Turning Sunlight into Moonlight for Stills or Video: A Lighting Tutorial

By Jay P. Morgan

In this Slanted Lens lighting tutorial we are going to show you how to change sunlight into moonlight for stills or video. This is not a post process, it’s an in camera technique using two different color temperatures in the same image. People ask me all the time, why worry about color in the camera when you can shoot raw and fix it when you process? That may be true to some extent but the reality is color balance can become another tool you can use to create mood and interest in your images. This will show you a creative way to shift the color balance of sunlight and create a blue background that looks like moonlight.

I wanted a night time look to this 20′s scene. Shooting later was not an option. This was a way to give a night time look to the sunlight streaming in the window. This technique can be applied to all types of photography. I saw a wedding photographer using this technique by putting a small amount of warm gel on his strobe which allowed him to let the background behind the bride and groom go slightly blue. This adds depth and interest. I have used it in corporate portraiture to create a cool background out of what was a boring scene. The blue becomes a unifying layer that pulls a background together into one element.

It’s important to think beyond my example and see the application in your own work. That is what this exercise is all about.

Keep those cameras rolling and keep on click-in!

If you would like to see more, you can view the lighting Breakdown on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/theslantedlens1.

#2
We are shooting in a well lit room in the afternoon. The sun in streaming into the room through the window and has little or no mood. I want this image to look like night so we will need to cool the sunlight in the room making it look more like moonlight.

#3
Looking from over head you can see the lighting set up.

#4
Even though the scene is daylight with a color balance of 5500 degrees we are going move the color balance on the camera from daylight to Tungsten or 3200 degrees.

#5
This deep blue makes the background so much more interesting and it looks like night. The sun becomes the first light in our light build up.

#6
Now we are going to need to light our talent. Our strobe light is daylight balanced so it will make her very blue unless we color correct the strobes. The first light we will add is a medium Photoflex soft box from camera right riming her body.

#7
Because Strobes are balanced at 6000 degrees we are going to add a Full CTO or orange gel to the strobe lights. They need to be warmed or our talent will look very blue. We buy our gels at rosco.
http://www.rosco.com/us/filters/cinegel.cfm.

#8
Here is our first strobe light. We will pan it slightly away from the background so it will allow just the right amount of light on the man at the window. This gives us a nice rim light on her and does not over light him.

#9
We are now going to set the key light on her face from a low angle. We added a Hensel porty with a small Photoflex Octodome from camera left on a low stand. I used a grid on the Octodome to keep the light contained and not over light the background. Placing the light low gave us a more interesting key light on her face to feel consistent with the speakeasy. I will pan this away from the man in the BG so we keep his silhouette.

#10
Again we add a Full CTO or orange gel to this light.

#11
We use full sheets of gel because they need to cover the entire head or the color diminishes. No stray light can escape into the octodome or the effect of the gel will be lost.

#12
Here is our final lighting set up for the first shot. Two strobe lights and the sun coming through the window.

#13
This is what the shot would have looked like if I had shot it at 5500 degrees or daylight. Very warm on her face from the CTO.

#14
Now lets look at a variation we did on this shot. We turned off the Octodome and only used the medium soft box as both the rim and key on her face. She held the mirror up and reflected the light back into her face. When she sees the softbox in the mirror its in the right place. It was a fun variation.

#15
This is one of the shots taken with the rim light and mirror as key.

#16
Let’s now look at the post process. I wanted the image to look a bit more gritty than the above so I went to Nik Software color effects 4 pro to work on it.

#17
Using a recipe called super cross pop I made changes to each layer to open up the shadows and reduce the contrast. Her face is still too heavy and the effect needs to be removed.

#18
I removed about 60% of the effect on her face and dialed the whole effect back 20 %. This will become my final image.

#19
This effect is easy to apply to shooting video. Using a tungsten light, like this Aries 2K, and setting the color temperature on the camera to Tungsten you’re ready to shoot. Tungsten lights are balanced at 3200 degrees and sunlight is 5500 degrees so no gel is needed to achieve the effect. The tungsten light is naturally warm so when you warm the camera the sunlight goes blue. If you are using an HMI then you will need to use a CTO on the HMI to achieve the effect. HMI’s match the color balance of sunlight or 5500 degrees and need to be warmed to match Tungsten.

It’s important to think beyond my example and see the application in your own work. That is what this exercise is all about.

