Daytime Outdoor with NO Lights

Charlie33 · May 20, 2005

Hey Guys, I have a DV shoot in a couple of weeks with the XL2, it takes place outside on a highway, with cars in traffic and at the scene of an accient, I was going to shoot the whole thing with silks and reflectors. I want to shoot one direction in the mornig and then flip all the cars around and shoot the other way in the afternoon. Any Help, tips, Please advise. How would I achieve a nice Backlight without lights. Is this a bad idea, or can I pull it off?

May 20, 2005

Charlie33,

I hope this gets to you in time, but I found that the best thing for backlights in daytime exteriors are mirrors. Get as big of a mirror as possible, tape the front (in case it breaks), and it will give you a nice rim or backlight. You can walk it back to get the exposure you want, but you have to keep adjusting it for every shot. Put it on a c-stand and make sure someone stands by it. At my school, we have a very limited amount of equipment for our DV projects, so I got some good results from it. Hope it helps you out and good luck.

Charlie33 · May 21, 2005

thanks man, I'll try the mirrors, anything other help. please pass along

Tim J Durham · May 21, 2005

Hey Guys, I have a DV shoot in a couple of weeks with the XL2, it takes place outside on a highway, with cars in traffic and at the scene of an accient, I was going to shoot the whole thing with silks and reflectors. I want to shoot one direction in the mornig and then flip all the cars around and shoot the other way in the afternoon. Any Help, tips, Please advise. How would I achieve a nice Backlight without lights. Is this a bad idea, or can I pull it off?

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You are going to stage an accident at the side of the highway and then re-stage the whole thing on the other side of the road later in the same day? Have you done this before? The OT for the traffic control alone is going to cost you $1000's. Let alone the hassle of stopping traffic to move the wrecked cars and then replacing them exactly enough to not be noticeable.

I'm not sure what you have in mind (doind it in the afternoon on the other side of the road) but maybe you should try to get a permit to leave the staged accident at the same roadside (far enough away from traffic so you don't have to re-route) for two or three days and just shoot it over a couple of mornings. I presume you want to try to preserve the low sun angle? It will still look different on the other side of the road.

boy yniguez · May 25, 2005

Hey Guys, I have a DV shoot in a couple of weeks with the XL2, it takes place outside on a highway, with cars in traffic and at the scene of an accient, I was going to shoot the whole thing with silks and reflectors. I want to shoot one direction in the mornig and then flip all the cars around and shoot the other way in the afternoon. Any Help, tips, Please advise. How would I achieve a nice Backlight without lights. Is this a bad idea, or can I pull it off?

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hi,

if you are able to follow the sun around, meaning it is always backlighting your angles then all you need are silks to control the amount of fill in front. depending in what part of the world you are shooting in, the sun may stay low in the horizon (unlike here in the philippines where at this time of the year it goes directly overhead at 90degrees) in which case you stage the widest shots earliest in the morning or latest in the afternoon and shooting the tighter shots midday where the height of the sun may not be so noticeable.

Paul Bruening · June 15, 2005

Styro insulation sheets are cheaper than mirrors. You can find them at construction supply houses. They are silver foil on one side and white foam on the other. You can get good use out of both sides. I even buff some of mine with steel wool to take a little of the hard edge off of the foil side. You can color them with a misting of transparent paints. They come in 4' x 8' x 1" sheets and cost from $6 to $8 per sheet. I also cut them into halves and quarters. I use the heck out of 'em. A little gaffer's tape around the edge makes them last a little longer through normal handling. The down side to them is that they catch wind. On windy days I have to put two guys on each sheet. They don't like being human c-stands but they make repositioning go faster. Also, with two guys on the sheet you can warp them easily to get varying results.

timHealy · June 15, 2005

Hey Guys, I have a DV shoot in a couple of weeks with the XL2, it takes place outside on a highway, with cars in traffic and at the scene of an accient, I was going to shoot the whole thing with silks and reflectors. I want to shoot one direction in the mornig and then flip all the cars around and shoot the other way in the afternoon. Any Help, tips, Please advise. How would I achieve a nice Backlight without lights. Is this a bad idea, or can I pull it off?

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Why don't you plan your shoot so that you work with the sun. Shooting in one direction in the morning then try and work in the other direction as the sun moves during the course of the day. I wouldn't get to hung up on every shot. Look at just about any movie and there will be inconsistancies in lighting that 99% of viewers don't catch.