FilmmakerIQ.com

• Raoel said 11 months ago:

  When I make a half-shot or close up shot outdoors, using reflector I get the perfect result. But how do I get to light my object properly when taking a full shot? Reflectors don’t seem usefull becuase they will get in your composition or is there a way I can use them. Or do I need a light, and if so, what light do I need.
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• 8thSamurai said 11 months ago:

  Half shot? I have no idea what this means. Full shot? I prefer whiskey, when getting a full shot…

  I’m going to take a wild guess here that you’re talking about your CU close ups and Medium Close UP (CU and MCU, respectively) shots. When up close and personal, your reflector provides enough bounce to get the light that you want.

  However, when you move to the wide, the reflector cannot be positioned closely enough to get bounce while remaining out of shot. Am I close?

  If it’s in your shot, no, you really can’t use it, and have to add some units to your kit.

  Hard to say what, not knowing the specific situation. Whatever it is should be balanced for daylight (5600), whether natively or with CTB. Each light has a different purpose and flavor, so there is no one answer to this question.

  I will say that if you have to battle the sun, highlight your most important dark area with a 2k (there’s a reason I’m not recommending bigger, guys), and grin and bear it. You’re not going to have the resources for an instrument that can compete.

  A really spotty unit is going to be the most help in that sort of situation.

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• Pavol Timko said 11 months ago:

  By 2k you mean some 2000 Watt spotlight or something?
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• numballover said 11 months ago:

  It really depends. Sometimes all you need is a bigger bounce, but when we are talking outdoors in full sun that is a very big bounce. For example an 8×8 unbleached muslin tends to work pretty well for that sort of shot.

  A cheaper option might be a 4×8 foam core.

  For outdoors, its really hard to get the right light without going very expensive. Typically you need 4k HMIs and above to make any sort of difference.

  Movie Reviews from Killerfilm.com
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• 8thSamurai said 11 months ago:

  @Pavol – a 2000 watt fresnel or focusable unit would be better in this sort of situation to get the hardest beam. A spotlight is a rather specific instrument, most often used in theatrical production, while ’spotting’ a fresnel involves focusing the beam as tightly as possible.

  @Numb – once bounces start getting big, it’s not so much the fabric as the hardware that gets expensive. And once you get a head much bigger than a 2k, you start heading into the realm of generators, which is why I didn’t mention them.
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• Eric said 11 months ago:

  I found that my 1200 par is pretty good for banging daylight into an ext scene. the tough thing as sammy said is fighting the sun. A 12×12 silk will work for the closer stuff but if you are going wide you might just want to stack the ND and use a polarizing filter.
  A great cheap trick is to get a standard queen sized un fitted white sheet or two and keep them in your kit.
  if needs be you can lay them on the ground and not stress about the cost and the provide a significant amount of bottom up fill.

  “Just put double in it. Let’s shoot this f***** and go home”
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• John P. Hess said 11 months ago:

  @Eric said:
  A great cheap trick is to get a standard queen sized un fitted white sheet or two and keep them in your kit.
  if needs be you can lay them on the ground and not stress about the cost and the provide a significant amount of bottom up fill.

  Awesome idea.

  All my Best,
  John Hess
  Creative Industries Media Group | GospelJohn.net
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• Raoel said 11 months ago:

  @ Samurai; Don’t mind my english, were I live we speak dutch, but thanks for the exact names of the shots. You guys gave me a lot of homework to experiment with. I have a 1K, if I add buy another 1K , would it provide enough light. One on the left and one on the right???
  Thanks for the guys.
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• Simon Hosick said 11 months ago:

  For night shoots, I would suggest putting the big lights in one spot and adding some much smaller lights around the location to break up the darkness.
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• Eric said 11 months ago:

  @Gospel_John said:
  Awesome idea.

  Yeah I picked that trick up from a DP that I get to work with on occasion. He was also the guy that while on the ground for a low shot needed a bit of fill, Day EXT, grabbed a script and flipped it over and rolled camera. We forget some times that you do not need 2 C-stands and a bounce card to keep moving forward
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• Pavol Timko said 11 months ago:

  @8thSamurai said:
  @Pavol – a 2000 watt fresnel or focusable unit would be better in this sort of situation to get the hardest beam. A spotlight is a rather specific instrument, most often used in theatrical production, while ’spotting’ a fresnel involves focusing the beam as tightly as possible.

  Aha, I understand better now, I was thinking of my Arri fresnel anyway, sometimes I am still fighting with the vocabulary (my non-English origin and non-film industry background). For most of my production Arri 300 Plus was more than enough but now I am ordering 650 Plus so I wonder if this would help at least somehow in a situation which is discussed here. I will do an outdoor test next time, just probably I need to use CTB gel.
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• Raoel said 11 months ago:

  Would a Arri Junior 650 Plus Tungsten Fresnel Light with 4.3″ Lens, 650 Watt be enough to pull something off and get going?
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• Eric said 11 months ago:

  Not likely. A 650 is not going to have the foot candles to fight the sun unless you are really close up. On top of that you are going to have to correct with CTB which will also cut your output.
  Not knowing what exactly you are shooting I would suggest that you 1) get a wide master using ND and a polarizing filter then 2) move in close using bounce and whatever corrected heads you can get. It also helps to have an overcast day to soften the daylight
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• John P. Hess said 11 months ago:

  Eric’s right – even a 2K won’t pump enough light to fight the sun, anything less doesn’t stand much of a chance.

  Don’t sweat the lighting of the wide shots. If you’re out in the sun, anything you put up against it is just going to be fill light (lighten the shadows). But if you’re shooting wide shots, the details that you loose in the shadows aren’t that important (because they’re so small).

  You need the fill when you move in for a close up, but for wide, you can get away with less meticulous lighting.

  Of course, that can change depending on what you’re doing but it’s a general rule of thumb.
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• Raoel said 11 months ago:

  ooh ok, lets say I would make wide shot for a music video on a open field, were I have the artist and some people behind him. In Suriname where I live the sune can get up to 32 degrees at some point, and it normally is 26/24 degree. What do you prefer in such situation. Should I use the early morning sun?
  I’ve read al of your solution and I must say that I have an idea now of what I need to do. I wil film tomorrow and upload it so you gyus can give me some feedback on my footage.
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