Replicating Sunlight

[Adarsh]

How to replicate sunlight with Artificial lights? 

How to control it?

Which type of lights are mostly used for this?

Please suggest.

[Matthew Parnell]

That’s an incredibly broad question. It really depends on what situation you are trying to replicate sunlight in, and what type of sunlight you are trying to replicate.

I’ve used everything from LED panels to Dinettes and Dinos, to banks of several Arrimax heads to replicate sunlight. 

[Adarsh]

7 hours ago, Matthew Parnell said:

That’s an incredibly broad question. It really depends on what situation you are trying to replicate sunlight in, and what type of sunlight you are trying to replicate.

I’ve used everything from LED panels to Dinettes and Dinos, to banks of several Arrimax heads to replicate sunlight. 

I want to replicate for outdoor scene at 12 noon.

[Gabriel Devereux]

7 minutes ago, Adarsh said:

I want to replicate for outdoor scene at 12 noon.

As said above, your options are endless. There is no singular way to replicate sunlight. 

To break it down typically you'd have a singular powerful harsh source (acting as the sun), and then a surrounding softer source acting as the sky (at least that's typically how I'd look at it).

So, with your goal being to achieve an outdoor scene at noon (keeping in mind, I don't know if this is an exterior set, an interior set or if this outdoors... if so you may just want to shoot at noon). I'd imagine you'd want one harsh powerful overhead source, as harsh and as high as possible with a wide beam spread -  maybe a 20k skypan (keeping in mind to operate and rig said fixture requires a skilled crew)... or something of that nature. Then a surrounding softer source, a hypothetical array of space lights, potentially with a very mild diffusion bellow. This, like everything said above is up to personal taste.

 

 

[Simon Wyss]

Couple carbon arc or xenon bulb brutes

http://www.arclightefx.com/bl10k.htm

[David Mullen ASC]

I used a 20K tungsten on a condor on stage to get a noon hard top light.

[Stephen Sanchez]

Is this on a set? Or actually outside?

The more specifics you have about your problem, Adarsh, the better an answer you'll get.

[Adarsh]

On 6/19/2021 at 3:17 AM, Stephen Sanchez said:

Is this on a set? Or actually outside?

The more specifics you have about your problem, Adarsh, the better an answer you'll get.

Actual outside

[Mateusz Czopek]

What time of day are you shooting outside? Are you shooting with actual noon sunlight or at some other part of the day? Noon sunlight is very harsh and top down on people, so you'd need a big light like the 20k that David mentioned in order to replicate sunlight. Often times silks and other diffusions are used to soften the sunlight at noon, but if you're going for the harsh sunlight look, probably the best thing you can do is shoot at noon if you can and perhaps bring some light control like bounces or nets to help shape the light the best you can. At least from my experience this would be best if you can't afford a bigger light. 

[David Mullen ASC]

Outside at night you’d also have to recreate all the skylight. Outside during the day, even the most powerful 18K won’t be bright enough on a bright overcast day to get the correct contrast range unless it is spotted in on an actor or it’s only for a medium-close shot. Real noon sunlight is a bit more than 3-stops brighter than skylight in an open area. On a dark overcast day or at dusk, then the 18K would be bright enough for a wider shot.

It would be easier if you didn’t have to create dead overhead noon light — if the sun is backlighting like an afternoon or morning scene, you can use multiple lights to get enough heat because it’s harder to see the multiple shadows they create.