How To Light a Car Scene at Night
30/01/2024
class=attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail f-align-center alt=Garrett Sammons decoding=async data-lazy-srcset=https://www.litepanels.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/garrett_sammons-150x150.png 150w, https://www.litepanels.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/garrett_sammons-300x300.png 300w, https://www.litepanels.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/garrett_sammons-768x768.png 768w, https://www.litepanels.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/garrett_sammons-100x100.png 100w, https://www.litepanels.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/garrett_sammons-140x140.png 140w, https://www.litepanels.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/garrett_sammons-500x500.png 500w, https://www.litepanels.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/garrett_sammons-350x350.png 350w, https://www.litepanels.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/garrett_sammons-800x800.png 800w, https://www.litepanels.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/garrett_sammons-600x600.png 600w, https://www.litepanels.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/garrett_sammons.png 900w data-lazy-sizes=(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px data-lazy-src=https://www.litepanels.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/garrett_sammons-150x150.png />Garrett Sammons Garrett is the Creative Director at Nice Shirt Media and part-time film professor. With a primary focus on commercial cinematography, he also creates narrative and documentary films.
youtube
Written by Garrett Sammons
As a cinematographer, the challenge of transforming ordinary environments into extraordinary settings that tell captivating stories is exciting. In this blog post, I will share how we converted a bright, sunlit garage into a moody, rainy night-time scene for a car shoot. Though we used Gemini products for our demonstration, the techniques discussed are applicable to any lighting setup you might have.
Before we break down this setup, let's take a look at our final scene.
Controlling Natural Light Our first task in transforming the garage was to control the natural light coming in through the windows. We used a combination of blackout materials and diffusion fabrics to block the daylight, creating a dark environment that mimicked nighttime. This controlled lighting environment allowed us to manipulate the light to our desired effect.
To further enhance the illusion of rain, we applied a mix of glycerin, water, and temporary dulling spray to the windows, which created a frosted glass appearance. The addition of sound effects and subtle visual cues in post-production helped solidify the perception of rain.
Designing the Lighting Setup For the key light, we placed two large soft panel lights in a dual array without any modifiers to act as our key light. To create a realistic and immersive atmosphere, I aimed to replicate the look of a sodium-vapor light commonly found in parking lots and along roadsides. These lights emit an intense orange hue that contributes to the distinct ambiance of nighttime scenes. By placing the two fixtures in a dual array, I had ample light output to work with.
The color tuning capabilities of the lights allowed me to dial in the exact shade of orange I wanted, perfectly emulating the sodium-vapor light effect. This attention to detail helped to enhance the scene's believability and create a captivating visual environment for the car sequence.
alt=Litepanels Gemini dual array data-nectar-img-srcset=https://www.litepanels.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/car-scene-3.jpg 1920w, https://www.litepanels.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/car-scene-3-300x169.jpg 300w, https://www.litepanels.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/car-scene-3-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://www.litepanels.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/car-scene-3-768x432.jpg 768w, https://www.litepanels.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/car-scene-3-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://www.litepanels.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/car-scene-3-600x338.jpg 600w sizes=(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px title />
While our primary goal was to create a moody, atmospheric scene using a reverse key light, it was essential to maintain some level of detail on our subject to prevent them from appearing in complete silhouette. To strike this balance, we utilized two smaller soft panel lights as fill lights, working together to provide soft, yet directional illumination.
The first fill light was positioned behind the car with the tailgate open to gain full access to the interior. This light was equipped with a softbox and grid, creating a gentle but focused beam that filled out the space inside the car. The second fill light was placed just in front of the car's A-pillar, fitted with a 40 honeycomb to minimize spill and maintain control over the light's direction. Like with the key light, I added a teal hue to the fills. This use of color complemented and contrasted the orange of the key.
