Hey guys for my next project I need a lot of shots outside at night. I don't really know how to make a shot look good at night without adding a ton of light making it night seem like its at night. I own a Canon T2i. I don't want a bunch of noise from it being dark but I want it to still be night. Any help would be great
Shooting at Night
- Thread starter Fwilly
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Add light. Make it look like a street lamp store window, headlight, moonlight whatever.
Get a generator for your lights, and run some extension cords so that the generator is far enough from the mi and camera c so that it is not heard in the audio recordings (unless the project is silent or you're skilled at ADR).
Day for night by shooting at day (avoiding the sky), then applying a grade afterwards (shoot me a PM if you want me to grade it).
Car headlights?
Day for night by shooting at day (avoiding the sky), then applying a grade afterwards (shoot me a PM if you want me to grade it).
Car headlights?
Yeah using a generator might not be a viable option because I'm on kind of a no budget kinda thing maybe a micro budget at most but I might do the Day shooting then grading it after.
Well the shots have to do with like a night watch so most of it would be outside. I have done d4n before but for like one shot and even that took a while but I can't imagine doing a whole short like that, it's a tiny budget if any like under 100$
Fwilly, I may know a cheap power solution for you.
What I ended up using to power my home depot LED work light (2500 lumens) was a spare car battery And a 50 dollar power converter. Worked for an hour and a half! If you need more time, you can plug it straight into your car and leave it running. That could get expensive though. Lol
About making it seem like night. I'm not a lighting expert so take what I say with a grain of salt, but I'd recommend cover your lights with CTB and a ton of diffusion! That should help make it appear more like moon light.
If that still makes it too bright, you can always bring it down in post while keeping the detail, and less noise.
What I ended up using to power my home depot LED work light (2500 lumens) was a spare car battery And a 50 dollar power converter. Worked for an hour and a half! If you need more time, you can plug it straight into your car and leave it running. That could get expensive though. Lol
About making it seem like night. I'm not a lighting expert so take what I say with a grain of salt, but I'd recommend cover your lights with CTB and a ton of diffusion! That should help make it appear more like moon light.
If that still makes it too bright, you can always bring it down in post while keeping the detail, and less noise.
If you don't have the money you'll have to make up by putting in the effort to day for night. Either that or live with the noise.
At most you can use a small handheld battery powered LED light with a blue gel just to pick out your subject and lift them from the gloom.
I'd shoot with the technicolor or FAAT colour profiles and over expose slightly but im for a very low key look. when you knock the exposure back in post you should be able to bury most of the noise in black.
At most you can use a small handheld battery powered LED light with a blue gel just to pick out your subject and lift them from the gloom.
I'd shoot with the technicolor or FAAT colour profiles and over expose slightly but im for a very low key look. when you knock the exposure back in post you should be able to bury most of the noise in black.
If you're around a subdivision, make friends with some of the homeowners and run a bunch of extension cords. 
What if you underexposed on purpose with noise, like some movies do for style? If you watch movies like Green Zone or Zero Dark Thirty especially, the night shots are underexposed and noisy for style. Hollywood considers it somewhat acceptable now as long as it looks good:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dR4IhcZzAkg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dR4IhcZzAkg