Keep those cameras rolling and keep on click-in!

Devin Riter & Danny Schmidt recently put together a Star Lapse tutorial showcasing how to replace your night time skies with an astro timelapse. We had a chance to talk to Devin about why he chose to approach astro-photography in this manner.

Kessler University (KU): Would love to know a little bit more about you.

Devin Riter (DR): Both Danny Schmidt and I have backgrounds in science. Danny did his undergrad in GIS and I did mine in chemistry, and we both came to Montana to get our MFA in Science and Natural History Filmmaking from Montana State University. Danny just graduated today and I will graduate next fall. During our time in graduate school we have teamed up to form a production company, ColorBURN Productions. Over the past two years our company has created a wide range of media, from educational and promotional science and nature films to commercial and TV broadcast work.

One of our largest projects has been a documentary sponsored by the NASA Astrobiology Institue about the origin of life. One of the main questions studying the origin of life brings up is, how likely is it for life to exist in other places in the universe, and so we thought a great visual for this type of question would be star time lapses.

KU: What was your motivation to approach astro photography in this manner?

DR: One of our main motivations for approaching astro photography in the manner described in the tutorial was essentially time. Normally in order to get a series of four motion control star time lapses that we wanted for the film, we would have had to have found four free nights, with little clouds and no moon, and with our schedules that just wasn’t going to happen in the time frame that we needed these complete by. So instead, we adapted and perfected the technique described in the tutorial. The fact that it allowed the foreground to be more in focus and captured at a lower iso than normal astro photography was simply an artistic plus, that helped give the shots a unique look.

KU: Any advice for others wanting to take a stab at this?

DR: The only advice I would have for anyone thinking about doing this would be to make sure you understand the post process before filming. There are many considerations to make when trying to decide the best scene and the best lighting set up in the field, and really to avoid big problems you need to know how those images are going to translate through post.

KU: What can we expect next from you?

DR: What’s up next for us is really still up in the air. We have lots of smaller projects going on locally but as this NASA documentary gets completely finished, we will start looking for another large scale project.

About the Product

The Kessler Low Profile Ball Head is an easy to use, ultra-low profile ball head system with a heavy duty weight capacity. The strong locking ball has 62 degrees of total adjustability. It features a 3/8”-16 thread stud on the top and bottom providing easy mounting to all the Kessler sliders and Shuttle Pods, without the need for an adapter. The modular design allows the Low Profile head to be used on other Kessler mounting accessories such as the Cheese Plate, Multi-Angle Mounting Plate (for mounting a camera in multiple angle configurations including 90° for vertical slider moves), or the Kessler Kwik Release System. Other mounting accessories that accept a standard 3/8”-16 threaded stud are also compatible. To view or purchase the product, click here.

For more information, check out the poster below.

Window light Portraits for Stills and Video: A Lighting Tutorial

By Jay P. Morgan

In this video we will look at how to use window light as an effective light source to create portraits.
Window light is a natural light source that can create beautiful light for portraits in video and stills. It’s a quick light source that is controlled by the size of the window and the proximity of the subject to the window or light source. Large windows give softer light with brighter backgorunds and smaller windows give harder light with darker backgrounds. Its the same principle as soft boxes. Large boxes create soft light and small boxes create more directional light. We will look at window light as a backlight, key light, or flat frontal light. In the process we will explore how skin tone and hair color effect the way we light. Combining someone with dark hair and olive skin and someone with fair skin and red hair creates a challenge. We will discuss how to overcome that challenge. Lets look at Window light as a light source for portraits.

If you would like to see more, you can view the lighting Breakdown on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/theslantedlens1.

#2
Our first camera set up is a strong backlight or silhouette. We are using the light source as a background. I want the sky outside to be bright enough to give me the silhouette without becoming so bright that it starts to wrap around the talent.

#3
The room is very white and the light is bouncing off the walls causing an overall fill light in the room. In post we could up the contrast to remove the fill light and create a stronger silhouette if desired. I like the subtle bleed on her body and chose to leave it.

#4
By adding a fill card on camera right, we will bounce light back into Brooke’s face. I’m having my assistant hold the card up high so that the fill card gives us a Rembrandt light on her face.

#5
If the card is placed on the ground and reflected up, it’s not very flattering on her face. Reflectors need to be placed in the same places as lights to be effective. Many times we let the floor be the resting place for the reflector, and we end up with a Horror light coming form underneath.

