Will a redhead equivalent through a lantern softbox be enough to supplement dayl

[Davinki]

<p style=”text-align: left;”>Hello, so my goal is to supplement daylight to make the frame feel natural but alive in a cinematic sense as I feel no lighting can make a frame feel kinda dull unless done with special care like the new naturalism types like Lubezki and Richards. Also to help the lighting for a scene stay consistent over time. With all of this in mind, I found a light that works within my workflow of being small, versatile and relatively powerful but on that last part. I realize I would need to have a much bigger light that I would have no chance of packing in a backpack, but rather, supplement daylight close up, handheld like you would with a sun gun, would a redhead or equivalent, through a lantern be enough to keep up?</p>

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[Roger Deakins]

I carried a couple of Red Heads when I was shooting documentaries but to augment daylight might be a stretch. of course, it all depends on the level of daylight and the width of your shot. By the time you color correct the lamp and push it through diffusion you are not looking at a very powerful source.

 

[Davinki]

Alright then, from your experience, what kind of light would be the bare minimum in working against sunlight in the context of something handheld like a sun gun?

[Roger Deakins]

As I said, it depends on the width of your shot. In full sunlight, a red head held a few feet away from a face would fill in shadows in the same way as a sun gun but why would you not use a bounce in that situation? I am sure that both Chivo and Josh Richards would prefer to use a large soft reflector than a small bright light however powerful that might be. I would also think it rare for either cinematographer to regularly use any additional light when shooting exteriors.

[Davinki]

Reading your answer made me realize that I wasn’t following my own ethos of having a versatile light as the reason I was looking at using a light was that I wanted something to double as a key when not in sun, but that’s limited and now I found a 1.6kw hmi better in my price range that claims to be the equivalent of 6kw of tungsten light but can also outright use 2kw tungsten bulbs, now could either of these work for augmenting daylight as a key light just off camera in a wide shot?

[Author]

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