I'm prepping for an interview this weekend.
We're shooting near a historic building, and want to use the image of the building (as seen through a hotel window) as the background.

Our tentative plan is to shoot on a T2i with a 2.8 lens (we'll have zooms, so probably on the 70mm range to blow up the background). We're aiming to shoot at f8 so the building is in focus (it's about 1km distant).

In order to get our exposure right, we're going to ND9 the window, and use a pair of daylight heads for the interview subject (Jokerbug 800 bounced off a card for fill, Pocket Par with Chimera close in for key). And we'll add tungsten heads daylight balanced for background and backlight as needed.

Am I on the right track? Do i have enough punch for this exposure?

What time of day will you be shooting, and how will the sun be hitting the building. This will make a huge difference.

You're throwing a lot of light at this, I'm guessing that it will work brilliantly. Providing mother nature gives you proper amount of light outside (not too much).

You are on the right track, but not sure an 800 bounced will get you there (if background is in full sun). The color and brightness of the building will make a big difference as well. Any chance you can shoot it direct through a 4x4 open frame skinned with say 250. I think 216 will be too much. You are going to have to have it quite close to the subject as well. Or better yet, if possible, get a 1200 par. Good luck.

Sorry, I missed you were using other heads for the key and 800/card for fill.
You should be golden.

ND on window is step one.. but the color temperture? maybe it's nicer not to work with balanced colors. It depends on the story that you want to tell. is it early in the morning? It can be nice to have some blue light outside etc.

An old photography tip:

Buy a plate of styrofoam keep one site white and paint the other side black with water based paint (acryl). Make a hole in the middle of the plate and that's the place to but through your lens. Now you've got a nice reflection screen to create a soft-light set-up.

One of my favorite ways of lighting is the classicle nose-mouth triangle light (don't know the right English word for it) I've wrote a short article about it on my website including samples (you can use the translation tool at the right side of the site)


http://www.staalwol.com/wordpress/?p=830