High Contrast Exteriors - how to control them?

[Steven Prio]

Hi!

 

A team of us will be shooting a very stylised piece in beautiful Greece in May and June of this year.

 

The light there is very harsh and contrasty. The two biggest lights we have are two 4k HMI's.... and we have some 12x12 fabrics as well (silks, ultrabounce etc... a very basic kit)

 

We would all really appreciate some advice on how we can control this light and make it a big softer on the environment and the faces. It is all set by the sea as well!

 

Filters, fabrics, lenses, filmstocks, lighting techniques...any other tricks will be greatly appreciated. We are shooting on 35mm and we are doing a 2k scan afterwards in London.

 

Thank you for your time!

[Chris Keth]

Hi!

 

A team of us will be shooting a very stylised piece in beautiful Greece in May and June of this year.

 

The light there is very harsh and contrasty. The two biggest lights we have are two 4k HMI's.... and we have some 12x12 fabrics as well (silks, ultrabounce etc... a very basic kit)

 

We would all really appreciate some advice on how we can control this light and make it a big softer on the environment and the faces. It is all set by the sea as well!

 

Filters, fabrics, lenses, filmstocks, lighting techniques...any other tricks will be greatly appreciated. We are shooting on 35mm and we are doing a 2k scan afterwards in London.

 

Thank you for your time!

 

It would need testing to get it right but overexposing and then pulling should do the trick. For extra help you could even start with a lower contrast stock like 5229.

 

The lighting equipment you list should be fairly adequate to control the quality of light on the talent, provided the area of land you need to control at a given time is pretty limited.