Western Saloon – lighting from outside

[MartinMoll]

Hi all,
I am shooting (filming) in a western saloon next month and have very little experience lighting from outside.

My own lights / limited resources are:
2x 500w bi-color LED
2x 300w bi-color LED
some smaller LEDs, tubes etc.

Do you guys think having 1000w outside would be enough to shoot a sunset look during the day? The saloon is quite small with windows facing north (no direct sunlight) and it’s winter here in Germany. Otherwise, I could rent additional lights of course.

Cheers, Martin

Topic

[dmullenasc]

A 1000W LED set to full warm (below 3200K) for sunset might be enough, it really depends on how dark it is outside and how far away you need to put the light out the window. If you can darken the view beyond with, let’s say, a Double Net scrim on a frame, that might help the balance. Or wait until dusk or for heavier overcast weather. If it is a bright overcast day then the 1000W LED might not overpower the natural daylight enough. It’s hard to say, it’s a bit like asking if a 5K tungsten fresnel outside a window is bright enough for a sunset effect — half the time, it is.

I just by coincidence was looking at this shot in “Barry Lyndon”, which used I think a 10K tungsten fresnel outside the window for a sunset effect (the light is barely visible for a few frames as the camera pans 180 degrees.)

[dmullenasc]

 

Enlarged by me to see the light peeking out behind the curtain:

[MartinMoll]

Hello David,

thanks very much for your reply. This really helps and as you suggested, I will schedule the wide shots / the ones with windows in frame around dusk.

[Roger Deakins]

I wonder if that 10K Fresnel was actually a Carbon Arc. The picture shows a lamp with a pretty large front. A Carbon Arc (Brute Arc) would probably give you the wider pattern of ‘sunlight’ that appears in the scene.

[LucaM]

MartinMoll wrote:

Hello David, thanks very much for your reply. This really helps and as you suggested, I will schedule the wide shots / the ones with windows in frame around dusk.

As always, i’m unexperienced and i’m afraid i’m writing just a bunch of stupid stuff, but take in consideration that you’ll have the natural light from the windows even in close ups (if you plan to shoot them previously), so it’s possible you’ll need to match the colors of close ups and wide shots to keep them coherent (you’ll get probably cold/greyish diffused light from the windows). Perhaps a warm diffusion on the windows for the close up, together with artificial lights placed inside, could help controlling the natural light also in close ups?

[MartinMoll]

Yes that makes sense! I will shoot all window facing shots (wide and close) during the same time to make sure the lighting matches.

[Author]

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