By Ira Tiffen
Lake shore. Setting sun. Simple, right? Maybe, or maybe not – if the timing is wrong. Get there too early, or on a less-than-spectacular day and you can get dull and boring. However, you can bring with you the means of getting the time and the day just as you want it. Here are some examples.
Image 1 shows the scene as my eye saw it, sun far from setting, looking pretty bland.
Image 2 adds some atmosphere, moisture in the air. The Black Pro-Mist flares highlight, yet the dark silhouette of the trees isn’t ‘milked out’ as might be expected with the regular Pro-Mist.
Image 3 combines the humid look of the Black Pro-Mist with the brilliant color of late afternoon courtesy of the added Sunrise filter; underexposing helps the effect along. Here, the heat evident in the color is enhanced by the soft haze of the Black Pro-Mist.
Image 4 is yet another take on the same scene. Here, though, the cool colors of the Twilight filter, deepened by the 2-stop underexposure, feel evening-crisp without the Black Pro-Mist.
When time isn’t on your side, you can win it over with the right effect. Just decide what you want and go after it.
Photos by Ira Tiffen.
In over 30 years of making optical filters, Ira Tiffen created the Pro-Mist, Soft/FX, Ultra Contrast, GlimmerGlass, and others, netting him both a Technical Achievement Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and a Prime-Time Emmy Award. Elected a Fellow of the SMPTE in 2002, he is also an Associate member of the ASC, and the author of the filter section of the American Cinematographer Manual.
