Blue Sky

Post by **soundboy** » Thu Jun 10, 2004 5:39 am

I've been watching a few movies, video clips and TV commercials with amzing blue sky, no doubt there is alot done in the color grading department to get that look.

How can I get a nice blue looking sky using filters?

Post by **Commodore** » Thu Jun 10, 2004 5:44 am

Orange filter I think...

Post by **monobath** » Thu Jun 10, 2004 5:51 am

Polarizer

Post by **soundboy** » Thu Jun 10, 2004 6:04 am

monobath wrote:Polarizer

Thought so

Post by **+AnonymousGuest+** » Thu Jun 10, 2004 9:54 am

"Orange filter I think..."

Hmm, i think you may be thinking of darkening a blue sky in black and white filming :?

Post by **nasq** » Thu Jun 10, 2004 6:43 pm

neg film, though polarizer also helps

Post by **scott** » Thu Jun 10, 2004 9:24 pm

They could be using a Warm Polarizing Filter. That will darken the sky and saturate colors even more than a standard polarizing filter.

I'm using a warm polarizing filter in some scenes of a nature doc I'm shooting, specifically in scenes (bright flowers, moss, etc.) where I really want the colors to "pop".

Scott

Post by **T-Scan** » Fri Jun 11, 2004 2:31 am

http://www.8mm.filmshooting.com/scripts ... Sperm_0001

this uploaded pic looks really dark, but the actual scan and film show this sky looking perfect blue with nice cloud detail. used a polarizer.

Post by **matt5791** » Fri Jun 11, 2004 10:37 am

I find that Kodachrome, with its high colour saturation, can produce lovely blue sky. I suspect that the new Ektachrome 100D will be similar. It is also down to where the sun is in the sky.

Matt

Post by **mattias** » Fri Jun 11, 2004 10:46 am

the key is simply to not overexpose it. polarizers, uv filters, slight warming filters and so on help with that though.

/matt

Post by **soundboy** » Fri Jun 11, 2004 3:52 pm

mattias wrote:the key is simply to not overexpose it. polarizers, uv filters, slight warming filters and so on help with that though.

/matt

I shot alot of K40 footagae on very hot days last summer and found even with correct exposure the sky looks rubbish and washed out.

Post by **nasq** » Fri Jun 11, 2004 5:12 pm

That's because you simply don't have enough latitude. Shooting neg helps. Of course sky's brightness varies on different times of day, different angles, etc.

Post by **moviemat** » Fri Jun 11, 2004 6:01 pm

Isn't it true that if you use tungsten film outdoors the natural blue compensation gives a lovely vivid sky. I've not tryed it yet but I had planned to. Has anyone else?

Post by **christoph** » Fri Jun 11, 2004 7:06 pm

moviemat wrote:Isn't it true that if you use tungsten film outdoors the natural blue compensation gives a lovely vivid sky. I've not tryed it yet but I had planned to. Has anyone else?

well, the sky will certainly be blue as will all the rest of the picture ;)

seriously, your best bet is to use filters, mainly polarizer at specific angles.. or even better, ND grads (half clear, half ND)... or eve you want to get really fancy you can use blue grads. this only works for shots with no up and down camera tilts though.

if you finish on video, digital colormanipulation lets you do pretty much anything with the image and a blue sky is dead easy to accomplish.

++ christoph ++

Post by **mattias** » Fri Jun 11, 2004 7:56 pm

soundboy wrote:I shot alot of K40 footagae on very hot days last summer and found even with correct exposure the sky looks rubbish and washed out.

what you're saying is "i exposed correctly and the exposure wasn't right". doesn't makes sense, does it? if what you wanted was a deep blue sky the footage obviously wasn't correctly exposed. next time try to not overexpose it.

/matt