Hi!
The question is already in the title. I want to create a scene during night time but still want most things visible. I would be thankful for any tips or references you guys think are good examples.
What comes to mind to me are Batman movies but they are too dark and underexposed for my taste.
Well that is a tricky question. It depends on so much, for example the mood you are going for. If it's dramatic, almost like Batman, it's more about the darkness than the light. If it's night and outside with moon, maybe there's no moon. There's infinite possibilities and there's no real formula of put this light there with a strength of 8 and you're ok. It's more of trying to get a feel and it's all about your eye and perception. What I do is, I play around a lot, and I mean a lot. Trying with just a sun lamp with low power and a bit of blue/purple tint. Maybe if it's a character, he is lit just by a orange lamp in the nigh, maybe on candle light. Maybe there's fireflies around and you have tiny green bright spots all around. Maybe you have atmosphere and fog which makes the moon light rays visible.
So you have to play around a lot to try and define your look. Don't be afraid to start over and over. Turn off almost of the lights and turn them on one by one to appreciate their influence in the scene and most of the time you realize you had 10 lights and with 3 was just enough. Try playing around with colors, etc. I did the night version of the Spice Vendor and I went through a lot of iterations.
Here's the normal day scene:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANTHeNLNUSQ
And here's that converted to night:
I don't know for 3D shots, but I'd follow the rules of cinematography.
For interior shots there's no change except for light shining thru windows. For exterior shots, grey and/or blue lights. Darker blues if no moon medium blue if their is partial moon. More white/grey lights for full moon. Keep colors dull or less saturated. For this part you would use color management and have less contrast I think. I'd have to play around in blender to figure it out. It could be more contrast.
All right. Thanks for the tips and the example videos are perfect for what I have in mind as it should be a fantasy setting.
I knew I had to play around a lot but the advice you guys gave are really helpful to move into a direction and not just blindly try things.