#6
Shooting Brooke and Adelaide together can be a challenge because of the skin tone and hair color difference between the two of them. Brooke’s dark hair and olive skin combined with Adelaide’s red hair and fair skin can be tough. Care needs to be taken to make sure both their faces are exposed correctly.

#7
Placing the reflector on Brooke’s side and letting the strength of the reflector hit her first and then fall off on Adelaide’s face will accommodate both of their skin tones. Feather the reflector away from Adelaide to keep her fair skin from becoming overexposed.

#8
The reflector is almost turned away from them. This keeps the light strong on Brooke and lighter on Adelaide.

#9
Moving along side of the window turns the window light into a direct key source rather than a backlight. This is a very popular way to shoot with a window light source. The light coming through the window is soft and wraps around the face very nicely. The window itself cuts the light off the wall behind the talent, allowing it to go darker and causing separation of our talent from the background. It’s hard to go wrong with this set up.

#10
Brooke has a nice highlight on her face, and the background is falling slightly darker, so she separates nicely.

#11
As the sunset, we were able to capitalize on the hard light coming into the room. The window cast a wonderful shape on the wall for us to play with.

#12
Using the hard light coming through the window, we were able to take some more dramatic portraits. Don’t be afraid of allowing the highlight to blow out. Hard light can be dramatic, interesting, and a change of pace from what people are use to seeing.

#13
In this set up, we are going to move the subject around and use the window as a large light source on the same axes as the camera.

# 14
The window is high and wide, giving us a very soft source of light. It’s bouncing all over the room and creating a soft yet slightly directed light. You can see how it has created a wonderful butterfly light with the shadows under her nose and cheekbones.

#15
Moving out onto the fire escape, we did some shots using the window light in a grittier environment.

#16
I wanted to give this image on the fire escape a more interesting look, so I did some work in Nik Color Efex Pro 4. I used a recipe called Black Gold. I changed the color pallet in Black Gold and made it less gold and more green. I pulled back the TC just a bit and added a vignette. There are so many possibilities in the post process.

It was a great shoot. Keep that video rolling and those cameras click’n.

Jay P. Morgan

KUTV presents the latest installment of Your Milkman. In this episode, Daniel walks us through the two days of production — including yet another obstacle that the team has to overcome.

For more information about the series, check out the page on KUTV at http://bit.ly/iwrRZc.

Find out more about the players on the “Crew” page at: http://bit.ly/lIKSCf.

About the Film

On April 17th 2012, Tom Lowe had a screening for his debut film “Timescapes” at the Brenden Theatre in Las Vegas, Nevada. In the video above, filmmakers from around the world give their impressions of the film as well as predictions of what we can expect next from Tom Lowe. Timescapes footage was taken from the trailer, “Timescapes 4k”. If you would like to find out more about the project, visit timescapes.org. To pre-order the film, click here.

NAB 2012 Recap

NAB is a must-attend event if you want to future-proof your career and your business. Another major benefit of NAB is the networking that takes place. It is the one time of year that over 100,000 people from the same industry come together for one event. With NAB wrapping up last week, we wanted to share our thoughts and experiences from the show.

NAB Teaser – Booth Set-up

About the Video

Similar to last year, we shared our booth with Zacuto. While setting up the booth, we filmed a quick video, which is attached above.

Experiences & Thoughts

NAB was a huge success again this year and we want to thank everyone who had a chance to stop by and say hi! We have already started prepping for next year and we are sure that NAB will just continue to grow and get better.

Press

We had many exciting things happen this year. Most notably, we received an honorable mention for the Kessler Fusion from Post Magazine.

We also had a few people stop by our booth wanting to find out a little more about what was new this year. Below we have included some of the videos from the show.

Kessler Shooter, Dan Chung Visits Kessler Crane Booth

About the Video

Eric Kessler of Kessler Crane walks through the latest products – some of which look like they are going to be well suited to news and documentary shooters.

Tom Guilmette’s NAB Overview

About the Video (taken from TomGuilmette.com)

I walked around yesterday and went straight to the booths that held technology that I found interesting. I did not have a lot of time, so I missed quite a bit, but for those who could not make it to NAB this year, I hope you enjoy my video blog.

