K40 in the Magic Hour

[shwagomatic]

I'm shooting an exterior sequence this weekend with K40. I want to shoot about a half hour before sunrise. I've read that the 85 filter should be removed under this circumstance. Is this true? Has anyone shot this film during this time of day? Is it a good idea to overexpose by a stop or two or will this ruin the effect?

Thanks for the help.

[Hanthx]

Thats a good question.
I would think if there is no sun aparent, then you wouldn't need the 85 filter. If there is any sun light aparent, I would switch it on. Since the sun isn't at its Peak 6400k, you might get a golden huelink or a slight orangish tint on the film.

I wouldn't advise overexposing k40 a stop or 2, you would blow it out. Maybe 1/3 or 1/2 at most. K40 looks best if you underexpose it 1/3 to 1/4 a stop.

Scott

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[Matt Pacini]

The answer to your first question will depend on what the light looks like at that particular time.
And it's going to be hard to tell, but generally, K-40 outside is always going to need the filter, if you want it to look proper.
"Golden Hour" isn't golden everywhere. In fact, I've thought long and hard over this, and if you go outside during this time, and look at people and objects to see how they look under this light, you will make this observation:
The "golden effect" is only from the direct light hitting the person or object.
The entire rest of the light, is coming from the sky, which is quite blue, and will appear even more so if you don't use the 85 filter.
Certainly, the entire scene doesn't end up with the lower color temperature, because the light is only being filtered through the crap in the atmostphere right at the light source (sun) and it becomes less so the further away from that. In other words, the entire rest of the sky.
I shot one scene in Lost Tribes at golden hour, on K-40 with the 85 filter in place, and the side of everyone and everything facing the sun is nice and warm, but the other side (all fill light basically) was lit with the sky, and looked quite blue, even though I was using the filter!
This was late afternoon, before the sun went behind the mountain.
This is the case, unless you are shooting where there is an incredibly polluted or dirty sky that is noticably brown or sooty directly overhead.


The answer to your second question is:

Kodachrome looks best UNDERexposed (about 1/2 - 1 stop), and looks hideous overexposed.

However, this is completely irrelevant, because you are going to have enough problems getting even ANY exposure at this time of day.
If it's 1/2 before sunup, you will most likely not see anything whatsoever when you get your film back.
Not enough light for probably ANY film stock, let alone ASA-40. (Unless you're doing time lapse photography)


Matt Pacini

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[shwagomatic]

Thanks the help, guys. I really, really appreciate it. I'll let you know how it turns out.

[mattias]

yeah, matt is right, even if there's no visible sun, it's still sunlight reflected off the sky that lights your scene, and it's very blue. the color temperature of the rising sun is a little lower, but still not as low as tungsten. anyway, if you tell us what you're trying to accomplish, the answer might be different. if you're going for a dusk-for-night effect, the filter should be removed, and so on...

/matt