How to Change Day into Night

[@RobEllisCinematographer]

There is a version of this video on Patreon that doesn't have KZbin compression artifacts :) www.patreon.com/robelliscinematography - support me on Patreon for Discord access and early, extended, ad-free KZbin videos Color Grading - www.dehancer.com - get 10% off Dehancer using ROBELLIS at checkout offers.audiosocket.com/rob-ellis/ - click the link and use my code "ROBELLIS" for a free month of fantastic unlimited music when you sign up for Audiosocket! Day for Night is a technique used in cinema to visually convey nighttime - whilst actually being shot during the day. The reason we can do this is because both sunlight and moonlight share a very similar quality of light, due to their distance and apparent size to us on Earth. This means there are a few ways we can use daylight in place of expensive lights and setups to create a night scene - this usually requires a lowering of exposure and cooling down of the image using white balance and other techniques, to sell the look of night and how our vision perceives such a low level of light in reality. This is just one aspect of what can contribute toward a cinematic feeling - check out the other episodes in the Lighting for Cinema A - Z series to learn more about what makes cinema feel a certain way: kzbin.info/aero/PL_dDUxn1Y2e1SJ_Q2H96godCiNSCFvIqI&si=drpJ9zgsYfRRyFOJ

[@RoyalRangersO2]

I would recommend also to try to work with smoke. That simulates the fog in the night, and looks very dramatic, and cinematic. You also can use flashlights to create light cones.

[@Deffine]

Except human pupils are not that small at night...

[@zaiENT1]

the only thing left out/not mentioned is the ambient sound, if you are in a Forrest and you hear birds chirping you will think its day, hearing crickets makes it feel like night.

[@RobEllisCinematographer]

@@zaiENT1 absolutely - it’s in this video! Just not mentioned, as I tend to only explain visuals on the channel. This is a very helpful comment and I’ll get it pinned once my current pin is no longer needed, thank you!

[@ej22_gc86]

To be fair early summer nights can be really noisy with bird chirps as well, as it’s the mating season (correct me if im wrong) It might even be different from what you might hear during the day

[@quazar912]

there is a whole department in post production of the movie that makes audio sounds right, you could easily done it here

[@abelsumanas]

If you are in a Forrest (Gump) you'll see a man running across America. Seriously, proper sound effects will sell the scene

[@Web-Dev-Codi]

@@quazar912 I thought the same thing. Almost no original sound is used for a film.

[@NPC_averagemale003]

This is insane, I always wondered how they shoot crystal clear night scenes without any noise.

[@RobEllisCinematographer]

They also use a lot of expensive lighting! But this is just another option :)

[@sadge0]

yep, I also wondered why nights often look so fake and bright in movies, always thought that it may be due to high end equipment and cameras, lol. Apparently, the techniques they use are so good that most people don't even think about the possibility of the night in movie being a fake night made with post fx. When I think about it after watching this video, it makes much more sense, I mean, why would you want to film every night scene at the nighttime if it's not really necessary and can make things much more complicated?

[@sertocd]

Sun and moon don't have the same characteristics of light at all. The way the strong sun light reflects on actor's face from surroundings is completely different than of a moon. Moon only hits the subject from one angle and doesn't have the power to reflect from other objects around to make opposite side of the subject visible at all. It is perceptually interpreted by our brains as such.

[@rTangle]

The ultimate challenge: Turn Night into Day

[@RobEllisCinematographer]

@@rTangle kzbin.info/www/bejne/iIG0p3iVeNp-idksi=fI3cqTzPRAeQzw7O - but we also have a Night for Day video coming later in the series! :)

[@CogniJourney]

Pulls out apollo from the pocket 😅

[@tomasprochazka6198]

Or make night scenes visible if heavy video compression is used :D

[@elonkvideography]

Atomic bomb: let me introduce myself.

[@thehandleiwantedwasntavailable]

Really nice explanation. On Fury Road, we overexposed a little in shooting the day for night scene. It rounded out the highlights which felt more natural once graded down.

[@travisdubridge9273]

you wanna color correct my movie too?

[@Narcolepzi]

You worked on fury road? That’s incredible. Some of my favorite visuals in any film

[@HumzaYousafFilms]

One of the best cinematography video that I have watched in my 15 years of career !

