Naturalistic ambient fill for window...

[forsself]

Hi there,

 

I don?t have a lot of expreience from the industry and I?m going to shoot my first shortfilm on S16. I need some basic advice when it comes to lighting.

 

What is the best way to give an ambient fill to a windom. Night or day doesn?t matter. Which angle and where should I put the lights to make it look naturalistic? And of course, any recommendation on what kind of lights. Ps. I don?t want to overexpose the window too much and I don?t want the scene to look flat either.

 

I really appreciate any advice!

 

Fred

[David Mullen ASC]

The issue isn't FILL so much, it's the KEY. Usually if you are trying to balance with a bright view, you add more artificial light coming through the window and more fill in the room so that the background is not too bright in comparison. You can also add ND gel to windows to make them less bright but that doesn't reduce the need for a very bright light coming through the window.

 

Best thing is to make things easier on yourself: use a groundfloor room, shoot the window at a raking angle so you can shine light through the window from one side. The view you see, if still too bright, can sometimes be netted down with a large frame of scrim material, although it sort of softens the view too. Then add as much fill as is necessary for the contrast you want. Generally it would be soft and coming from the camera direction (i.e. flat) although you could have it come from low as if sunlight was bouncing off of the floor.

[forsself]

Thanks David for the advice :)

 

Just wondering if it would look wierd if the fill light in the room came from the side instead of the camera direction. (I'm filming three men sitting at a desk infront of a window, the camera is facing the window)

[David Mullen ASC]

Fill can come from the side as long as it is very soft and doesn't create an obvious shadow. For example, in a white room with windows to one side, it is natural for the fill to come from the bounce-back off of the opposite walls. In fact, sometimes I fill a scene just by putting a white card opposite the key to catch it and bounce it back and it looks very natural.

 

Fill isn't some automatic thing you always need or do -- just depends on if it's needed to see what you want to see. If someone is sitting at a table with a white tablecloth, for example, the window light will naturally reflect off of the table and add some fill from below so artificial fill may not be necessary.

 

But it sounds like your issue is more one of balance of the interior with the exterior view, not key to fill ratios.