night shots
 

forgive me if this topic has been discussed before.
i'm going to vegas for a reunion and am planning to do some videotaping for my own interest.
i'd like some suggestion on:

1. shooting vegas at night (billboards, neon signs, etc) -- do i need to bring some artificial lights? i honestly do not want to bring extra luggage (flying from iowa). any tricks if i don't bring artificial lights?

2. doing some interviews in a hotel's room. i figure i need to open the curtains for more light, right? is it going to be too bright on the person's face if i place her by the window to get the city as the background?

any suggestions are highly appreciated. thanks a lot.

I think you should be pretty good with all those neon lights,
although I haven't ever shot in Vegas, so unsure.

The futher away your subject is from the window, the more blown
out the window will look (if you want to light your subject
correctly) and the less you will see. This is normally resolved by
adding lights, but you can also bounce light with a white foam
board or silver one. The best way is to stay close to the window
and put a bouncebord on the other side (not too close to the
face) to fill in the darkness on the other side with some soft "glow"

Some general information on shooting in the dark or simulating that look:

[urll]http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=20713[/url]
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...threadid=20434
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...threadid=19178

If you are shooting Vegas exteriors at night, the last thing you will need on the Strip is lights! The only light that I can forsee you needing is a little fill light for faces if that is what you are doing. You can probably remedy this with a small, on board light.

If you are shooting interiors and want the city in the background during the daylight hours, you will more than likely need some kind of Keylight balanced to daylight so that you do not end up with a silhouette of your subject or a totally blown out background when exposing for the face.

You will more than likely need a stronger, direct light, than what would normally be available through the window if you are using a bounce card. It might be worth your while to pack a small light such as a TotaLight with some blue gel, in your luggage.

You know the best way to leave Vegas with a small fortune...arrive there with a large one!

Good luck and stay away from the slots!

RB

rob and rick,

thank you for the suggestions. appreciate it.
i will look into those links later on... and about the slots, err... i'll do my best.