outdoor christmas tree lighting

[greg]

i am shooting an outdoor x-mas tree lighting scene.
i want the characters' faces to be easily visible, and to have a generally 'warm' look. it will be a sort of outdoor party, thoroughly lit, and am not particularly concerned with source-specific realism.

also, for the shot of the christmas tree itself: it is important that the ornaments and the tree itself be very visible/discernable, so i want to put enough light on it to accomplish that, but it would be really nice if the actual christmas tree lights weren't washed-out/overwhelmed (i dont know what the word is), and you could at least see the light coming from them.

any help is much appreciated, and thanks in advance,

greg

ps. i will be shooting dv, and i have a basic lowel kit available, in addition to several tota-lights and a smith-victor 1k halogen flood, as well as a few other low-level odds and ends.

 

[Alessandro Machi]

I would avoid directly lighting the tree. If you use an overhead light away from the tree you could light your actors faces with it yet it would keep the side of the tree facing the actors shaded which would keep the lights luminescent.

Do be careful when dealing with Christmas trees, a christmas tree is easily flammable and any lighting done near a tree can be a recipe for a fire.

 

[Agenda Productions]

Hi,

If you want the actors faces a bit warmer just use a 1/4 CTO or CTS on the lamp that your keying them with.
]I would put a touch of light on the christmas trees to pick up a glint in the shiny ornaments and the green of the tree.
Just make sure you have a good monitor to assess how much light you should add to the tree without washing out the christmas lights.

James.