By carefully positioning and modifying these two fill lights, we were able to achieve a beautiful wrapping effect on our subject, maintaining sufficient detail while preserving the atmospheric quality of the scene.
alt=Litepanels Gemini with snapgrid data-nectar-img-srcset=https://www.litepanels.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/car-scene-4.jpg 1920w, https://www.litepanels.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/car-scene-4-300x169.jpg 300w, https://www.litepanels.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/car-scene-4-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://www.litepanels.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/car-scene-4-768x432.jpg 768w, https://www.litepanels.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/car-scene-4-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://www.litepanels.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/car-scene-4-600x338.jpg 600w sizes=(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px title />
The final touch to our car scene was the addition of an effects light to simulate emergency vehicles passing by our subject. We achieved this by Hollywood-ing a smaller soft panel light, a term that refers to a person holdi
LINK: | https://www.litepanels.com/en/applications/how-to-light-a-car-scene-at... |
See more stories from litepanels |
Most recent headlines
04/08/2024
Dalet Appoints Santiago Solanas as CEO to Lead Next Era of Growth and Innovation
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, is excited to announce Santiago Solanas as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO)....
03/06/2024
Dalet and Veritone Reach Agreement to Distribute, Transact and Monetize Media Archives
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, a...
13/05/2024
PBS Stations to Gain Access to Nielsen Local Dashboards
ARLINGTON, Va. PBS has received a significant grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) to provide PBS Member Stations with Nielsen Local Dashboa...
13/05/2024
IBC2024 Now Open for Registration, Adds New AI Tech Zone
LONDON IBC2024, the broadcast industry's second largest international trade show, is now open for registration. Organizers said exhibition space reservation...
13/05/2024
CNBC: Sinclair Considering Selling Some Broadcast Stations
Sinclair Broadcast Group is reportedly considering selling more than 30% of its broadcast stations according to CNBC....
13/05/2024
Three New Shows on NBC's Fall Schedule
NBC has shared its fall schedule, with three new series set to premiere: Drama Brilliant Minds, with Zachary Quinto; comedy St. Denis Medical, with Wendi McLend...
13/05/2024
Animated Show Housebroken' Will Not Return on Fox
Animated comedy Housebroken will not see season three on Fox. The network said it was pleased with the show's creative, but viewer response wasn't stron...
13/05/2024
Tributes Flow for KTLA Entertainment Reporter Sam Rubin, Dead at 64
Tributes flowed in Hollywood today after KTLA in Los Angeles reported that longtime morning-news entertainment reporter, Sam Rubin, had died Friday at age 64....
13/05/2024
CBS Sports to Use 5G-Connected Cameras to Cover PGA Championship
T-Mobile announced today that it is deploying its 5G Advanced Network Solutions (ANS) to enhance the fan experience as well as CBS Sports' live coverage of ...
13/05/2024
The Film and TV Charity launches fund for Black and Global Majority professionals
Funding will be awarded in three rounds over two years, with applications for th...
13/05/2024
IBC2024 opens for registration and announces new AI tech zone
This years show features an expanded venue including a new AI tech Zone and a second Content Everywhere area By Matthew Corrigan Published: May 13, 2024 T...
13/05/2024
David Loving Named KHOU-KTBU Houston General Manager
David Loving srtarts as president and general manager of KHOU-KTBU Houston May 20. He comes from WOI-KCWI Des Moines, where he was the general manager. Both duo...
13/05/2024
Rick Sallinger, KCNC Denver Reporter, Has Died
Rick Sallinger, KCNC Denver reporter, died of natural causes May 9 in the Denver area. He was 74....
13/05/2024
ABC Renews Idol,' Shark Tank,' Dancing With the Stars,' Others
In advance of its upfront presentation, ABC has renewed American Idol for season eight, The Bachelor for season 29, Celebrity Jeopardy! for season three, Celebr...
13/05/2024
Gordon Ramsay, Fox Launch Bite Food Entertainment Platform
Fox Entertainment and Gordon Ramsay said they have launched Bite, a food brand and entertainment business featuring digital content, live events and consumer pr...
