Sunny Day Lighting Question

[guru]

I shoot for a fishing show and we have an HMI Frezzi sun gun that we use for cloudy days and night shoots and it does a great job but the raging debate is weather it would help at all on nice summer day when the sun is high in the sky. The talent is always wearing a hat that casts a considerable shadow on their faces. Me and our other shooter say that there's no way that Frezzi will be bright enough in broad daylight to fill that shadow. People here disagree. Opinions? Experiences?

 

[Brock Samson]

There's no way to out light god, have him take off his hat if he will. If he won't tell him his fans can't see his purty face.

 

[<Unregistered User>]

He probably won't take the hat off because, you know, no REAL fisherman would EVER appear on a fishing show without wearing a dorky floppy hat


Would he be willing to tilt it back a bit?

 

[cameragod]

I worked on a show where they had their own branded hats made with a fine mesh on the shading part. Looked cool and cut back the sun on their face without making a black shadow.

 

[vdoguy]

It would all depend on how far away you are from them. If you were within 4', you might get a little fill from it. Doing a fishing show, you're rarely that close, thus the only thing Frezzi is doing is burning battery. But you did say HMI - so is this a toplight or are you using a 200w HMI? If you're using the HMI, then you could have a usable range of 15' (or more if it's spotted).

Two suggestions: Take the light out with the other shooter and test it's usable range and practicality in a similar situation. Or ask the talent (and I use that word lightly!) to tilt their hat back a bit. The face will still be shadowed but it will allow more ambient light to fill the face.

Remember that the water will reflect the light to give them a fill. Your best bet is view the footage and decide if you need more fill. If so, then the practicality of an HMI and how natural the light looks will be your deciding factor.

These shows are generally understood to be outside in natural conditions and will be accepted by the viewers as such. They don't care so much about the fishermen. They just want to see fish. Although, I would definitely use an HMI for any stand-ups.

 

[guru]

It's just an on camera HMI light. 50 Watt. We do suggest tiling hats back but that can look goofy sometimes too. We could use a reflector but then we'd need a grip or something.

 

[WV24fpspro]

If the person is really stuck with the idea of keeping their hat on then one of the better ideas would be to use two reflectors; along with the possibility of using about four small clamps to hold them in place somewhere.

Even the micro sized collapsible reflectors are able to enhance the light quite a bit. Its also best to experiment with the white balance using three different types of reflectors; grey. white, and gold.