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Ext. Day


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In filmschool we learn loads about lighting Interior stuff, but nothing about Ext. Day. When shooting Ext. Day scenes, and when working all day on those scenes, how does one manage the shifts in the sun (at times from one side of the subject to the other)? Do you silk the entire shot so that there in no key, then create a key with a light or mirror? Must we always edgelight on the subject? What are some good ways to separate subject from BG? Also, what are some things I should keep in mind when shooting ext. day scenes? Any preferred techniques? Thanks.

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You do every technique every invented by man to handle day exteriors -- it just depends. Sometimes you silk everything. Sometimes you add lights. Sometimes you shoot certain angles at certain times of day. You basically have to learn almost every technique and then apply as necessary.

 

You can create separation with backlight or by throwing the background out of focus or having a neutral non-distracting background. Color can separate as well (red against blue, for example.) Bright and dark will separate (like silhouettes against a bright background.)

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You can of course plan for certain approaches -- like a big silk -- but to some degree, unlike with lighting interiors, you basically have to be prepared to do any number of things. Even do nothing at all but just use the light as is. You can plan all you want for hard sun but what if it is heavily overcast when you arrive to location?

 

Your two basic approaches is to shoot only certain shots at certain times of day (for example, shoot in one direction in the morning and the other direction in the afternoon and maintain a backlight) -- or "average" out the look of the time of day by silking and then adding some lights or reflectors. For example, if shooting in mixed sun and overcast conditions, it helps blend the footage if you soften the hard light and add an edge or back and then just add the edge or back to the overcast.

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David Mullin is right. Maintaining consistancy throughout a scene when your key is constantly moving is the most difficult. The easiest (and cheapest) way is always keep the sun as a backlight. This will keep good separation and nice look. Add reflectance from the front to even out the skin tones and color or more on the side to create come contrast. Negitive fill, (black area such as such as a 12x black on the side to remove unwanted ambiance and create shadow.

Another thing to remember is the old 10&2 photographers rule, (never shoot between 10am and 2pm). At this time (depending on time of year and how far from the equator you are) the sun is over head and the top light can create some nasty down shadows. Since you can't stop production for 4 hours in the middle of the day this is great time to shoot yor close ups!

If you have 12x silk, table it, flat overhead. Now light your close-ups with you reflecton media and neg fill. If you have shiny boards bring these in to replace your backlight.

On your lens add an ND open up your stop to say T4.0 and throw your background out of focus.

All this will drive your director to melt down. Now comes the most difficult job a DP has.

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One of the best purchases you can make is a quality compass and clinometer (Suunto is an excellent comany that makes a combo called the tandem). Purchase SunPath software and you can plot EXACTLY where the sun will be at a SPECIFIC point on a particular day and a paricular time. Easy to learn, and for location scouts and planning it's invaluable - you can scout a location three months ahead of time and know that the sun will come thru a window at a certain angle naturally for exactly how long - of course, weather conditions can change it, but it's practically a necessity if you plan on doing any serious day work (in my opinion). There's another piece of software designed by astronomers that you can download for free, but I can't recall where to find it just now. Hope this helps.

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Those tools are great, but in my experience they are of limited use. You can predict sun angles all you want to, but that doesn't do you much good when there are a dozen variables that you CAN'T predict -- the weather, differences in blocking choices made by the actors or director, wardrobe changes, and other little logistical snafu's. That's when you have to just be prepared for anything and pull out every trick in the book, like David says.

 

I'm not suggesting Sunpath et. al. is worthless, just that it's a very secific tool with a very specific use. Most often you make an educated best-guess, and implement "plan B" anyway. ;)

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