problem of overexposing.

Tato Kotetishvili · May 12, 2009

helo everyone . i'm tato student of lodz film school in poland . 1 year of cinematoghraphy.

I'm shooting my 1 year film . which should be approx. 4 to 5 minutes . film stock is b&w 250 asa . kodak 5222.

I want to shoot a little film about angels . which appear in the industrial city of Lodz .

My main goal is to have two angel characters over exposed when every thing els will be normally exposed

I made some stills with a digital camera.I panted actor in white and lighted him with two lamps from two sides. After a little contrast corrections I got something like this:

I hav several Idias how to get this effect .

1 to paint actors skin in green color . hair, eyelashes end lips in purple. In the end I will use a green filter durin shooting.

2 shoot normally and use forcing. but then everything will be very contrasty

3 print it to the tone positive . then again everything will be very contrasty.

4 or just to paint him in white as I did in the picture above.

on clos ups it would not be problem to light him and get this effect of overexposure. main problem is wide shots and exteriors .

i would like to shoot him in e wide shot walking on empty street . haw do i get this effect here?

next week I'm going to make tests with film stock and all your suggestions will be very helpful.

thank you very much for attention.

Tato Kotetishvili

Edited May 12, 2009 by Tato Kotetishvili

David Mullen ASC · May 12, 2009

Just paint him white and try to get more light on him. Painting him green and then using a green filter just makes him lighter in shade than the rest of the faces, as if he were pale. But the green filter is cutting overall exposure too that you have to compensate for.

So it's simpler to just lighten the person through paint and clothing and then overexpose them through lighting.

You may also try cutting some shapes in ND gel in front of the lens to darken the surrounding area around the person. Only works for locked-off shots though.

Michael B McGee · May 12, 2009

on the wide exteriors shots try to use some shinny boards or mirrors and bounce some light on him.

Tato Kotetishvili · May 12, 2009

thank you for answers .

so green is not a very good idea .

but what about using a red filter end panting him red ?

Michael B McGee · May 12, 2009

same as green i suppose. yellow and orange as well. in essence, you're lightening the subject with the corresponding shade of your filter not making it white.

cool idea. good luck.

Edited May 12, 2009 by Michael B McGee

David Mullen ASC · May 12, 2009

same as green i suppose. yellow and orange as well. in essence, you're lightening the subject with the corresponding shade of your filter not making it white.

cool idea. good luck.

Red would be worse because red filters already lighten normal skintones, which have red in them. So you'd have a paler person next to pale people.

There is no filter trick that is going to get you the overexposed effect that you want.

However, you could isolate the person in post (like in a D.I. suite) and then brighten them separately from the background, but it would take some work.

If they can be really burned-out, I'd shoot them at night, overexposed against black, and then try double-exposing them into a normal day exterior shot, one without bright highlights would work better.

I'd start painting them white...

Tato Kotetishvili · May 12, 2009

However, you could isolate the person in post (like in a D.I. suite)

there is no possibility for D.I.

Tato Kotetishvili · May 12, 2009

Red would be worse because red filters already lighten normal skintones, which have red in them. So you'd have a paler person next to pale people.

but if there will be just this red people and no normal people in the shot . and background will be grayish colors ? and I shoot it with red filter?

Tato Kotetishvili · May 12, 2009

thank you everyone .

I will make this test's next week and post results .

Dominic Case · May 12, 2009

Using colour filters is a clever thought - but apart from lightening the subject person, it would have an effect on the rest of the shot. A green filter would lighten all the greens in the shot, and darken reds and blues, while a red filter would lighten reds, with darker green and blues. In both cases, if the filter is strong enough to make your lead actor stand out brightly, it will be strong enough to distort the tones in the rest of the scene quite badly.

However, as you say, if the rest of the shot is neutral, with no distinct colours, it might be OK.

Maybe you need to consider this green filter idea just for the wide exteriors (and try to overlight the actor as well, as Michael suggests), and stick to white for close-ups. Your test shot seems to work well, why don't you try a test shot with the colour filters too?

Tato Kotetishvili · May 12, 2009

. Your test shot seems to work well, why don't you try a test shot with the colour filters too?

thing is on my test shot I pushed contrast ( also it was digital and digital has less contrast then film. if I'm correct ) . but on film I will not have that possibility to push contrast . so everything has to be done before .

next week I'm getting film stock so I will be able to make all this color tests . I hope I will get right effect .

a

Dominic Case · May 12, 2009

on film I will not have that possibility to push contrast

Push processing black and white negative will definitely increase contrast (more than it does on colour stock). You should consider pushing a stop or even two, while keeping your exposure normal (that is, overexposed subject, normal or underexposed background).

Also, I understand that the test you showd us was digital - but you would be able to get some indication of how the colour filters would work with a digital test too.