Every test shot, tutorial, and example of day for night I've seen looks horrible compared to real night shooting. Is it possible for day for night to even look close to being real or does everyone just choose to settle for it?
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Is it possible for "Day for Night" to not look horrible?
- Thread starter RealJasonBourne
- Start date
I've heard people say this a lot. Same with green screen. "It always looks like crap when someone uses it."
Thing is, day for night is one of those things (like green screen/set extension) that professionals use all the time and do it so well that no one even knows. And the above mentality is perpetuated.
But I've rarely seen an amateur do a passable job with either technique. Keep practicing though, and maybe you'll get to that pro level.
Thing is, day for night is one of those things (like green screen/set extension) that professionals use all the time and do it so well that no one even knows. And the above mentality is perpetuated.
But I've rarely seen an amateur do a passable job with either technique. Keep practicing though, and maybe you'll get to that pro level.
I think it depends on what your trying to pull off.
Lets see some examples of the GOOD and maybe we can find some commonality.
Lets see some examples of the GOOD and maybe we can find some commonality.
Interior Day for night is really quite achievable and rather commonplace.
Exterior day for night is a different beast, and is generally used sparingly. It's generally easier and better to light night (assuming you have the budget) than to attempt exterior day for night, of course also depending on your locations and shots.
Exterior day for night is a different beast, and is generally used sparingly. It's generally easier and better to light night (assuming you have the budget) than to attempt exterior day for night, of course also depending on your locations and shots.
As others said, for very brief exterior shots it can work. I'd never attempt a whole scene. The only reason to do it would be schedule because it's so much easier to light the night than to do all the things necessary to make day work for night (exterior).
For interiors, unless the window is visible in the shot, the first thing I do is black out every window whether scene is day or night.
For interiors, unless the window is visible in the shot, the first thing I do is black out every window whether scene is day or night.
You can get away with exterior day for night, but you either need the right weather (a day shot will always have a sky that's brighter than the action on the ground, so you need to be able to counter-act/avoid/accommodate for that, and pretty much any daylight shadows will look ridiculous) or tons of cash to be able to run giant silks, singles, doubles, etc to plan for the scene in advance, as opposed to just trying to use it as a post-production catch-all.