ASK & DISCUSS INDEX

8 years, 2 months ago - Mark Wiggins

How overcast? Lighting outside in daylight means big, powerful lights (normally HMIs) otherwise they will make no difference. Having someone hold an LED panel right by the camara will give you a bit of fill, but not much, and only in the shade. In full Sunlight it will have no effect at all. The Sun overpowers everything. Get the most powerful you can find.

8 years, 2 months ago - Paddy Robinson-Griffin

Other suggestions - reflectors! Lots of them. It's impossible to compete with the sun unless you have a 6k+ HMI or two on the scene -and that's a proper generator. You'll get more light onto the subject with silvered card than an LED panel!

8 years, 2 months ago - Andrew Ionides

Thanks both. Reflectors and flags are a definite option for close up on the actors. The area itself is shadowy but I suppose the exposure could be adjusted on the camera too.

8 years, 2 months ago - Andrew Ionides

It also really depends on the weather too!

8 years, 2 months ago - Mark Wiggins

Careful about exposing for the shadows. It really depends on the camera and its sensor. You could end up with all the highlights blowing out (clipping). It that happens, there is nothing you can do to fix it in post. Blown out highlights have no information in them to be recovered. You can use bedsheets as reflectors/defusion.

8 years, 2 months ago - John Lubran

As Mark says, the latitude handling limitation of the camera will determine much. It's most always better to crush the blacks than over peak the whites. A wave form monitor or on board zebra pattern generator helps in not going over one volt. Most higher end cameras have knee or pedastal adjustment that shifts latitude bias towards either the black or white ends of the spectrum. Graduated filter can also help if the shot is static. It all depends on the specific nature of the shoot. Whilst the sun, even on an overcast day is much stronger than artificial light, problems caused by unwanted shadow, particularly on faces, can be smoothed out conciderably by close lighting and/or reflectors. Modern cameras have so much more latitude these days and low light capacity. Wacking up the gain is often penalty free too. The main issue for Andrew I imagine will be contrast balancing.

8 years, 2 months ago - Andrew Ionides

I should mention that i'm shooting this on an iPhone 7 as a found footage horror. I have downloaded filmic pro to help with certain camera adjustments. One other reason I posted about the lighting is because I plan to have certain vfx in this (I.e. moving shadows, glowing skin) and vfx person mentioned light is very important for those shots.

8 years, 2 months ago - Andrew Ionides

By the way, thank you all for advice so far!

8 years, 2 months ago - Mark Wiggins

I wouldn't even try to shoot for vfx on an iPhone. It is too compressed and will fall apart quickly. You'll need a higher spec camera.

8 years, 2 months ago - John Lubran

As suggested in the earlier strand, one can shoot on a higher spec camera and add such artifacts in post to suggest it's iPhone footage.

8 years, 2 months ago - Karel Bata

The resolution, compression, color space off a phone is so piss poor you can't do anything with it in post, let alone VFX.

Defo get a better camera. You'll be going to a lot of trouble (if you knew how much you'd probably abandon it right now!) so don't hobble yourself from the outset. Find a keen LC (here?) who can access a camera with decent latitude - the FS5 now offers HDR.

A forest will offer little directional light, let alone any you can bounce. If I were doing this I'd be thinking about large flags to control what light you have coming in. Take a look a Southern Comfort to see how Andrew Laszlo did it. In the Louisiana swamps he effectively had a huge softlight above, and flagged off what he didn't want in the CUs.

Looks like fun! http://68.media.tumblr.com/8ee694ef5b918b8dd952b273c2ad8de5/tumblr_mthstaYuM81rovfcgo2_1280.jpg

Or go night and add sources. Some cheap LED lights out there.

Get a decent LC!

8 years, 2 months ago - Mark Wiggins

Yes, I agree with Karel. You do need a Cameraman/DOP. And not just for any camera that he/she might bring with him/her. Also for their knowlege/skill/experience. Shooting a Day Exterior is not just a case of pointing the camera in the right direction. There's more to it than that.