Daniel Spangler

I bought a couple of these on a whim after reading this: http://www.shuttertalk.com/articles/diylighting They work great with some flags and a bounce for quick and dirty softlight. I'd be interested to know if anyone has found the daylight balanced bulbs referenced in the above article, though. The ones they speak of seem to only be available in Australia, and run on 240 volts. Surely there must be some US equivalent. A modestly bright, super-cheap daylight source would be amazing when there's no budget for HMIs.

Use a spot meter, if you've got one, to get a general idea of the light level outside of the window (little points of light on a skyline are probably too small to measure individually, but you can get a general idea by sampling different clusters of lights). I like to use a digital SLR to check my exposure in situations like this. Once you have the proper exposure for your background, just light the actor relative to that light level. If you don't have a spot meter, you'll probably be okay if you just shoot wide open and light for that. Hope that helps!

Apologies if this is an oft-heard question: I'm interested in hearing opinions concerning the use of camera filtration when shooting tungsten-balanced stocks in daylight. I have a short coming up, and will be shooting 7218 under both daylight and tungsten conditions, and doing a best-light transfer. My natural instinct is to use an 85, but I've spoken to DPs who have said they prefer to always shoot unfiltered, and allow the lab to correct (by means of detailed reports and a grey card). Opinions? Thanks! - Daniel