Andrea Allen of Vimeo Visits Kessler Crane Party

About the Video

In this video, Andrea Allen chats with visual effects artist, Andrew Kramer and also brings you a taste of a NAB party thrown by Eric Kessler for Kessler Crane.

Wide Open Camera Visits Kessler Crane Booth

About the Video

Jared talks with Eric Kessler about the hot new Fusion motion controller, brand new shuttlepod mini, and their very cleverly designed quick release system for cameras, sliders and cranes. Check it out!

FreshDV Visits Kessler Crane Booth

About the Video

Kessler shows off their Lithium-Iron Phosphate battery, Mini-Shuttle pod with new ways of mounting camera, and the Stealth Mini.

GamerTV Visits Kessler Crane Booth

About the Video

NAB 2012: NAB 2012: Eric Kessler Shows Off Kessler Fusion Automated Motion and Timelapse Dolly Machine

“Somewhere” is a timelapse film about the world’s natural beauty alongside man made industrial wonders. We recently had a chance to catch up with Garrit & Ciarán.

Kessler University (KU): Tell me a little about yourself.

Garrit Pieper (GP): Well, my name is Garrit Pieper and I am a photographer with my main focus being nature and industrial work. My colleague, Ciarán Ryan, comes from a post-production background. Our paths crossed a few years back when we worked on a few jobs together and we kept in touch. About 18 months ago we got to talking – I wanted to take my creative side further by perhaps crossing into film and Ciarán wanted to learn more about the actual production end of things rather than just working in the post side of it. We decided that timelapse was a natural step for us to whet our appetite for film. So we are the people behind Miadox and on March 21st of 2012 we opened our doors for business.

KU:Why did you choose Kessler Crane over other companies? What is it like shooting with Kessler Crane gear?

Ciarán Ryan (CR): After checking out a lot of reviews of equipment we became more and more convinced that Kessler was the choice for us, chiefly due to the combination of reasonable prices and what was said as great build quality. When we got our hands on the stuff we weren’t disappointed. The stuff is so robust it’s amazing. We just throw it in the back of the car and head off to shoot – simple. When we’re on the road we see often see something that we just have to stop and shoot and setting up the gear is so easy that we lose no time at all for the actual shooting.

Another important factor was that the gear is multifunctional. The fact that the Cineslider would function greatly in both the timelapse and film worlds made it a must buy for us.

We then invested in the KC-12 system because we knew that it will work together with the Shuttle Pod enabling us to use the system in both timelapse and film. The Shuttle Pod is next on our to buy list along with the Revolution Head, as this will function on both the Cineslider and the KC-12.

This modular design of the equipment also weighed heavy in our decision to go with Kessler.

KU: We would love to know more about the film. Can you elaborate?

GP: This film was inspired by man’s ingenuity alongside natures own.

If you look at both industry and nature, what it all boils down to is function. Function dictates design. We are inspired by nature in so many ways that we mirror it time and time again. A lot of the times you will find that man will study nature to get ideas how to design their products in a similar manner. They will look to nature because most of the time nature has already developed a solution. A perfect example of this is how the Wright brothers studied birds to see how they stayed airborne. When such a solution is found then humans implement it time and again such as when the flowers bloom the same way year after year.

The same goes for when bees leave the hive in the morning juxtaposed with human rush hour traffic you will notice the same actions being implemented over and over again. It happens all the time. Some of these actions take time and that means the viewer usually can’t always see this but when captured as a timelapse it becomes very clear. The title comes from the fact that it’s happening somewhere right now around us, we just have to open our eyes and look for it.

Overall it’s about design, repeating processes and it shows that the human world and the natural world are more intertwined and interconnected than one would think. We can only hope that it’s always beneficial.

KU: How do you feel the gear has helped you with your storytelling?

CR: Put simply – a lot. I mean, straight off the bat, as we said above, the portability of this gear is great. It means we can get it into some tricky locations that otherwise we would have given up on. Using the Cineslider to reveal hidden sections of the scene is fantastic and it helps to give the audience a better feeling of the scale. It can really add a lot of drama. We like to be spontaneous with our shooting so when we see something that we want to capture we know that we can just grab the gear out of the car and it will work with minimal set up and that lets us focus more on the image.