[@jithinshaju3943]

U look like an 18 year old

[@RobEllisCinematographer]

Thank you so much!

[@Solutra]

@@jithinshaju3943 is that a compliment or an insult

[@Miika_Ullakko]

One trick also to so, is to let the actor use ND contact lenses so he would't have to squint his eyes. Face expressions are important, because we humans have learned to read faces so well

[@RobEllisCinematographer]

Yes absolutely, darker contacts to replicate a dilated pupil is a great idea - someone else also mentioned obscuring the eyes somewhat to give this effect! Love these comments as I want to go try these ideas out now!

[@PASTRAMIKick]

I wish they did night scenes like they did in older movies, everything was clearly visible but you still had the suspense of disbelief

[@adventurefilmclub2549]

I'm doing day for night on my second short film, and I 100% found it looks better on a bright sunny day, ideally in a forest to break up the light. The highlights sell the moonlit look so much better than an overcast diffused light day. Obviously keep the sky out of shot if it's sunny, but even then if there are clouds in the sky to pick up those highlights it can look good. The 'blue' look to everything can be a bit of a trap too, as it looks more naturalistic with some colour in the image and a more 'silvery' look.

[@RobEllisCinematographer]

Yes absolutely! An overcast day can work, but it takes a lot more planning to have it all look "correct" - I wanted to go further into that here, but it would have taken a little too long to test. I left the cloudy day ones I did shoot though, as I hope they can inspire whoever is watching to test further for themselves! Yeah breaking up the highlights is a good way to go, just making sure a lot of the image is shadow really sells the look, with the highlights retaining visibility and shape. Bluer is definitely more stylistic, the "silvery" look is definitely the best middle ground between super blue and more colour/colour separation. I hope the short is going well!!

[@DruNature]

@@RobEllisCinematographer that cloudy one with the light on the face looked by far the best imo, gorgeous!

[@t.l.screations7445]

Bro you’re giving free masterclasses. Thanks for your every video❤ From 🇮🇳

[@RobEllisCinematographer]

Too kind - glad you're finding them useful! ❤️ from the UK!

[@TroyQwert]

This video should be a must see for all those Hollywood directors and editors who shoot night at night and show us black screen. 😊

[@ThroughtheLensProductions]

As someone who's contemplating shooting a short film next week at a location at night or doing it day for night, this was something I really needed to see today.

[@RobEllisCinematographer]

Perfect timing on my part - I hope this has helped in some way! :)

[@Ionee-q4f]

0:49 i guess that would make sense, moonlight is just sunlight after all. Any imperfections caused by the color changing as it reflects off the moon must be easy enough to account for, if its even noticeable in most respects.

[@bijan3949]

It was seriously eye-opening when you pointed out that external lights brightening the face makes the background seem dimmer/more night-like. Super valuable information!

[@baxslatton]

I really really love this. For some reason, I just couldn't wrap my head around doing day for night on a small budget. Thank you for always hitting us with the best lighting content!!

[@RobEllisCinematographer]

Thank you so much man! Happy I could help in some way and that you're continuing to enjoy the videos! :)

[@FrancoE.Zapata]

Love the video as always, i´ve recently been investigating the technique Jarin Blaschke used in The Northman for achiving realistic nightime, he use a custom made cyan filter and desaturate it in post, it also ment that he had to compensate for the warm tones makening them a lot more red. There is a very cool article in the American Cinematographer about it.

[@RobEllisCinematographer]

Thanks Franco! I was reading about that recently too - I love the look they created in the film. What they did in Nope is also a cool one, although a little unachievable on a minimal budget haha! I love how there's still new processes being made to create a day for night look, it's such an interesting method!

[@jmalmsten]

The Northman... and the "Nuclear Blue" day for night in Fury Road are some of my favourite stylized day for night sequences I know of. For Fury Road I think they essentially just overexposed the night scenes so as to make sure the shadow details were preserved (they opted for a lower contrast night look) and then in post they did the desaturation and blue tint and sky replacements needed.

[@crushedcrystalstudios]

I appreciate the focus on your in camera techniques as opposed to post production. That's a step that I've stumbled on in the past. My team and I utilized methods from example #4 in our latest feature, and it's by far the most convincing day for night we've been able to achieve!