13/05/2024
Doctor Who' Showrunner on What New Doctor Brings to Show
The 15th Doctor in Doctor Who history steps onstage with the show debuting on Disney Plus May 10. It is Ncuti Gatwa, who played Eric Effiong in Sex Education. H...
13/05/2024
FOX Entertainment Announces 2024-25 Program Slate
FOX Entertainment Announces 2024-25 Program Slate NEW AND RETURNING SCRIPTED SERIES FROM CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS, INCLUDING JOHN WELLS, BARBIE ...
13/05/2024
FMX. Stuttgart. April 23-26, 2024
MAX-R Mixed Augmented and Extended Reality Media Pipeline Tuesday, April 23 At this year's FMX in Stuttgart, FilmLight demonstrated a proof of concept co...
13/05/2024
Robin Dibble Joins CODA Audio
CODA Audio is pleased to announce the appointment of Robin Dibble to the post of Global Sales Support Manager. Working proactively with CODA's partner netwo...
13/05/2024
2024-05-13
CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA Apple Music today announced the release of its 100 Best Albums of all time, a celebratory list of the greatest records ever made, crafted ...
13/05/2024
Q&A with Kai Luke Brmmer as he prepares for Moffie his latest theatrical endeavour
Q&A with Kai Luke Br mmer as he prepares for Moffie his latest theatrical endeav...
13/05/2024
Tonight on Smoke and Mirrors: Mthetho's funeral gets underway, and Thandiswa finds herself trapped inside his casket
Tonight on Smoke and Mirrors: Mthetho's funeral gets underway, and Thandiswa...
13/05/2024
Ballyduff Drama Group hailing from Co. Waterford Scoops Top Award in 2024 RT All Ireland Drama Festival
RT Marks 20 Years as Title Sponsor of the Festival with special anniversary vid...
13/05/2024
New landmark documentary series Stardust on RT One and RT Player
New compelling eye-witness testimony of Stardust fire in RT documentary Series filmed over three years includes interview with Charlie Bird filmed in 2021 N...
13/05/2024
Drug Discovery, STAT! NVIDIA, Recursion Speed Pharma R&D With AI Supercomputer
Described as the largest system in the pharmaceutical industry, BioHive-2 at the...
12/05/2024
Berklee Honors Ledisi, Q-Tip, and Gilberto Santa Rosa at Commencement
Berklee Honors Ledisi, Q-Tip, and Gilberto Santa Rosa at Commencement This years honorary doctorate recipients were recognized for their profound influence as...
12/05/2024
WATCH: Empini' trailer with star-studded cast
WATCH: Empini' trailer with star-studded castThe all-star Empini' cast includes Nambitha Ben-Mazwi, Siyabonga Thwala, Nqobile Sipamla, Owen Sejake and...
12/05/2024
Smoke and Mirrors' fans stunned by Leeroy's funeral outfit
Smoke and Mirrors' fans stunned by Leeroy's funeral outfit Smoke and Mirrors' fans were surprised when Leeroy wore a wedding outfit' to his lat...
12/05/2024
Skeem Saam' fans criticise Sthoko and Babeile's abusive storyline
Skeem Saam' fans criticise Sthoko and Babeile's abusive storyline Skeem Saam' viewers are disappointed with Sthoko and Babeile's abusive storyli...
12/05/2024
Dial It In: Data Centers Need New Metric for Energy Efficiency
Data centers need an upgraded dashboard to guide their journey to greater energy efficiency, one that shows progress running real-world applications. The formu...
12/05/2024
Generating Science: NVIDIA AI Accelerates HPC Research
Generative AI is taking root at national and corporate labs, accelerating high-performance computing for business and science. Researchers at Sandia National L...
12/05/2024
NVIDIA Blackwell Platform Pushes the Boundaries of Scientific Computing
Quantum computing. Drug discovery. Fusion energy. Scientific computing and physics-based simulations are poised to make giant steps across domains that benefit ...
