Lighting an open restaurant night scene

[Erik Anschicks]

Ali-

To directly answer your reply, I meant mainly to use the China Balls in the background as to help fill in the emptiness since there’s no walls. I’d use them and other practicals rigged in various places in the shots themselves. BUT, I agree with the others here, you COULD certainly use them as keys around the table as well. A few well-placed china balls for 3 people around a small table can be plenty of light. I don’t know how you’re planning on covering this scene, but you might not need all 4 800w Jokers for this scenario. You can probably spare some for the background as well to fill in where the practicals don’t, as John suggested possibly for a moonlit effect.

Yet another option in the China ball vs. Joker keylighting question…is to do both! If you can get a Chimera or Jem type of “China ball” or “lantern” (not sure exactly how they word it) you can rig the Joker to it and turn it into the source for the china ball and get a beautiful softlight for the table that you can move around and reposition easily. Then fill where necessary. My only caveat here is that I have never done this with the 800w Joker instrument itself, so I am not certain that it will fit one of these types of lanterns, so double check!

Remember, there are no hard rules for this. No one scene HAS to be lit a certain way with certain items and a certain color temperature. It’s about deploying your resources the best you can with where you are and deciding what looks right. You may block the scene and decide that the Jokers are best served in the background. Even if that runs contrary to your initial plan, you’ll be best served to roll with it.

[Bob Cole]

[john sharaf] “I’d suggest using the four 800’s as background and night ambivalence.”

John, what do you mean by this statement?

bob c

[John Sharaf]

Hi Bob,

Presumably the camera will see in every direction in covering the subjects from different angles as they sit around the table in the restaurant. The four Jokers will more than light the distant backgrounds in a full circle if placed judiciously. In areas where the background is not so deep or far you could use the Jokers in Softboxes or bouncing of cards to keep the “blue” daylight consistant.

Hope that explains!

JS

[Bill Davis]

What kind of glass are you using?

You’re not all that far from a useful scene from what I can see. If the lens you’re using isn’t very fast, say f4 – then renting something a few stops faster might solve the whole issue.

If you’re already at f1.4 or something similar, then yep, adding light is your only option.

For what it’s worth.

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