How to Light a Dark Scene ?

tahakirmani · Sep 6, 2014

Hello

I am trying to create a dark scene in which only characters are visible and the background is dark. Characters also have minimum light on their faces and a little bright light on their head.

Now the problem is that when i shoot this scene i got much noise because i am using low-voltage lights, and if i use high voltage lights, the scene looks bright and lost the impact.

I want to know how does professionals make dark scenes? Do they use bright lights and then Edit and make it dark during post, or do they use low lights for darker scenes.

I am using Nikon D3200 and its giving me much noise even on ISO 200 if i use low-voltage light.

Kindly give me some advice.

Thanks

harmonica44 · Sep 6, 2014

Can shape the light? If you use barn doors, or cardboard even, you can put doors around the lights to shape them, so that light only shines on part of the faces, rather than all over. I would use really bright lights, because then you will not have noise in the shadow areas, because you can shoot at a lower ISO therefore.

ItDonnedOnMe · Sep 6, 2014

How big is your location? You need to have enough space behind the actors that the light can fall off before it hits a wall, etc. Shaping the light as H44 recommended can help, as any light spilling over into the surroundings will raise the ambient light in the scene. If you can't choose a larger location you'll want to use one with darker colored walls - white walls essentially act as big reflectors and will bounce any stray light around the room. Ultimately it's about controlling the light so that it only hits your actors.

cheeseandachallenge · Sep 6, 2014

As suggested, shaping the light is important. Though perhaps don't use cardboard if you're using any lights that get hot (e.g. tungsten)... rather use something less flammable (e.g. tin foil).

If the bright light is too harsh, even when shaped, you can make it softer by diffusing it with baking paper. This will spread the light out a bit more, making it more tricky to shape, however. But if you're shooting a scene where there isn't supposed to be any lights on in the world of the film, then you don't really want there to be noticeable highlights or too much contrast (again, play with this, if you shoot it completely contrast free, your subject will look flat and boring) as that will make it obvious there is a light source in the room.

jax_rox · Sep 6, 2014

How dark is dark?
Many a Director expresses their wish for a dark scene.. But what exactly does that mean?

Are you able to find a shot of the effect you're going for? Where are you shooting? How big is it? What lights do you have access to?

Cracker Funk · Sep 6, 2014

Okay, wait -- you say that you get noise "even on ISO 200".

Dude, turn the ISO up. It's not a real thing. Neither is the shutter speed. It's all virtual. The only thing that's real is the aperture.

Stick with low-watt lights (the volts will be the same, either way). And as others have mentioned, the larger the space the better. And yeah, flag the lights as best as you can.

harmonica44 · Sep 7, 2014

Correct me if I am wrong, but are you sure low watt lights are a good idea, because I get less noise with high watt lights. An 1000 watt tungsten light is much brighter than a household lightbulb, and I get less noise with it, and it's with shooting at ISO 800. If it's too bright at 800, then just bring it down, and you will have less noise, cause the lights give off more exposure for the camera, no? Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but since I switched to 1000 watt halogen lights, I have more exposure, which means less noise, at ISO 800, and my image looks a lot better since.

Cracker Funk · Sep 8, 2014

H44, the reason for low-watt lights is because in this situation, with the desired outcome, you don't want to light the whole room. That's why the bigger the room the better, and the lower the watts the better. Just enough to light the actors, not enough to light the background.

Gonzo_Entertainment · Sep 17, 2014

I would also over light it then bring it down in post. That will solve most of your noise in the background issues.

Will Vincent · Sep 17, 2014

I like lighting everything, if you have the means to do so.. still lots of contrast between highlights and shadows, but getting light into the shadows, and then crushing in post. Depends on the camera to a certain degree though, some sensors produce more filmic images if somewhat starved of light.

In the end, you're capturing light, so painting the scene with plenty of light, and then dialing it back in post is a good route to go -- if you have enough lights. Definitely still want to light for the desired end result, you just throw more light at the set than what the final image looks like.