Lighting Daytime Interior

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  • #214727
    jomosadler
    Participant

      My question has 2 parts. I was watching True Grit recently and noticed that in the courtroom scene with Jeff Bridges character, the windows have this almost “washed out” sort of look where you can’t see through them. I notice this in a lot of your movies and was wondering how you achieve that look without overexposing the interior. The second part of my question is how do you decide when to see through a window in a daytime interior vs have that “washed out” look I was talking about earlier.

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    • #214731
      Roger Deakins
      Keymaster

        I had a Par blasting through that window and a very light diffusion, I think it was a Hampshire frost, on the glass. There was no particular ‘view’ and I thought it more interesting to blow out the window. It made the contrast between the brightness outside and the shadowed interior more intense.

        #214742
        jomosadler
        Participant

          Oh wow. I’ll try that

          out. Thank you so much! Love all your work and the podcast!

          #214830
          jlarson
          Participant

            Hey Roger! I was going to start a thread but thought I’d ask here since this is a similar question to mine. I’m shooting some scenes in a hospital room that we are making into a set for a few days. Some day scenes some night. Luckily we are on the first floor so we will have ability to light the windows when needed. But I’m thinking I just want to let them sort of blow out. We will put up some vertical blinds that will be partially open to see light come through but I dont want to see outside.

            It’s one small window about 4’ x 8’. We are going to tent around it outside so we have control. I dont have anything on hand very big lighting wise but I’ll have 3 Joker 1600s. My plan was just to tee up a 8x or 12 ultra about 4-6 feet away from the window and have all three bouncing into it.

            Originally I was thinking or something like 1/4 or 1/2 grid on the window so it was a consistent soft light. I didn’t even think of a frost. If you were in a similar situation would you go with something light like hamp or opal? Obviously I would play around while on set but I can add some frosts to my order if they might be better. Are they more natural to you?

            I added a grab from A serious man with a window similar to what I’m looking for.

            Thanks so much!

            A Serious Man photo

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