Creating natural-looking window light after sunset

[Matthew_]

Hi everyone – and Mr. Deakins, if you’re reading,

I’m working on a scene where the character enters a rural house at dusk, just after sunset. He’s searching for something and eventually finds it. The only motivated light sources inside are supposed to be the windows.

The challenge is: how can I make the windows glow – look soft and natural, not overexposed – while still having enough light inside to properly expose the scene?

When the window is in frame, I don’t want it to feel too bright or blown out. But in close-ups, when the windows aren’t visible, how can I realistically light the character while maintaining the illusion that the light is still coming from those windows?

I’m aiming for a quiet, moody atmosphere – something between realism and slight stylization.

Any tips on how to approach this balance? Especially in a low-light, moody setting like this?

Thanks in advance!

Topic

[gabj3]

See Looking at Lighting – Blade Runner 2049 – Sappers Farm.

From memory it was the equivalent of a light frost on the window. I’ve substituted in any slightly frosted plastic, you don’t want it to be too dense or it will absorb too much of the ingress light.

Then a white (or slightly off-white grey) backing, light this seperately and control any spill onto it. This will be your ‘back-drop’ but it can easily be a frame of any white/gray reflector.

Then above the axys of the AOV out of the window, place your room lighting. This can be a reflector above the outside of the window and above the AOV of the camera, for ease of rigging you can place lights on the ground pointing up into it (remember an ACUTE angle will always be inherently more efficient due to lamberts cosine law).

Note this isn’t supposed to be an exact recipe rather than a general guide for something I’ve tried a couple of times in the past. Diffuse the windows slightly, light your back-drop (can be white and hold it at a certain value) then light the room, a soft even source will light the diffuser on the window more evenly and produce a more even fall-off.

 

 

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Gabriel Devereux - Engineer

[Roger Deakins]

The question is: Do you need to see what is outside the windows? It is a far more difficult job to create a dusk effect on location during the day, especially if the sun is out, and still see a view outside a window.

[Stip]

how can I make the windows glow – look soft and natural, not overexposed – while still having enough light inside to properly expose the scene?

You can also use haze to raise the shadow levels and have the windows ‘glow’.

[Matthew_]

Thank you for taking the time – it really means a lot to be able to ask this here.

I don’t need or want to see what’s outside the windows. The main goal is to create the feeling of blue hour – that quiet moment just after sunset.

I’m mainly after the atmosphere – a soft, subtle glow in the windows. Not complete darkness, but definitely nothing too bright either. Just enough to suggest that there’s still a bit of ambient light outside – and that glow would come from the windows themselves.

But then comes the question of exposure inside the room. It’s going to be quite dark, and the idea is that only this ambient dusk light is lighting the space…

Do you think that could work naturally on camera, or would something need to be added or created to make it believable? I was considering maybe a very soft bounce off the ceiling to gently lift the exposure – but I’m afraid it might feel artificial or take away from the mood.

One thought I had was to use the windows in wide shots or wherever they’re visible in frame, as a way to backlight or separate the character from the background. Then, in shots where the window isn’t visible – like in close-ups – maybe I could push more light through it just to help exposure, without breaking the illusion.

[Matthew_]

Another idea I had: what if I expose the window that’s in frame so it looks right for dusk – soft and natural – and then use a different window (off-camera) to push in more light and help build exposure inside the room?

Maybe I could also use some soft fill, bounced off the ceiling, just to gently reduce the contrast without breaking the mood.

[Author]

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