[@RobEllisCinematographer]

Thank you so much! It can definitely be a balance between getting what you want in camera vs post production, especially with something like this where the grade can be pretty important. That's great to hear! I had never even really considered that way of doing it before I put this video together, so I'm glad someone else came to the same conclusion!

[@JumpingJaggi]

This is a stunning look at how day/night converge, thank you for the clear explanation Rob Ellis!

[@ekumusicYT]

This seemed to me like the most difficult situation to shoot and grade, but now that you have made a video about this as well, I have a very clear understanding and plan now for future projects with nighttime scenes! Many thanks🤗

[@RobEllisCinematographer]

Awesome, super happy to hear I’ve helped - thank you! :)

[@LiterallyVera]

Fun fact: The sun is as farther from us than the moon, as it is bigger than the moon. This is why a solar eclipse produces that nearly perfect ring in totality. This, in practice, means that their sizes are almost indistinguishable from one another. This also helps in the effect.

[@6900xx]

Didn't expect to see such in-depth explanation on light and shadow. Gotta save it for watch later.

[@jendabekCZ]

It doesn't look like a convincing night to me, because the light from Moon isn't that strong to bounce from the ground to illuminate the face from bottom (like in the first shot at 0:22).

[@RajeshMaallah]

I have always known it but this is the clearest practical way to explain it to the masses. I love the concise and to the point nature of this tutorial. I have never seen a tutorial made this good. EPIC!

[@RobEllisCinematographer]

Wow thank you so much - too kind! Super happy you enjoyed it/found it useful :)

[@christopherb5970]

Absolutely epic video. Your ability to give clear and concise information along with your detailed analysis of the 'why' is second to none. Bravo!

[@RobEllisCinematographer]

Thank you mate, always appreciated! :)

[@ammarkhalaf7505]

It feels illegal watching your videos, so much information and amazing amount of things to learn, a free masterclass at our hands .. THANK YOU Rob for all this amazing content.

[@RobEllisCinematographer]

Super happy you’re finding my videos so useful - thank you so much for your kind words! :)

[@mrshaheedmalik]

Momma, that new Rob Ellis dropped!

[@RobEllisCinematographer]

Woo! Hope this one didn't disappoint, Shaheed!

[@mrtv5265]

So much detailed video, seriously u guys are very hardworking 🙌🏼.

[@pindakaas6159]

Goosebumps The Series did this all the time. It looked so beautiful.

[@klsimedia8427]

This is a really great video! This is the BEST DAY FOR NIGHT video that I have seen on KZbin. Keep up the great work!!!

[@RobEllisCinematographer]

Wow thank you so much! Massively appreciate your kind words :)

[@asaadyt]

u r the best lighting teacher ever bro! the visuals the style the value in the video is great, thanks mate!

[@RobEllisCinematographer]

I appreciate it! I just think about light a lot! 🤣 thank you so much!!

[@TheSeeking2know]

So the makers of Game of thrones needed to watch this video...

[@staticvideo]

Always an exciting day when Rob releases a new video. 🔥

[@RobEllisCinematographer]

Thank you so much, hope you enjoyed this one! :)

[@adampotatos6854]

This is amazing. Thank you for explaining!

[@jasonrodrigues5536]

Thank you for this video. Your explanation is very good!

[@ebinrock]

Of course, if you're going for the street lamp look, you probably want to use more orange or amber (with gels and/or post color grading) than blue.

[@ImpsCyberton]

Your works is magnificent sir.

[@flowtrap1168]

This was so cool. Thank you I’m going to try it out!

[@AdamKeithMedia]

This is easily one of your best videos so far, Rob. The way you delve into the reasoning/intent behind all of your decisions is tremendously helpful.

[@RobEllisCinematographer]

Thank you so much Adam! I try to explain things in a way that I generally make sense of things myself - so I'm always happy to hear that helps others too. I appreciate it! :)

[@SaharRazavi]

Really love it, amazing. Thanks a lot for sharing 🥰🥰

[@darshandabrase3265]

One more tips: You can add a little bit of noise and grains. Which will give more pseudo underexposed camera look. Not too much but it can be good.

