Lighting a large room from Outside

[Eliott Ward]

Hello all,

 

I've got a largeish room 25'x25' with 10' ceilings to light. I have to do it from outside. There's a wall with lots of windows.

 

The goal is to make it look bright, airy, sunlight, etc.

I've got some amount of sidewalk outside on which to place lights. 10-15'.

 

i'm planning on using two 4K hmi's through diffusion frames (250?) coming in the large windows.

 

Do people have any thoughts on simple, elegant and beautiful ways to light a big room as if with sunlight.

Keep the ratio pretty small?

 

these are farily large lights for my experience. I'm hoping they can do the job.

 

thanks

Eliott

Los Angeles

[Matt Irwin]

What color are the walls?

[Eliott Ward]

one wall - opposite the windows is made of a large brown sliding door.

the other two walls are wall papered. it's white with checks of blue.

thanks

eliott

[Jeff Tanner]

4K pars or fresnels? 250 sounds a bit thick for a room the size of the one you describe especially if you're talking about 4K fresnels. But with a fast stock it might be okay. If you have 4K pars you should have enough punch for 250. When you say "sunlight" I'm assuming that you want a soft ambient light since your putting diffusion frames in front of the lights so pars will suit your needs better for this situation IMHO.

 

If you have access to larger units...get them.

 

Respectfully,

 

Jeff Tanner

[Mario C. Jackson]

I would shoot the 4k's throught the window but I would not use diffusion frames. I would just use reflectors and bounce cards on the inside.

Hope this helps

Mario Concepcion Jackson

[Wendell_Greene]

these are farily large lights for my experience. I'm hoping they can do the job.

 

 

I think you may want to move to 6K pars if you can afford it , or at least supplement the 4k's with a couple of 1200's, especially if you go with wider lenses. I'd lean toward light grid, instead of the 250

[timHealy]

What format are you shooting? Video or 50 ASA 52/7245???

 

I have the feeling that just two 4 k's may be enough to create something of a lowbudget sunlight look, but the fill levels will be low and the fall off to darkness may be quick without any additional lighting.

 

Depending what you are looking for I think larger lights would be better like 6/12k pars, 18k fresnels or a combination of them some creating the sun through the windows and the others a kind of soft daylight fill that both could push deep into the room. Bigger lights pulled back from the windows would also have the additional benefit of being more even in terms of exposure across the room.

 

But I am saying all this without budget considerations and knowledge of the physical parameters of the room. And you may be able to get away with less with faster film or video.

 

Good luck.

 

Best

Tim

Edited March 28, 2006 by heel_e

[Bob Hayes]

You say you plan to light from the outside through the windows. Does that mean that you don?t really see the windows in your shot? And, therefore you don?t have to worry about balancing to a bright exterior. If that is the case 2 4ks have more then enough punch. You could go through full grid if you wanted and still have enough stop. I always feel the way to making a lit room look real is create mistakes like hot reflections from car windows and chrome or bright pools of sunlight sneaking into the background.