Day for Night : When you can't shoot at night
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Here is a sample of a day time shot that has been converted to a night time scene using a few adjustments. These are a guide only and I guarantee that your image will look different, so you'll need to tweak away.
Notes:
- PDF file of the settings - for reference, especially if you're not using AE 6.0 yet.
Instructions
- Import your footage or stills into After Effects and put them in a comp.
- You can either apply your effects directly to the footage layer or to an adjustment layer. In my example, I've applied them to an adjustment layer. It's up to you and depends on your project.
- First, you must adjust the levels. Apply the levels filter to your layer. You'll want to make it darker. This can be done by adjusting the middle arrow of the histogram, or, the gamma. I set it to .60. You will also need to adjust the output white level. I turned it down to 187.0.
- Download
a favorite of the "day for night" effect-
see your manual for instructions on how to use favorites.
Next, apply color balance. The night time light color has a bluish tint. Yes, I think my sample is a little bit too blue, but there was a blue moon out that night! But seriously ...I added to the blue shadows, midtone and highlight, but left the other settings at their defaults. - The last thing that needs some adjusting is curves. Apply the curves filter and adjust the RGB curve. This will make it darker.
- To view all of my settings, especially if you don't have AE 6.0 yet, check out the PDF file.