Lighting background for night shoots like hollywood does

vonD
Member

In most motion pictures when the background has to be illuminated at night for a large area they almost always have a giant lighting system atop a crane and the light that comes from it is bluish. Do they use a gel to get that blue-light or is a type of blue bulb?? Anyone know? I'd like to illuminate my night videos using this technique.

Posted 5 years ago #
Ken
Member

They sometimes use arclights, but that's an expensive proposition. My suggestion would be use normal lights, as many as you can find, to get the area illuminated. Then in post production, use your video editor to slightly desaturate the colors and add a subtle blue cast.

If you want a mixture of blue-tinted moonlight along with warm yellowish lights from practical lamps, use the daylight-balanced photoflood bulbs for the moonlight. Those "dayight-balanced" photofloods really have a color temperature of about 4800 Kelvin ... not really daylight, which is about 5500 Kelvin. But they give a slightly blue tint when your white balance is set for indoor light (around 3200 Kelvin). You can get those photoflood bulbs in either 250 or 500 Watts at a camera store. The daylight-balanced bulbs will have an obvious blue color.

My 3 cents worth. :)
Ken Hull

Posted 5 years ago #
vonD
Member

Ken Wrote:
They sometimes use arclights, but that's an expensive proposition. My suggestion would be use normal lights, as many as you can find, to get the area illuminated. Then in post production, use your video editor to slightly desaturate the colors and add a subtle blue cast.

If you want a mixture of blue-tinted moonlight along with warm yellowish lights from practical lamps, use the daylight-balanced photoflood bulbs for the moonlight. Those "dayight-balanced" photofloods really have a color temperature of about 4800 Kelvin ... not really daylight, which is about 5500 Kelvin. But they give a slightly blue tint when your white balance is set for indoor light (around 3200 Kelvin). You can get those photoflood bulbs in either 250 or 500 Watts at a camera store. The daylight-balanced bulbs will have an obvious blue color.

My 3 cents worth. :)
Ken Hull

Thanks, Ken. Couldn't I place a gel in front of the lights to cast a blue moonlight look?

Posted 5 years ago #
compusolver
Member

It wasn't a Hollywood production, but a couple of months ago I needed an exterior night shot of where a reception had been held. Problem was, we were a four-hour drive from home and it was the next morning. I did a couple of shots, one with proper exposure (just in case) and one slightly underexposed. In post, I played with the underexposed shot a bit, making it just a little darker (adjusting highlights separately from shadowy areas), then placed a blue cast over the whole thing. Turned out even better than a real night shot, but the best part is I saved rental money on the big crane and arc lights! X-D

Posted 5 years ago #
Ken
Member

Well, I guess you could get some blue gels from a theatrical supplies company. Then clamp them to your lights. Do you want the whole scene to have to blue tint? Or are you going to have a few warm yellow lights in the scene for a color-contrast? If the whole scene is blue-tinted, then tinting it in the video editor would be a lot easier. ;-)

Ken Hull

Posted 5 years ago #