Making Flat Light more Interesting...

Erdwolf_TVL · January 28, 2006

When shooting in an environment with an inherently low contrast (an overcast day for example) is there a way to make things look more interesting / colourful?

IE, using CircusChrome, a special filter or by exposing differently?

Or should one just have to live with what one can get in such environment?

Most of my filming is experimentation and home movies where I cannot always control the "scene" :)

Stephen Williams · January 28, 2006

When shooting in an environment with an inherently low contrast (an overcast day for example) is there a way to make things look more interesting / colourful?

IE, using CircusChrome, a special filter or by exposing differently?

Or should one just have to live with what one can get in such environment?

Most of my filming is experimentation and home movies where I cannot always control the "scene" :)

Hi,

Adding a light and negative fill will help, ts much easier with close ups!

Stephen

Jaan Shenberger · January 28, 2006

When shooting in an environment with an inherently low contrast (an overcast day for example) is there a way to make things look more interesting / colourful?

IE, using CircusChrome, a special filter or by exposing differently?

Or should one just have to live with what one can get in such environment?

Most of my filming is experimentation and home movies where I cannot always control the "scene" :)

the biggest advantage to shooting in overcast or very soft lit situations is that the texture and color of the subject matter will generally become more visually dominant over light & shadow. maybe using well color-coordinated wardrobe/production design/location might help. or integrate pattern and texture in a similar way too. or you could create your own kinda de facto light & shadow by juxtaposing dark objects against light to create the contrast missing in the lighting (ie. person in white outfit standing against a dark blue wall, etc). and you could overexpose a stop or so to saturate the colors (just use an nd grad for the sky, overcast skies often come out as white). and there's always shallow depth of field.

hope this helps,

jaan

Erdwolf_TVL · January 29, 2006

the biggest advantage to shooting in overcast or very soft lit situations is that the texture and color of the subject matter will generally become more visually dominant over light & shadow. maybe using well color-coordinated wardrobe/production design/location might help. or integrate pattern and texture in a similar way too. or you could create your own kinda de facto light & shadow by juxtaposing dark objects against light to create the contrast missing in the lighting (ie. person in white outfit standing against a dark blue wall, etc). and you could overexpose a stop or so to saturate the colors (just use an nd grad for the sky, overcast skies often come out as white). and there's always shallow depth of field.

hope this helps,

jaan

Thanks for that!

John Pytlak RIP · January 30, 2006

Costume and set design can also be used. For example, on an overcast day, flesh tones look very nice, but a bright red jacket or hat really "pops". Using fluorescent or brightly colored costumes can "brighten" up a flatly lit scene.

Anthony Schilling · January 30, 2006

A 220 shutter angle can give some extra saturation punch on an overcast day.

David Mullen ASC · January 30, 2006

A 220 shutter angle can give some extra saturation punch on an overcast day.

Why would the shutter have an effect on color saturation??? Especially when switching from 180 to 220 degrees (assuming you have a camera that can even do that.) All you get is more exposure. Are you talking about overexposing slightly and then printing down to gain saturation & contrast? Because you don't need to use a 220 degree shutter angle to do that.

Josh Bass · January 30, 2006

Just keep in mind that he mentioned that most of the time, the overcast days weren't planned. That could make the wardrobe/set dressing thing difficult unless he had a plan B for the overcast day.

Anthony Schilling · January 31, 2006

Why would the shutter have an effect on color saturation??? Especially when switching from 180 to 220 degrees (assuming you have a camera that can even do that.)

I don't know exactly why but I notice it quite a bit with low speed reversal. I live in a lot of overcast, often take out a canon 512XL with a fixed 220 shutter angle (have other cams with variable 180/220) and get better saturation with more exposure time. maybe the colors just bleed more? I also notice desaturation if I go to a 90 or 45 degree shutter.

David Mullen ASC · January 31, 2006

I don't know exactly why but I notice it quite a bit with low speed reversal. I live in a lot of overcast, often take out a canon 512XL with a fixed 220 shutter angle (have other cams with variable 180/220) and get better saturation with more exposure time. maybe the colors just bleed more? I also notice desaturation if I go to a 90 or 45 degree shutter.

Shutter angle just affects exposure time per frame, and assuming you compensate and expose correctly for the different shutter angle, the only affect will be on the amount of motion blur. There should be NO affect on color saturation. I mean, when you do still photography, do you expect a different color saturation at 1/30th, 1/60th, and 1/120th of a second, assuming you adjust the f-stop for the change in shutter speed?

Anthony Schilling · February 1, 2006

The exposure time may be what makes a difference in dreary overcast, comes out to about an extra 2/3rds maybe. Otherwise reversal rated at 25 or 40ASA daylight can get pretty muddy in those conditions. With negs, I did a shoot last summer with 7218, one camera with a 220 shutter, another was a beaulieu 4008 with guillotine (which translates to about a 130 shutter equivilant I think) But no difference in saturation.

Leo Anthony Vale · February 1, 2006

The exposure time may be what makes a difference in dreary overcast, comes out to about an extra 2/3rds maybe. Otherwise reversal rated at 25 or 40ASA daylight can get pretty muddy in those conditions. With negs, I did a shoot last summer with 7218, one camera with a 220 shutter, another was a beaulieu 4008 with guillotine (which translates to about a 130 shutter equivilant I think) But no difference in saturation.

If the Kodachrome was getting muddy, it was probably underexposed.

Beamsplitter reflex viewers eat light.

---LV

Anthony Schilling · February 7, 2006

If the Kodachrome was getting muddy, it was probably underexposed.
Beamsplitter reflex viewers eat light.

Yeah, thats probably the case, where I live 25ASA can be pushing it in winter overcast.. but using the 220 shutter always helped with K40. I've recently noticed the new 64T holds it's colors nicely when underexposed.