[@innatemusic]

Brilliant explanation of the sun's light and the ambient light in the shadows at 1:45. Great job, brother!

[@RobEllisCinematographer]

Always appreciated man, thank you!

[@electriccatvisualarts2397]

Well done Rob! Another great lesson… I plan day for night shots for creative reasons but also to avoid low-light noise issues - I’ve never thought to place the sun in backlight; thanks for the time you put into these videos… really helpful!

[@RobEllisCinematographer]

Thank you so much! You could break the sun light up with something (branches, leaves, blinds, trees, etc) and use it as a front light, as that can still feel like moonlight - the same way we might break a sun lit scene up to create more mood. I didn’t have the time to cover that aspect in the video unfortunately! Happy to hear the video has been helpful to you! :)

[@electriccatvisualarts2397]

@@RobEllisCinematographer I'm going to experiment with this technique.. thanks again!

[@JWS1968]

Another great idea to sell day for night is the inclusion of street and car lighting. A street lamp in the background or a car headlight is a great way of selling the effect.

[@RobEllisCinematographer]

For sure! I wanted to include using powerful lights during the day to emulate window lights, etc, as another option, but decided to keep things a bit simpler for the time being!

[@Mac40581]

Great video! I worked as a cinematographer for over 25 years and implemented day-for-night techniques on several projects. I think you should consider creating a video on how to simulate light coming from a house window when doing day-for-night shots. Also, in my personal opinion, I prefer a less saturated blue for the night effect.

[@lachlanstamp4203]

Single best video I’ve seen on the subject. Why people think moonlight is soft I do not know

[@RobEllisCinematographer]

Thank you so much! I appreciate it! :) I think it’s probably just natural to assume it’s soft, as our vision is so compromised and unfocused in the dark we don’t really think about it - but when we learn a little more about how light works (in terms of the size of light sources) it starts to make more sense that it would be a hard light, and we’re able to notice it more. That’s how it worked for me anyway!

[@chody2065]

nah this is so crazy, the amount of detail and meanings behind your words are incredible. you're so talented and thank you for the tutorial ill for sure have to try this out.

[@RobEllisCinematographer]

Thank you so much, I really appreciate your kind words - good luck with the tests! :)

[@Michaexs]

So amazing, thanks for sharing this!

[@magnerton]

I bookmarked this video because it’s really excellent teaching right there !

[@RobEllisCinematographer]

Too kind! Glad you found it helpful! :)

[@DefinitelyNotPedro]

Fun fact Moon light is actually slightly red tinted. Its just that, as explained in the video, the cells we use to see low-light conditions make everything look blue to us.

[@IRahkuBz]

amazing stuff! will save for later when I need it, thanks!

[@Fleischkopf]

I think it looks more realistic if you suck out almost all the colors out of the image because at night we see almost only with our eye rods that can detect light and dark but no colors. And i would switch off the red channel 100% or it will always look like blue hour.

[@RobEllisCinematographer]

Absolutely, I think the silvery look you see a lot with day for night best emulates this!

[@reyesproductionDK]

Okay. This is prime content. Thank you Mr. Rob!

[@DavidFaxon]

Absolutely amazing breakdown. I'd love to know which films I've seen have done this, probably way more than I would imagine.

[@dagobject]

Great video! I've been looking for such a video about 3 months ago to explain to a friend how to light a night scene in a full cg environment %) An interesting bit is that the moonlight in reality is actually warmer then the sun because the moon is slightly pale beige. But the perception is what matters.

[@tak7022]

i love how film production makes those scene so good that it looks natural and realistic that people think they can do it, just point and shoot and get the same result using their own cellphone camera and some some cheap basic equipments and end up with different result and super low quality.🤣 im one of them though but im learning now, you need techniques and invest in some equipments especially lighting.

[@jumbee9]

This is absolutely brilliant. I will absolutely be using what I've learned here. Thank you.

[@RobEllisCinematographer]

I hope it helps! Thank you so much!

[@0ChrisLambert0]

Best video I have seen on the subject bravo.

[@korpen3770]

One way to sell it even more, would be to add some subtle post film grain during the night scenes, emulating a camera struggling with the low light.

