Best way to expose

[vw98la]

Wondering what the best way to expose this scene is. Have a scene in 16mm where the camera dollies with a actor lit by a large bank of windows behind him. The shot is profile and I don't want to expose for the shadow side (side closet to camera) though don't want to go to dark as it's a soft skylight natural feel and I wont be having strong sunlit highlights in frame. I was thinking 2 under but that's probably to dark I guess it be better to expose for the light falling in and fill on camera side to be a stop under.

 

[David Mullen ASC]

You're asking two different things -- exposure versus balancing light. If adding light is an option, then yes, you'd balance things so that you can then expose for the look you want.

This is one of those shots -- someone in profile against a big daytime window -- where there is no right or wrong exposure. A silhouette against a normally exposed background is one look and a fully exposed person against a blown-out background is another look.

Yes, one way of approach such a shot is to begin with how dark do you want the shadow side to appear. Two stops under is pretty conservative for a shadow, plenty of visible detail. Three stops under and you're talking about an obviously dark shadow with very dim detail. But it also depends on the subject - a light-toned subject will have visible detail even though quite underexposed, compared to a dark-toned object that may go into silhouette very quickly.