12/05/2024
Nqobile Sipamla portrays Masasa in Showmax's Empini'
Nqobile Sipamla portrays Masasa in Showmax's Empini'Talented actress Nqobile Sipamla discusses portraying an older woman, Masasa in Showmax's upcom...
11/05/2024
Survey: Fubo Boasts High Levels of Audience Attention
NEW YORK FuboTV has released a new study from TVision, which studies TV and CTV viewer engagement, that found ads on Fubo get higher viewer attention levels tha...
11/05/2024
The Weekly TV Tech Product News Roundup
Missed any of our product news this week? Here is our new weekly wrap-up with all the product news we published in our newsletter between May 6 and May 10. The ...
11/05/2024
Enghouse Completes Acquisition of SeaChange
MARKHAM, Ontario Enghouse Systems Limited has announced it has successfully completed its acquisition of substantially all of the assets of SeaChange Internatio...
11/05/2024
Unreal for video Rendering for After Effects
Unreal for video Rendering for After Effects Graham Quince May 10, 2024 0 Comments Welcome to my series on learning Unreal Engine for video producti...
11/05/2024
CEO David Zaslav On How Warner Bros. Discovery Is Using AI
Warner Bros. Discovery is using artificial intelligence to improve ad targeting and help viewers find content, but not to create programming, CEO David Zaslav s...
11/05/2024
Allen Media Group Reaches Expanded Carriage Deal With Hawaiian Telcom
Byron Allen's Allen Media Group said it reached an expanded carriage agreement with Hawaiian Telcom....
11/05/2024
Good Morning Football' To Air on Fox Television Stations
Good Morning Football, an NFL-focused panel talk show that has aired on NFL Network since 2016, is coming to broadcast syndication with the Fox Television Stati...
11/05/2024
Andrea Robinson Joins WCMH Columbus as Weekend Anchor
Andrea Robinson starts on the weekend newscasts at WCMH Columbus, Ohio, Saturday, May 11, anchoring alongside Matthew Herchik and meteorologist Bryan Still. NBC...
11/05/2024
Streaming? No Thanks, Says Nexstar CEO Perry Sook
Perry Sook, founder and CEO of broadcast giant Nexstar Media Group, isn't a fan of streaming....
11/05/2024
Law & Order: Organized Crime' Moves to Peacock
Law & Order: Organized Crime is moving from NBC to Peacock for season five. The Dick Wolf drama follows the detectives of the Organized Crime Control Bureau as ...
11/05/2024
Harry Pappas, Station Group Founder, Has Died
Harry Pappas, Pappas Telecasting Companies founder/president/CEO, died April 24 at age 78. He was surrounded by his family when he passed. He had battled illnes...
11/05/2024
KXAS Dallas-Fort Worth, WTVF Nashville Pick Up Peabody Awards
KXAS Dallas-Fort Worth and WTVF Nashville have won 2024 Peabody Awards. Given out by the University of Georgia's Grady College of Journalism and Mass Commun...
11/05/2024
AMC Networks Earnings Drop To $48.5 Million in Q1
AMC Networks reported that its first-quarter earnings fell by half, with advertising revenue dropping 13%....
11/05/2024
Mlungisi Ndebele says he's not like his jailbird role in Generations'
Mlungisi Ndebele says he's not like his jailbird role in Generations' Actor Mlungisi Ndebele opens up about his jailbird character, Bra Sol in SABC1...
10/05/2024
The Greatest Night in Pop Proves That We're Most Powerful as a Collective
Lionel Richie (Photo by George Pimentel/Shutterstock for Sundance)...
10/05/2024
Give Me the Backstory: Get to Know Arun Bhattarai and Dorottya Zurb, the Filmmakers Behind Agent of Happiness
By Lucy Spicer One of the most exciting things about the Sundance Film Festival...
10/05/2024
SBS announces Voyager lead singer Danny Estrin as Australia's spokesperson for the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest jury
SBS announces Voyager lead singer Danny Estrin as Australia's spokesperson f...