Windows

[Nick Keller]

When an actor is standing in front of a window or the source of light is a single window in the background do most underexpose the front of the subject to make the face seem a little dark. Almost similiar to underexposing a face on the shadow side of the sun.

 

I was watching Sexy Beast and Fat City (Conrad Hall) and noticed scenes, that were daylight but the subject was in front of a window and was underexposed a bit.

[Alexander Disenhof]

It depends on what you want. If you want it to look like there is bright sunlight coming into a darker room, then yes, you would underexpose the subject's face a little bit. That said, if your scene calls for seeing the actor's face more clearly, you might balance out the light coming from outside by either raising the light level of your room, or NDing the windows.