Lighting tips, anyone?

I have use of 1-2 really strong lights, and about 5 less strong lights. But I hate the look I get when I use these, because there is so much contrast. Also, the lights are yellow so it looks so artificial! I hate that! This is especially a problem when filming outside at night, because no natural light is yellow! UGH! And I heard that utilization of blue gels can be helpful, but I can't get my hands on these. Any other ways to get natural-looking light @ night?

Don't expect to get night-lighting right the first time around (I'm still struggling with it). You need to experiment a lot. The problem is often too much light or not enough. Remember that the intensity of light on an actor goes down fourfold if you double the distance of a lamp. Try moving your lights a bit to get the correct intensity.

At night, your lamps are the only sources of light and they don't get reflected off of anything; if you're not careful, you'll be casting some ugly shadows. You need to fill-in the backgrounds properly to get rid of the shadows (but not too much!). Don't use too many direct lights either. Diffused or reflected light looks good at night.

One of the important things about lighting is to be able to take your lamps up high in the air. This keeps you from getting shadows all over the place.

Experimentation is a good thing, but if you really dont have any light, shoot tight. Wider shots require more lighting.

One last thing, for those of you who are trying to acheive something you cant because of lack of equipment, you have to weigh how important it is. Lighting is important and the better your lighting is the more serious people will take you when you present a film.