Blue Hour Lighting Tips

[ckalcic]

Any tips for shooting exterior blue hour scenes? I have a short set in the sand dunes and have a few scenes that will need blue hour lighting for atmospheric exteriors, as well as some shots that I want to get the blue sky in the background, and some dawn as the sun rises.

I know some shots i’ll be able to cheat, or can darken in post but I want to be efficient.

We will have a pretty tight shooting schedule of three days but some scenes will need to be blue hour lighting for dawn/dusk. I want to make sure we get all the shots we need within the 30-40 minute or even less timeframe, and was curious about any tips to get everything and keep continuity.

Ive been trying to schedule a few scenes everyday spread out to get the most out of the blue hour timeframe each day but I want to see if anyone has recommendations and about adding any additional light shaping like bounce or diffusion to match the shots I attached.

Ive been referencing some blue hour shots in No Country for Old Men and Revolutionary Road.

Thanks and hope to get some feedback!

Topic

[Roger Deakins]

I think the best advice is be prepared. Storyboard your wish list and keep it simple. You can always embellish your shots if you find you have time. If you have storyboards you can break down what can be shot at dawn and what it dusk. There might also be some you could shoot during the day as long as there is cloud cover.

[Author]

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