Preferred time for shooting in terms of natural light and why??

[Tim Karesly]

Dear all,

What is your take on natural light? When is your preferred daytime shooting? Dusk, noon, sunset, etc..? and why? Despite what the story needs, completely from a picture point of view..

 

[Tim Karesly]

Assume you mean daylight.

Depends on location (continent, island etc etc) time of year, latitude, longitude. weather (cloudy, etc..), camera (digi/film), int/ext, if int depends on n/s/e/w facing....the list is endless

Answer: you cannot answer this question without considering what the story needs no matter how much you may want to.

Thanks Ivan, I'm sorry for the broad question what you re saying makes perfect sense, I'm asking for daylight yes, I'm in the middle east, time of year is august so its the middle of summer and summer in my country means ALOT of sun. Im shooting a documentary in Damascus Syria, using a R1 MX, i have a lot of exterior shots, i very much know what you mean, but what i would love to get a say on from professionals, is really only daylight matters, like shadows, temp, overall feeling. The reason I'm asking this way too broad question is that I'm ofc short on budget, so i don't really have a lot of time nor money to work on post that hard, so i need to get as much as i can done in production… i really don't know if i make sense at all..

 

[Tim Karesly]

Thanks again Ivan… Whats your say on the R1mx in low light condition ( interiors ) ?

 

[Robert Hart]

I am far from competent so please listen more strongly to the words of others.

My personal preference when doing some oral histories or interviews in extreme summer semi-desert dry conditions with hard white skies was to where possible avoid the period 10-30am to 3-30pm. This was as much for human comfort as for image aesthetic.

I also preferred to place my human subjects in shade of a corner balcony or tree and light them with two bounceboards which I made from light plywood painted with reflective road marker paint. I also used two cupboard doorhandles on the boards so that I could prop them with chairs, boxes or anything lying around, even with broken forksticks from the nearest shrubs.

I also would have my human subjects lean over the bonnet ( hood ) of a white or neutral coloured motor vehicle with a handful of dust here and there to block focused highlights from the shiny paint finish. The downside of all this is the eyestrain on my human subjects coping with the glare.

I was doing this with ASA320 tungsten-balanced film which came back to ASA200 with colour correcting filter. You may find a IRND1.8 filter handy to bring your lens iris setting down from the zone where diffraction may be a issue. You may be in a risk zone when at T11 - T22. Be aware these things can cause a green cast to the image requiring colour correction.

 

[scott devitte]

High noon if you are going to remake High Noon. And you will need the Dragon Monochrome

 

[Tim Karesly]

I am far from competent so please listen more strongly to the words of others.

My personal preference when doing some oral histories or interviews in extreme summer semi-desert dry conditions with hard white skies was to where possible avoid the period 10-30am to 3-30pm. This was as much for human comfort as for image aesthetic.

I also preferred to place my human subjects in shade of a corner balcony or tree and light them with two bounceboards which I made from light plywood painted with reflective road marker paint. I also used two cupboard doorhandles on the boards so that I could prop them with chairs, boxes or anything lying around, even with broken forksticks from the nearest shrubs.

I also would have my human subjects lean over the bonnet ( hood ) of a white or neutral coloured motor vehicle with a handful of dust here and there to block focused highlights from the shiny paint finish. The downside of all this is the eyestrain on my human subjects coping with the glare.

I was doing this with ASA320 tungsten-balanced film which came back to ASA200 with colour correcting filter. You may find a IRND1.8 filter handy to bring your lens iris setting down from the zone where diffraction may be a issue. You may be in a risk zone when at T11 - T22. Be aware these things can cause a green cast to the image requiring colour correction.

That was exactly my question, Robert this really was a great post thank you so much.

 

[Paul Russell]

it's very important to acclimatise your subjects to the amount of light, bounced or otherwise, that may be facing them. In equatorial light this can take up to half an hour before the irises close properly and the eyes stop squinting. Get them in position early, keep them cool, help them to relax with small talk and distractions, and then shoot.

 

[Ulf Krentz]

Also think about negative fill. A black frame or a flag holding off the direct light can do magic.

Cheers, Ulf