Light a (very) wide shot during overcast weather...

[Morgan Havet]

Hi everyone, 

 

I've seen different topics here talking about lighting during an overcast day, but I couldn't find a case close to mine.

For a commercial, which will unfortunately happen during an overcast weather and even maybe during raining days, I was wondering how can we light a very wide shot. The space to light is about 100m deep on 15m wide. I attached a picture of the frame, so you can realize better.

 

I was thinking of using some HMI, but I just can't know how many do I need and which wattage.

 

It could be great if some of you have some inputs to share !

 

Thanks

 

 

[Mark Kenfield]

For a space that large, during the daytime, you'd need a large grid of big HMIs or a couple of Wendy Lights to have any impact whatsoever against the ambient brightness.

It would be a very extensive, and expensive prospect.

[Jay Young]

I agree.

Big lights, big setup.

Power requirements are the same, Wendy lights are a bit cheaper in the long run, but I'm very partial to tungsten.

[Morgan Havet]

Thanks so much for your answers guys !

 

So, should I display 3 or 4 large grids of HMIs or Wendy lights along the path, to get all that path lighted ?

Edited October 20, 2020 by Morgan Havet

[Satsuki Murashige]

7 hours ago, Mark Kenfield said:

For a space that large, during the daytime, you'd need a large grid of big HMIs or a couple of Wendy Lights to have any impact whatsoever against the ambient brightness.

It would be a very extensive, and expensive prospect.

Or just wait for a sunny day? 😉

[Morgan Havet]

7 hours ago, Satsuki Murashige said:

Or just wait for a sunny day? 😉

That's the best solution yeah, but we can't postpone the shooting...

[Satsuki Murashige]

1 hour ago, Morgan Havet said:

That's the best solution yeah, but we can't postpone the shooting...

Are you looking to get a hard backlight for the whole path, or is it possible to have just a short section lit? Or even just the foreground? 

Is it supposed to be warm sunset or bright midday sun?

Are there any high, level-ground areas where you want to place the lights, or are you going to have to get a bunch of cranes and miles of cable runs out into the forest?

Is there a way to alter the shot to a long lens, or does it have to be on a Full Frame 35mm focal length? 

[Morgan Havet]

13 minutes ago, Satsuki Murashige said:

Are you looking to get a hard backlight for the whole path, or is it possible to have just a short section lit? Or even just the foreground? 

Is it supposed to be warm sunset or bright midday sun?

Are there any high, level-ground areas where you want to place the lights, or are you going to have to get a bunch of cranes and miles of cable runs out into the forest?

Is there a way to alter the shot to a long lens, or does it have to be on a Full Frame 35mm focal length? 

So I'm looking to have all the path lighted, not a hard light, a pretty soft one. I've attached an image of what I am thinking. 

I can have a few cranes and thousand of cables running through the forest yeah. 

The shot has to be a wide shot, 35mm yes.

 

Thank so much for your help !

[Satsuki Murashige]

37 minutes ago, Morgan Havet said:

So I'm looking to have all the path lighted, not a hard light, a pretty soft one. I've attached an image of what I am thinking. 

I can have a few cranes and thousand of cables running through the forest yeah. 

The shot has to be a wide shot, 35mm yes.

 

Thank so much for your help !

Well, this is far bigger than any job I’ve ever done, so not sure I’m really the one you should be asking for help! 

That said, it occurs to me that if you just want even soft top light over the path, then you’re really talking about enhancing the overcast skylight that already there, rather than replicating sunlight.

Do you have an idea of how many footcandles you need to have on the path? If it’s minimal, could you do it with a series of HMI lighting balloons just above the frame? 

[Robin R Probyn]

why do you need to light the whole area with soft light in the first place .. ? I would think an over cast day would be your friend .. if its pouring with rain its going to look weird to have strong light .. and soft light you are going to need a massive ,huge set up to make any difference .. huge effort for very little effect ..   you could rig a load of practical lights (lanterns)  in shot, for some effect to jazz up the shot if its towards the evening or early morning ..  otherwise just light the close ups .. less is more .. 

[David Mullen ASC]

I don't mean to be discouraging but it almost never works to fight Mother Nature in wide shots, for one thing, if you want soft light, then that means overcast weather with the light coming from above especially in a path in the jungle bounded on each side by tall trees. So side-lighting with a row of HMI's could end up looking like it's the red carpet at the Oscars.

I had overcast weather for the first half of the day in a western street for "Westworld" and we tried to backlight with two 18K ARRIMAXs at full-spot from a 125' condor behind the buildings. It hardly read at all against the bright overcast light:

It only started to look like sunlight when we turned around and lost the daylight and it became magic hour / dusk, so now the two 18K's were bright enough in comparison to the skylight:

[David Mullen ASC]

At best, I would leave the path in overcast and as they get closer to the foreground, hit them with a hot 3/4 backlight from a Dino or something with spot globes on a condor, you might believe that the sun only came through the tree tops at the area.