Posting Freak
Posting Freak
Posts: 456
Joined: Fri Feb 14, 2003 1:28 am
Location: Huntley, IL, USA

Post by slimdog55 »

I might take some pictures later on tonight. I suppose you want them during the day time so you can see the whole area?
Knightly
Senior Member
Senior Member
Posts: 109
Joined: Sat Apr 21, 2007 4:03 am
Location: MN, USA
Contact:

Post by Knightly »

both if possible
Low/No budget cinema that looks like a million Bucks!
---------------------------------------------------------
http://www.yafiunderground.com
Post Reply