Diffusion vs. Bounce Light for a Loft with Big Windows

[Jason Lang]

I am shooting a project next weekend and had a question about bounce light vs diffused.

The scene takes place in a New York loft so the beauty is the location has these huge bank of windows providing natural light. The actor will be sitting on a couch in front of a window and I want to wrap the light around a bit.

Usually I have only worked with Kinos and it can be a pain since their falloff is so bad. Now this shoot has a little better lighting package and I will have a 1.2k HMI Fresnel.

What I was thinking of doing is shooting the HMI through a 4x4 silk, creating a nice source of soft light. My concern is will my shadow still be rather hard even going through a silk? I'd like the light to spread out and fill the room a bit but also keep the shadow soft. Would it be better to bounce? My concern with the bounce is I have to find a bigger whitecard/bboard and if I need to control it a little it will be a pain.

Through the 4x4 silk I hope to get a soft enough source that gives me a nice spread. But I could always clip some 250 on the barn doors to diffuse it even more if I find it's too hard.

Thanks

 

[David Mullen ASC]

You may be better-off with a 6'x6' frame of Lt. Grid Cloth -- silk is fine for diffusing sunlight, but it still allows a bit of hard light to leak through so it's not the most efficient diffuser.

If for some reason, you had enough stop after the light passes through the 6'x6' lt. grid cloth, you could always add an intermediate between the lamp and the 6'x6' frame, like a 4'x4' frame of 250.

You could also carry a 6'x6' UltraBounce or Bleached Muslin in case you wanted to bounce the light. And take some 4'x4' beadboard and foamcore with you.

I also always carry a white bedsheet, which you can tape to a wall or hang from two c-stands, for a very soft bounce.

 

[Kim Welch]

This sounds very cool. Can you post some photos or clips of the shots when you can? Thank you, David, for the advice on grid cloth versus silk; that's a great lesson for anyone working with window light.