[@jakpodcast]

Dude you’re awesome! Thank you so much! This is exactly what I was looking for.

[@Crttr78]

The best explanation of “La Noche Americana” I've seen. Thank you very much.

[@RobEllisCinematographer]

Super happy to hear that, thank you so much! I’ve never actually seen that film, sacrilege I know!

[@jvr-01justvideosrandom]

Makes sense for film and video, I have done similar things retouching photo shoots from Day to Night. I just use an extreme LUT to change Color Grades in an image and then amp up details that look more like nighttime. But there’s no way you can pay me enough to retouch Night into Day. That’s way too much work. In 99% of cases, just easier to reshoot in the daytime, the same shot.

[@Zx30]

Amazing Video. Thank you so much!

[@R3_dacted0]

The first day for night adjustment you showed off looked really, really good. But I wasn't sold on the examples shown for using cloudy/overcast days. They seemed far too bright and illuminated as well as way too blue to be convincing. If you showed them to me without context, I'd probably be fooled into thinking it's night, but while I wouldn't even think to consider that it was actually shot in daylight, I'd still have a weird inkling that _something_ was off. Though, for certain, I'd never believe that was a cloudy sky even if you told me.

[@LesArtsdelaParole]

I remember in the serie "Heroes", they did obvious daylight filming, modified to look like nighlight. It was pretty awfull... Your grading is really neat !

[@tichalipomtawali8654]

this changes everything

[@Eyex97]

Amazing video! Thank you!

[@BAYqg]

Wow. that was indeed an amazing journey to the art of making night scenes. Subscribed!

[@RobEllisCinematographer]

Happy you enjoyed it and thank you so much for your support - appreciate it! :)

[@ImNotAFilmmaker]

Just checked your channel the other day to see if you had anything new. On point as usual.

[@RobEllisCinematographer]

Good timing on my part then! Hope you enjoyed/found this one helpful in some way - thank you!

[@Ponk_80]

The moon is more like a point light source, because it's so dark there's no ambient light bouncing around, since it's such a weak source of light, so when you increase the iso it kind of looks like the picture/video was taken on a stage.

[@RFFilmmaker]

Premium class! Thank u dude

[@stevenkralovec]

Probably one of the best day-for-night videos I’ve seen!

[@RobEllisCinematographer]

Wow thank you so much Steven! Glad you enjoyed it!

[@JohnSmith-sk7cg]

The one issue for me with every implementation I've seen regarding day-to-night is the intensity of the dynamic range in the light, especially when it comes to skin. I don't know if there's a good way to solve this totally, but when it comes to close ups, using some type of translucent shade might mitigate it. The light refracting off all the things around you creates a base lower level when it hits the indirectly illuminated side of the person. The dynamic range of the sun in comparison to the moon for this is huge. So in frames where there's a wide range in the daytime, it's orders of magnitude too wide for the night. TL;DR Skin is too shiny in day to night because sun is really bright.

[@Thomas_M-A-SH]

That the first time when I see this kind of video and I like it a lot

[@garethreeve5578]

I am absolutely blown away by this video, Rob... Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! 😀

[@RobEllisCinematographer]

Beyond happy to hear it! Thank YOU for the kind words - appreciate it massively! :)

[@PDeNigris]

Fantastic breakdown and advice. Subbed!

[@protonish]

Just discovered your channel. I think my life just changed a little. Subscribed.

[@RobEllisCinematographer]

Super happy you’re finding my videos so helpful - and thank you so much for your support! :)

[@FuzzyMannerz]

This is awesome, thank you for taking the time to make this and explain it! :)

[@MtZionMediaPro]

Love that you use the Blackmagic cams!

[@RobEllisCinematographer]

Been using them since the original 2.5K! And the Pyxis literally just arrived at my door as I type this haha!

[@MtZionMediaPro]

@@RobEllisCinematographer OH MY! Can't wait to see the content you make with the new camera! 🔥🙌🏾

[@evgeniyaskarov]

It's wonderful! Thank you!👍

[@davidboerst4789]

great video but all examples are in a wooded area away from people. how would you approach filming in an area that has practical lighting known for nighttime like street lights or headlights

[@Qsandbank]

Im gonna go try this now

[@jamessonfield]

Your videos are so insanely well put together and extremely informative! Love it!

