Whenever possible, shoot with available light.
Available light simplifies the filmmaking process. Shoot several tests in available light, well before the shoot. Learn what works and what doesn’t.
Shooting available light is not necessarily a shortcut. It may take more time than shooting with lights. You may spend a lot of time waiting for a certain time of day, or for certain weather to get just the light you need.
Here are a few films shot on available light—just to show you what is possible:
Films shot with digital cameras:
- 28 Days Later, Anthony Dod Mantle
- 28 Weeks Later, Enrique Chediak
- Full Frontal , Steven Soderberg
- Inland Empire, David Lynch
And, two films shot using traditional film and available light:
- All the Vermeers in New York , Jon Jost
- El Mariachi , Robert Rodriguez
23. Use the 'big light in the sky' wisely
When you shoot available light, one of your major light sources is the ‘big light in the sky’—the sun. There are two problems with using the sun as your primary light.
The first problem is that the sun’s light changes color as the sun moves through the sky. At sunrise, the sun gives a nice soft golden light. As noon approaches, the light gets “harder” and quite bluish. Toward sunset the light gets “softer” and golden again.
Filmmakers call the hours around sunrise and sunset the “golden hours.” If you shoot in the golden hours, you can get a nice, soft light with a wonderful golden tone.
If you shoot during mid-day you will have a hard, bluish light.
When shooting outside in mid-day, look for a shaded area but avoid sun-dappled areas like those under a shade tree. The shaded areas will be properly exposed, but the sun dappled spots will all be over-exposed.
When you shoot inside at mid-day avoid South-facing windows. The mid-day light is so harsh that it will make people appear to 20 years older.
The second problem is that the light coming from the sun changes direction as the sun moves.
This can be a problem when you shoot a long scene or interview. By the end of the interview the light is coming from a different direction. When you started shooting the light may have been falling on the interviewee’s face, and by the end of the interview the light is coming over his shoulder.
This can cause problems when you edit the scene.
One way to compensate for the movement of the sun is to shoot on overcast days.
On an overcast day the light is so diffuse that you won’t notice the difference in light from one shot to the next.
24. Bounce the light
When you are shooting with available light, sometimes you often won’t be able to get enough light on faces. The rule is “if the eyes don’t sparkle you don’t have enough light.”
A simple way to get light up under the shelves of the eyebrows is to use a reflector to “bounce” some soft, gentle light back into the person’s face.
Although you can use any white surface as a bounce reflector (white cardboard, or even a white three-ring binder) there are inexpensive commercial folding reflectors that you can carry with you when you go on your shoot. Some reflectors are two-sided: one side is silver and the other side is gold. The silver gives a harder, bluish light and the gold foil gives you a nice golden light.
