How To Get Perfect Exposure
HDR Lighting 101
Getting perfectly balanced exposure in an interior location can be tricky. Achieving this in an interior location with large open windows can be even more difficult.
Today in Four Minute Film School, we’ll explore how you can do just that.
For our scene premise, we have a young woman who has likely partied too hard the night before and is feeling the effects the following day in her downtown Los Angeles apartment. With floor-to-ceiling windows and multiple reflective buildings in the background, Director of Photography Valentina Vee and guest DOP Kevin Reyes set out to properly expose their composition.
Interior Woes
First, let us cover some basics. What do we mean by HDR lighting?
Each camera has something called dynamic range, and this term denotes the range at which the camera can capture both the brightest and darkest values of the image. If a camera has a relatively limited dynamic range, you will often find that you can’t obtain detail in both the highlights and the shadows; it’s either one or the other.
More expensive cameras will have a greater dynamic range, allowing you to capture more detail in both the highlights and the shadows. Typically, when we hear that an image looks ‘cinematic,’ the dynamic range is a significant contributor to the term.
Even then, there are limitations, especially when dealing with harsh daylight. That’s where additional lighting can come into play.
The primary issue with shooting in a location with windows, especially if you are filming towards them, is that you’re likely to overexpose and possibly clip the exterior if you expose your frame for talent. Conversely, if you expose for the exterior, your talent and interior will become underexposed as there is significantly less light hitting them than the exterior you adjusted for.
The primary issue with shooting in a location with windows, especially if you are filming towards them, is that you’re likely to overexpose and possibly clip the exterior if you expose your frame for talent. Conversely, if you expose for the exterior, your talent and interior will become underexposed as there is significantly less light hitting them than the exterior you adjusted for.
Failing to expose your composition correctly, such as overexposing windows, is often a tell-tale sign of amateurish productions. Although, like all forms of art, rules can be broken, and sometimes clipped windows can be a stylistic choice. A good example of this is often used in NBC’s Hannibal.
If you have full control of the property and plenty of time, it would be beneficial to apply a Neutral Density gel to the windows (Neutral Density gel and filters are an optics tool that reduces the wavelengths of light). This offers greater versatility as you will have less need for lights to compete with the bright exterior allowing for looser movement across the set. However, applying ND gels to the window is also a lengthy and expensive process, so it’s not always viable. If that’s the case, we’ll need to bring in a variety of lights to brighten the location.
When shooting in these locations it’s also important to scout ahead and set yourself up for success by problem-solving any potential issues. These locations are the worst offenders for light spills and reflections from the other skyscraper — you’re essentially surrounded by large mirrors. In choosing a location and planning for optimal light conditions, you can avoid constant resets due to the ever-changing light direction. Take into account where the sun is during the day and how different times of the year may alter the height of the sun.
Daylight savings recently just went into effect, to which we had to adjust our shooting schedule to avoid sun spills. If you’re able to film when the sun is behind your building, filming in indirect ambient light will allow you to have more creative control of the situation.
Lighting
Before you start assembling your grip and lighting gear, first double-check your expected framing to see where equipment can be placed without being seen by the camera.
In our case, Valentina could see that the second column of windows was not going to be within the composition and could be blacked out. We used this technique to reduce the amount of unwanted ambient light and give our key light more play in exposing the talent.
Speaking of, let’s have a look at how we’re going to illuminate the talent. We’re going to use an Aputure LS 600d Pro and bounce into a highly reflective material. With the 600d Pro, we need to keep it out of view in the wide shot, so we’ll place it on a turtle base without the c-stand so we can keep the light nice and low.
The reflective material in this circumstance is going to be a 4x4 shiny board. And it’s important to note when you start to set up more stands and bases throughout your location; you may be in danger of marking and scraping the property, so you’ll need to soften the legs of the stand. You don’t need anything fancy; nothing more than sliced open tennis balls will do the job.
With the 600d Pro and 4x4 shiny board in place, there was a problem. Because the shiny is a reflective foil instead of being a true mirror, the bounce light was more diffused. As a result, we had to scrap the initial setup. It can be disappointing when this happens, but this is filmmaking. Sometimes your initial idea doesn’t pan out or give you the results you need, so you pick yourself up and move to the next idea.
Plan B
To make sure the sheer power of the 600d Pro was being put to good use, we decided it is more beneficial to directly position the light towards our talent and attach the Aputure F10 Fresnel to double the intensity (as well as giving us control over the spot and flood options). Although we do not want to overpower the talent, therefore a 4x4 1/2 silent grid was used to diffuse the key. Lighting can be a give-and-take operation.
Looking at the preview, it looks good. And perhaps if you were in a rush, you could roll with this. But it’s essential to pay attention to the exposure across the entirety of the scene. With that, we can see that the foreground elements, such as the alcoholic beverages, tipped-over containers, and kitchen counter, are very flat and devoid of life.
So we’re going to place some fill light to bring these areas into color. We’re going to use an LS 60d and an LS 300dII. When using two lights with different luminance outputs, it’s crucial to position the lights to get the best results efficiently. The 300dII can actively cover a larger area, so this would be the better light to fill the kitchen counter because the light can proficiently reach further. In comparison, the smaller 60d works well to illuminate the details like beverages on the left of the frame while not spilling into unwanted areas.
Punching In
When you move in for a tighter shot, you may find that your initial setup is slightly too strong. Remember, we were attempting to bring up the exposure of the entire location; now we need to focus on the talent. We’re not going to need all that additional light for the close-up.
In our example, the actress is now positioned by the window, and when the key is at 100% intensity, it’s too overpowering and, in general, looks artificial. We want the key to feel like a bounce light that has come in from the window.
Therefore, we will reduce the 600d Pro to 70% and add a 4x4 floppy for negative fill, which will help provide depth to her features. Additionally, it will add a sense of realism to the shot, with the side of the actress’s face away from the window being slightly darker.
Closing Out
For those interested in the gear used, the scene was shot with the Canon C70 and Rokinon Xeen lenses, which were placed onto an Easyrig Mini Max for efficient handheld shooting. Additionally, pearlescent filters were used to obtain that hazy quality seen in the final example in this tutorial.
Be sure to check out the entire Four Minute Film School playlist on Aputure’s Official YouTube channel, and stay creative.