[@RobEllisCinematographer]

Glad you think so and happy you're finding them helpful in some way - I appreciate it, thank you so much! :)

[@mradriiiian]

As always very informative in just 10 minutes

[@RobEllisCinematographer]

Glad to hear it! :)

[@1MAX333]

Woah, this is very useful. 🔥🔥🔥

[@vladimirmartinez8431]

Great video! One question when shooting day for night do you make the image look night on camera like dropping down exposure and making the image really cold with the WB to later finesse in post or you just expose for daylight/sun and then grade everything in post to look night?

[@RobEllisCinematographer]

Personally I'm shooting a lower ISO as a "preview" of sorts, and setting white balance to a low kelvin to get some coldness in the image - then making further adjustments in post where necessary. So a rough preview - but you could also create and export a monitoring LUT to shoot with specifically!

[@zephyris05]

wow love this!!

[@branclai]

Great video as always. Just in time for spooky season😀

[@RobEllisCinematographer]

Thank you so much! Haha you’re right - I should have made it a little spookier really!

[@marcelosantos5683]

Really cool technique but I must say that I found your night color grading to be a bit too blue... Also, I think that the reason why just lowering the exposure of a daytime shot won't make it look like nighttime is that the decay of the light is different between day and night, so there's a lot of range from the high highlights and the low levels during the day, but not so much during the night since we have a limit to perceive darkness and the highlights won't be as bright, so the exposure range is lower at night

[@PRODGOSHA-oh7xn]

I used lightroom and grabbed an image using the same theory and wow, i even took awag some saturation to make it more grey toned and it looked just as good so its dope to know this now 😂

[@hellohogo]

I’m here for the pure rage on his face 🦾

[@RobEllisCinematographer]

More rage to come!

[@Clodd1]

The video for the song Man Of War by Radiohead uses this technique in the part where he walks through the bushes.

[@StructureMastery]

What is the superb music used at 2:32 ??

[@JasonVoorhees-r1m]

In what program did you create this night effect from a recording shot during the day?.

[@dennismenace4188]

Interesting video. Cheers from Melbourne Australia.

[@RobEllisCinematographer]

Glad to hear it - cheers from the UK!

[@artistictony]

Rob! You're a Genius sir

[@RobEllisCinematographer]

Not at all - I just enjoy making images! I appreciate the sentiment though, thank you! Glad you enjoyed the video :)

[@gnomik33]

What the fuck, man honestly the level of analysis and delivery of information especially for free is stunning. You are amazing, thank you.

[@APRICEPRODUCTION]

Really great video and some awesome techniques... I've seen quite a few TV shows that have faked nighttime shots and do such a poor attempt at it, where you can clearly see it's the sun with a cool filter added. Sometimes they'll do a poor green screen or layer out the white of the sky and replace it with a night sky instead. I know in some night shots in tv and films, you do have to have a certain level of suspension of disbelief. Impossible lighting sometimes or exaggerated lighting. Like where lights in a park, might not give enough lighting, so you have artificially add light to make the shots work better shot in camera. Given you a subscribe :)

[@ConcealedWeapon]

excellent, excellent video

[@RobEllisCinematographer]

I appreciate it, thank you!!

[@The_Daliban]

So much thought nehind all of this. Thank you guys for sharing your knowledge(:

[@RobEllisCinematographer]

Thank you for your kind words, I hope you found it useful in some way - I appreciate it! :)

[@iseethedifference]

Nowadays with Sonys FX3 or A7S3 you just can film at night , i think you can pool it out even with A73 in a low contrast HLG. At least i did it with a f2.8 lens, result was good enough. The only downside is that in dark time autofocus is strugling really hard. But probably using f1.8 or even f1.4 lenses could fix the issue. Also i was thinking about using some kind of soft light just to imitate moonlight to help autofocus system. But if you are a real filmmaker then probably you will want to bring a friend with you who is pulling focus.

[@RobEllisCinematographer]

Absolutely, I've always wanted to try it since I saw the original A7S shooting under moonlight! But we also need to take into account things like moon phases - we're always going to have a full sun on a clear day, but that's not true for a brighter, full moon - and sometimes we can't see the moon at all!