Again, the modular design of Kessler is a key feature. It means we can add features step by step which is important if you need to squeeze every penny out of your budget, which, being a young company like we are, is of the utmost importance. This modular design makes it possible to go from simple slider movements to large scale crane movements. It’s good to know that such options are there and we know it will give us much more artistic freedom. The same thinking applies to the Revolution head and combined with the rest of the Kessler gear it gives the film maker almost endless possibilities to create the shot they want since the technology is not limiting. It supports the vision.

KU: What’s next from you?

GP & CR: Well, “Somewhere” is planed to be in three parts. The majority of the first part were tripod shots. Once we bought the Cineslider we added another feather to our cap as filmmakers. These films are a kind of self-reflection our own growth as artists as with each film we want to add better and more daring shots, both on a technical and an artistic level. We have already begun work on the second part.

In general though, we have been overwhelmed by the response we have got since we first published “Somewhere”. I don’t think in our wildest dreams we ever thought we would have gotten such amazing feedback. A lot of people have been in touch with us regarding work so it’s great to have been noticed. So much has been going on in the background for us over these last few weeks. One thing that we can say, though, is that we are in the pre-production phase to shoot for two nature documentaries that will air on prime-time national television in 2013. It’s crazy for us right now, but in the best possible way of course!

Best Regards from Garrit & Ciarán

We recently chatted with Stephen Schuster about his experiences working on his new film. Below we have attached both a brief synopsis as well as an excerpt of the interview.

One-Liner

“And I think that’s part of the obsession, is being able to contain it. Because if obsession is not contained, then it becomes erratic, scattered, negative, the positive energy can flip into the negative. I know all too well, ‘cause I spent a lot of time there. ”

The Balance of Dark and Light is a micro exploration into the life and work of Ron Pippin who for the last 30 years has made it his one goal – to create.

Kessler University (KU): Tell me a little more about yourself?

Stephen Schuster (SS): My name is Stephen Schuster. I am a director based out of Los Angeles, CA. Like many directors – trying to make things that I feel passionate about as I continue looking for that big break.

KU: Would love to know a little more about this film. The visual style / editing / sound design was very unique. What was the motivation behind this?

SS: I found Ron’s work when I first moved to Santa Monica at a small gallery called Obsolete Inc. on Main St. The whole store is amazing but it was Ron’s work that really drew me in and I would say that for the next 5-6 years I thought about the work. Last summer I decided that I would like to do a mini documentary on him and his work as I could find so little about him personally so I reached out to Obsolete and they put me in touch with him. I went in with no preconceived ideas but everyone says that it came out as “my style”. It all came together though through a very small but talented team’s group effort who are all friends of mine. I think a lot of us also wanted to do something SO different from what we were currently working on and just go for it.

KU: I like how you used movement / sound design to help tell your story. How did you come up with the idea to use motion / sound in this way?

SS: My friend Ben Lukas Boysen(HECQ) did all the audio in the beginning and then Kirk Smith who edited the piece really chopped things up and did some crazy sound design work on his part as well. Alot of the movement came out of how I wanted to showcase the work and Ron’s personality. We shot handheld to give a more exploratory feel, stop motion to give a more frenetic feel and then slider shots to have some nice transitions as well as very precisely controlled movements.

KU: I noticed you used Kessler Crane gear on this project but also noticed Guillermo Lecuona was the DP. What was it like using the gear?

SS: Guillermo Lecuona is an amazing dp/photographer and friend of mine and anything I can do to get him out of an office is a good time. We spoke about what I was hoping to get at the beginning in regards to lighting and tone and he really set the standard for the lighting at both the warehouse and Ron’s studio. Guillermo shot A camera and I ran B camera which was mainly the locked off and slider shots. I own all the Kessler gear and love it. We mainly shot with the Cineslider, Hercules Head and Oracle control module. I was running mainly a 50mm and the 100mm macro on a Canon 5Dii on the Cineslider with the Manfrotto magic arm for horizontal shots and then the Giottos MH7001 Ball Head for the vertical or angled shots. The Oracle control module with motors allows such a smooth movement and freed me up to focus on other aspects of the shot besides just the movement.

KU: What’s next? It seems like you have a distinct style. Can we expect something similar?

SS: Still trying to understand what “my style” is but other people see it. I love to capture beauty both bathed in light and hidden in the shadows and I think that is what shows. What’s next? Pre-Production on a film noir short I wrote that should be a lot of fun. Wrapped up some work in Scotland for Revolver and looking forward to sharing that. If things go as planned – “alot” is what’s next and I look forward to sharing it with you all soon.