squinty eyes

[A/B roll]

My reporter has sensitive eyes and every time we shoot a stand-up in the sun he looks like mr. magoo. Even if I have the sun to his back I still use a reflector to fill him in. What can I do or what can he do to fix this "magooing."

[Stoney]

Try it on yourself sometime. It's brutal to me. I don't know how some reporters can stand it. My eyes start watering like crazy... some people just have sensitivity to bright light.

They say a trick is to close your eyes and face towards the sun... then just before doing the bit to camera open them up to the camera. Try that.

[A/B roll]

That's funny, I was just outside trying it. It DOES suck.

[cameradog]

They say a trick is to close your eyes and face towards the sun... then just before doing the bit to camera open them up to the camera. Try that.

Yes, sunning your eyes does work for most people. The trick is to close your eyes but keep them relaxed, face the sun and turn the head from side to side. If you shut your eyes too tightly, it doesn't help. The whole point of all of this is to get the muscles around the eyes to relax, to overcome the instinct to squint.

Turning the head from side to side is very important. It not only helps the eyes adjust to the light in increments more than just standing there staring at the sun through your eyelids, it also prevents you from burning a blind spot in your vision (temporary or permanent) the way staring at the sun through your eyelid will.

None of this is really good for you. If you have an overwhelming urge to squint, it's because your brain is trying to protect your eyes. Of course, for a reporter, looking good is always better than staying healthy.

[pre-set]

Hit him in the balls with a sock full of BB's. His eyes will be wide open in pain, regardless of where he's looking. He could be staring straight at a welders' arc and it wouldn't matter!



j/k.... What about shoooting your standups or teases later in the day or earlier in the morning so the sun isn't as strong?

[Run&Gun]

"Sunning" the eyes is good advice, but some people are just very, very sensitive to light and some aren't bothered by it. I work with a reporter on a regular basis who can take it like a champ in order to look good on camera. He has dark skin and very bad bags under his eyes, so it takes a lot of light to "wash" 'em out and make him look good. Oh yeah, I'm usually hitting him with an 800 watt HMI, too. He's tough...

[editor_dude]

find some shade or try some silk to shade him.

[smltm4nw]

sunning the eyes is very important, especially for people with blue eyes. I learned to do this because my kids have very blue eyes and they can't take more than a few seconds of stong light before passerbys think i've been beating my kids.

[NashBamaPhotog]

Have him stand with the sun on his side and set up a bounce card on his other side.