Day for Night in the Forest

[Nathan Blair]

Hello,

 

I'm new to this forum, and I must say I'm happy I found it!

 

Anyway, I'm about to do a couple tests in a bamboo forest with super 16mm 7205 stock. We're testing day for night exposure, to determine if it looks better to expose the entire forest background instead of trying to light the trees while we're bombarded by moths and bats.

 

I know the basic rules that apply to day for night, since I've shot it before (-2 stops for highlights, soften the sunlight, and use a backlight for the moon with blue filters on the camera)

 

The one thing I'm trying to determine, is if there's a trick to allowing the sky in the shot? I've been thinking about what it would look like to be in a completely dark forest at night, and I know being raised in the country that the sky does give off some illumination, but just barely enough to make out silhouettes of trees.

 

Do you think simply using blue and ND filters will work to achieve a believable exposure for the sky, or is there another trick I don't know about?

 

I'll post the video when I get it transferred!

 

Thanks,

Nate

[Xavier Plaza]

Do you think simply using blue and ND filters will work to achieve a believable exposure for the sky, or is there another trick I don't know about?

 

 

You're do it on video, right? First test until you obtain what you want. Second, i think ND filter (degraded) is the right choice or you also can do it on transfer (expensive choice) or perhaps on post (color correction). Check 55mm plug in they have a night look.

[Nathan Blair]

Thanks for the tips.

 

I'm actually shooting on super 16mm film, not video, although I will be transferring it to video if that's what you mean. I'd prefer to achieve the effect without using too many plug-ins in post. I'd like to shoot it right, knowing what I'm doing.

 

This is actually a test for a larger film, and that's the whole reason I'm doing this.

 

Just as an update, I recently heard about a trick that's commonly used where a red filter is used to negate any blue in the frame. Then, once we transfer the film and color correction is done, the blue sky will appear muted. I plan on testing this.

 

If anyone has any other suggestions, throw them at me, I'll test them too.

 

Thanks

Nate