Lighting street corner at night

[Chris Saul]

I am shooting a scene at night. The street is filled with vapor lights and under the lights I get a T1.3 on my meter. I would like to add some moonlight but would like to know the best way to make it realistic with the vapor lights. I'm trying to come up with a resolution to have a good strong backlight. Does anybody have some helpful advice for a student and what light I should use and the cheapest crane for my light? Thanks

[Michael Nash]

Well quite honestly, moonlight is not realistic with sodium vapor lights. "Realistically," sodium streetlights overpower moonlight even during a full moon. That doesn't mean you can't attempt to include moonlight in your scene, just that it won't ever look realistic.

 

You might be better off motivating your backlight from another artificial source, perhaps a contrasting color like Mercury Vapor's blue-green, or some other bluish discharge-type lamp.

 

For mounting lights up high the easiest way is to use high stands (like Mombo Combos), or clamp them onto some existing structure like a nearby building or pole. Lights don't typically go on a "crane," unless you're talking about a Condor (which I think is beyond your student budget).

 

You can also supplement the sodium lights with other tungsten lights gelled to match; do a search of this site for "sodium vapor" for gel suggestions.