Gels

[Maggie Twomey]

Hi all,

 

I am trying to shoot against a big window .

To see the great view outside of the window, should I use

ND filters on the windows and gel the lights,

or should I get ND 85 filters and take care of the

problems altogether?

 

any advice?

Edited April 30, 2008 by Maggie Chan Twomey

[John Holland]

Well depends on what you can afford lighting wise can you use HMI's ? if its a large window that will be difficult to ND the windows , film ,Video ,HD ?

[Maggie Twomey]

I have 2 1ks.

Suppose I can afford HMI, is it better to use HMIs than n

using tungsten and apply the filters?

 

I did gel the window -- it's a lot of work but it can be done

however gelling the lights cuts down a stop and I really don't want to cut down

the light intensity...

[John Holland]

This difficult online what way way does the window face east ,west etc, what time of day do plan to shoot ? can you use the natural light and just bounce reflect light to fill faces i dont dont think 2 1k lamps are going to help you that much so may questions are these wide shots or just mid /CU to include your window ?

[Michael Collier]

HMIs might be more advantageous in this situation (depending on what density of ND you put on the windows) HMIs put out more light watt for watt than tungsten (about 4 or 5 to 1) and that is before gelling the tungsten to make the color temps. match. a 1.2K or two might be all you need. with two 1Ks with full CTB, you might not get the value of light your looking for (without putting the light very close or leaving it undiffused)

 

What is the speed of your film? Whats your working stop? What value ND did you apply to the windows? How wide is the shot and how hard/soft of a look are you going for? All those questions need to be answered before you can figure out what kind of lighting you'll need.

[Maggie Twomey]

Thank you for the reply -- I am actually shooting digital, it's an interview. I'm trying to get a soft look, we have 2 cameras, 1 for wide shot and the other one for CU. I'm gelling the windows with ND6, and am shooting in the morning at 9AM (the sun start to shine into the office some time after 10 AM.

 

I think a 1.2 HMI will be too strong for what I am shooting... am I right about this? I was thinking that I want to leave the 2 1ks undiffused, bouncing off a large bounceboard to create a soft look.... maybe I should use ND 9, or 85 on the window?

[Michael Nash]

If you use CTO ND gel you'll need to gel or cover up all the windows in the room to control the blue daylight spill.

 

Even with ND gel on the windows a 1200W HMI won't be too powerful after you diffuse it for a soft key light. You can knock down the output of ANY light with scrims and diffusion. Keep in mind that if you key with an HMI, you'll still probably want another light for fill and backlight (depending on your shot and setup), so don't blow your whole budget on one light!

 

You might consider gelling your tungsten lights with only 1/2 CTB instead of full for a little more output, and let the view through the window go a little blue (with ND.9 ).