Convincing moonlight

[Dave Buckley]

Any1 got any good tips on illuminating an interior that is only lit by the moonlight from outside??? Attached is my attempt so far

[Frosty]

More light!

Just because its night, that doesnt mean the rendering should be blacked out.

 

Set the mood with grey/blue/purple ambient light and blue/grey direct light in the window.

[afterglow]

i think in that chris nichols global illum interiors dvd he sets up a scene using moonlight to illuminate an interior.

[Dave Buckley]

well i tried more light in the attached image but i now i think i have to much light, i think the amount of light in this second one makes it look even more unrealistic

[Dave Buckley]

mmm thats strange, the saved jpeg that i just posted has lost a lot of the light, it now looks darker than the first image i posted? gamma settings possibly?

[ipxstudios]

Looks good - perhaps increase the strength of the moonlight a little to give more dramatic light and shadow to your scene before you turn on the desk lamp.

[shaneis]

The key to a good moonlit shot is not to underexpose and ensure lots of contrast - try to get some specular highlights and subtle spec-bloom working. A good trick is to set it up as a daylight shot, then reverse the white-balance values, ie start with 5500K (outdoor) values and then switch to light values for a 3200K (indoor) white balance for the moon. This will make the outdoor lighting appear blue, while any indoor artificial lighting appears normal. If you're using RGB 0-1, try setting your "moon" to 0.65, 0.70, 0.74 or with RGB 0-255, use 166, 179, 188. Similarly, if your using Kelvin temps, start in the high 7000's and work up towards 9000.

 

Typically, your moon light colour is that of the sky and will depend on atmospheric conditions. With the right angle/ dust/ vapour, it can even look slightly yellow.

 

Not guaranteed, but a good start.