Chapter 11

Lighting Techniques

One of the common tasks of a matte artist is to take a plate and change the direction of the lighting. One example is to take a scene photographed in the daytime and alter it to serve as a nighttime shot. This exercise will bring into play all the skills you’ve learned so far. It requires adjusting the color temperature of the plate, taking elements from other photos and placing them in the scene, and hand painting. You’ll start with a daytime shot of Munich, Germany, and turn it into a sparkling urban nighttime landscape.