How to set exposure for an explosion?

[nirbhay.kuppu]

Hey everyone. I have a bit of a basic question. In a situation where there is an explosion in frame how does one set exposure? The moment is so fleeting and I’m guessing the intensity of light will vary with the explosive payload so how do I test and set the exposure for the scene?

Do the vetrans here on the forum find that they end up working at a specific F stop and  maybe a higher ASA to give yourself some extra latitude in the highlights?

Looking forward to hearing your responses, thank you.

Nirbhay

Topic

[dmullenasc]

The truth is that it is hard to underexpose a fire — look at the burning of Atlanta scene in “Gone with the Wind” shot on 5-to-10 ASA 3-strip Technicolor.

So you try and light for a higher f-stop at night to hold color in a big fire, but everyone runs into practical limits. The big Cyberdyne night exterior on “Terminator 2” was lit to f/5.6 for 500 ASA film just to have a chance of holding detail in big explosion.

I had a large fire scene shot on the Alexa and could only light the night exterior to f/2.8 but once the fire got really big, I was at f/8-11 when pointing at the flames in the wide shot and when I zoomed in close, I was at f/11-16!  Luckily it wasn’t an explosion; if it were, I would have tried to light the location to a deeper stop, like f/5.6.

Yes, using a camera with good overexposure latitude helps.

[Mike]

<b>Interesting post.</b>

Would be nice if we could identify the film in the photo.

[M Ryan]

Probably from The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

[dmullenasc]

It’s from a TV series I did called “Get Shorty”, Season 1.

[dmullenasc]

This was shot closer to f/11. But keep in mind, this was not an explosion but a continuous fire so I didn’t have to light the surrounding area to f/11, there was no before and after moment.

[Mike]

Thankyou David,

I can feel the heat from here!

Assume it was a controlled Butane fire rather than burning old discarded sets as per “Gone With the Wind” era. Pleased the fire trucks were on stand by,just in case.

[Tyler F]

A bit of a separate question for David, but when you’re designing a shot like this are you planning well before to set your framing for how the trucks will sit and the characters both in the fore & background? Like this still is incredible…

[dmullenasc]

There might have been a rough sketch of the layout of vehicles in prep or a few days before but on the day, the director and I just worked with Transpo and Props to create a frame.

[nirbhay.kuppu]

Thank you David, that really helps. f5.6 at 500ASA on terminator 2 gives me a really good idea on the range of exposure to expect.

[Author]

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