“Day for Night” is term we use in the film business to describe our efforts to make a daylight shot look like a night time shot. The key to doing this is as follows.

First thing is to have a sunny day, preferably with the sun lower in the sky rather than midday. Try to keep the background of the scene you are shooting darker than lighter.

Have some kind of practical (that’s a real light in the shot) light showing in the frame. This could be an outside lamp on a wall, a street light etc. This practical is a clue to the audience that it really is night time. Once again just make sure the background is dark. This is important.

You sun light should come from the back or near back of the subject. What we are attempting to do here is to convince the audience that the Sun is really the Moon. With this light coming from behind the subject, the foreground would generally be darker and this is what we want for the illusion.

If you are shooting in video you need to white balance your camera prior to setting up. Do this by balancing the camera not on a white card but rather on a pinkish or warm coloured surface. This will cause your camera’s internal set up to add more blue to the colour. (blue moonlight?? Get it?)

Now the only thing left to do is underexpose the image by closing down the lens aperture a bit and that’s it. Try it out and let me know how it worked.