Starships are finally lit realisticly.

[steam235]

Trek ships have always been well lit for the TV audience's benefit. Always from a wonderful off screen light source.

When TMP was being planned Andrew Probert sketched out that the ships should really look like this most of the time.

Which is why he gave the Refit Enterprise so many spotlights on it's hull.

In Discovery the ships were lit only by the binary starts, and were very much in the shadows.

I wonder if they will keep that up or go back to the traditional ship lighting other shows have had.

 

[Timo]

I'd think the modern style calls for external light sources in every scene. That is, showing mere empty space with pinprick stars is a no-no - there has to be a colorful nebula or a misty planet in every shot. Ship lighting problem settled - yes, they'll keep that up. They have to.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[B.J.]

I'd say it's the opposite, they're lit even less realistically now. If a ship is anywhere near a star (closer than, say, the orbit of Saturn), then that ship should be lit up very bright, same as if you had a model kit in your hands in the noonday sun. (Even if you're out at Pluto, it's still brighter than a full moon.) The shadowed side of the ship would be much darker though, due to there being no atmosphere to cause any back-lighting. They really need to use pictures of the Space Shuttle and other spaceships and stations in orbit as a reference.

As a corollary to this, the lit windows have always been far too bright. You shouldn't be able to see any internal lights when under the full intensity of a star, the same way you don't typically see the windows of a house or office building lit up in the daytime.

 

[PixelMagic]

I'm ok with cinematic license being taken with space lighting. I don't want the shadowed side of the ship to be in pitch black.

 

[kerchan]

I'm ok with cinematic license being taken with space lighting. I don't want the shadowed side of the ship to be in pitch black.

Realism be damned.i want to SEE the ships...