Need to shoot a direct car light at night

[Raymond O'Neil]

Hi, I need to shoot a direct car light at night (I am using HD100U camcorder) and am wondering what filter should I use? ( I have a matte-box that uses 4X4 filters). Reason being that in general when one shoots car lights they tend to "blow-up" into star-shapes, they blur images, etc. I need the car lights to be vere "calm", diffused, so they are contained in their car light frames.

 

Are the filters best way to go? There are glasss filters and other types of filters (rasin, etc), which ones are better/should I use for this particular purpose?

 

Someone suggested using dulling spray, how valid is that?

 

I've been mostly shooting without filter, so as to have more latitiude in post-production, but I came to conclusion that filters produce better looking images, so I am thinking to use them more. I am wondering if someone can recommend a good overall books (or maybe several books) that would guide me through the filters, types, usage, etc.

 

 

Thanks a lot.

[Raymond O'Neil]

no one?

[darrin p nim]

no one?

 

ive never personally shot a car directly into the headlights but i dont honestly think a filter is the best idea, i think the lights are causing flares into your camera and some how creating "stars" (i cant really explain that). To be honest if you want to keep the headlights "contained" i would suggest looking into putting ND Gels over the headlights enough to take them down enough to have less flare and possibly keep the starry effect down.

[Raymond O'Neil]

Thanks Darrin. I think I will do that. I came to similar conclusion as well..

[Rupe Whiteman]

Thanks Darrin. I think I will do that. I came to similar conclusion as well..

 

... you can even put white tape onto the lights - they will glow bright but won't burn out and flare so much. Getting the right density of tape is the key...

 

Rupe Whiteman

[John Holland]

Tracing paper or 216 diffusion , whats prob with letting them blow ? John Holland ,London .

[John Hall]

You could perhaps try and find lower wattage bulbs for the headlights.

Find the ANSI code for the bulbs that the car uses normally and see if you can find a bulb with the same connector base, but lower output.

 

Just make sure you swap them back before you drive at night. :D

[Sergi Vilanova]

Hi, I need to shoot a direct car light at night (I am using HD100U camcorder) and am wondering what filter should I use? ( I have a matte-box that uses 4X4 filters). Reason being that in general when one shoots car lights they tend to "blow-up" into star-shapes, they blur images, etc. I need the car lights to be vere "calm", diffused, so they are contained in their car light frames.

 

Are the filters best way to go? There are glasss filters and other types of filters (rasin, etc), which ones are better/should I use for this particular purpose?

 

Someone suggested using dulling spray, how valid is that?

 

Hi there;

 

From my experience, shooting cars at night headlights is not really a problem per se. They glow very brightly but it usually holds up well enough, and it looks real. Problems come when you do shoot it in video (that's when that glow becomes a much uglier, in my opinion, star shaped over bright glow).

 

And, yeah, to me, the best solution (in terms of time, money and efficiency) is to gel them down with NDs.

Also, make sure you just don't lower them so much that it would end up looking fake.

 

good luck

[Brad Grimmett]

I just did a shot about a week ago shooting directly into a car's headlights. We had the prop guy spray the lights with streaks and tips until they were dimmed down enough. Pretty simple.

[Raymond O'Neil]

Thank you all.