
Lighting Infinite White
2 years ago
An infinite white background is more than hip and trendy. Clean, professional and flexible, the secret is in the lighting. And while framing the head and shoulders is easy, lighting a full-body shot is much more complex. This segment shows you how to Light Infinite White, on a finite budget and in a limited space.
* 2009 Silver Telly Award winner (highest honor)
videopia.org
* 2009 Silver Telly Award winner (highest honor)
videopia.org
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p.s., I whupped yer butt at Donkey Kong at videopia.org, by the way.
Great work, DEF. Would have expected higher "quality" (read: PRICED) lights for the visual quality you've got here.
DEF, it was a great piece of work. I'm out hunting for the materials already. Thanks again for some great information!
davecolorado.com/index.php/videopia/
spent the whole evening watching your video
thanx a lot!
Would be nice if you told about keying out white and whether it is harder than keying green.
Yes, the audio in this segment is really hollow because I was shooting with a shotgun in a small enclosed space. In the evolution of the "studio," I worked on lighting first and then audio (which gets better in later segments - more treatment of the space like you recomend and swithed to cheap lav). I'm STILL struggling with the audio.
And yes again: white is easier to key on simply because white fringes and imperfect keys are much more forgiving than trying to deal with green halos. Yes, I can do a perfect key in this setup, but it's a lot of work in post (like it ALWAYS is in any situation) and I just don't have the time or talent to do that and still finish a segment every other week.
Thanks!
Thankyou
Can you advise on the keying process that should be used after you've got your shots? How perfect does the original picture have to be? Because you are trying to key white, I'm inclined to think that the shot, at least immediately around the subject needs to be perfect? I've tried this project using shop/work lights to light the background, but 5400k fluorescents on the subject. I'm left with some yellow spots on the background, where it's not properly over exposed. Using premiere, can you suggest the easiest way to key the background?
I'm starting to think that I need to just ditch the halogen floodlights as I'm getting a nasty yellow fringe on my subject. I've had real difficulty in finding cheap clamp lights in the UK. I've not been able to find them for anywhere near $7, more like $30. If anyone from the UK can point me to a source, or even terms or brands I can search for, it would be a great help. So far I've been looking at "clamp lamps" and "clamp lights" on DIY sites, and I seee that reptile pet supply stores also stock them. Should I be looking elsewhere, or under different names?
First, it's all keyed. First video to last. Originally, the key was done simply to get the background perfectly white, but I got bored with that and added a gradient and then a gradient with a subtle virtual floor. Subtle, but I like it better.
Second, it's actually easier to key white than green, but only because poor/quick keys result in a white fringe/halo and not a green one. So a white halo on a white background is almost invisible. You can see the edge if you look closely, esp. if there's something darker behind me. The latest video I did (the Casio review) actually uses very quick and dirty keying ('cause I didn't want to spend too much time on the project) and it's easier to see what I'm talking about. Also, check out my feet in that one: I forgot to turn on a light in front, which left a shadow on the floor!
One caveat: This type of quick/dirty keying will NOT work for Hollywood-style effects, like Superman flying or what have you, because of the sloppy white halo. The trick is keying white to white. Sorta cheating, I suppose, but whatever works!
Third: I'm not chromakeying, per se, but luma keying. Again, check out the Casio Review, about mid-way through I show some raw footage from the studio/garage from my Sony SR7. The back wall is insanely blown out and overexposed: That's the trick! If your camera has zebra stripes, it's really useful, since anything with stripes will key very easily.
Finally, any light will work, as long as they all have the same color temp. The only reason I don't use halogens is that they are hot and miserable, and I'm already cranky enough while shooting. Large tube flourescent banks on the sides would be great too (ala, indymogul.com light bank tutorial).
I'm happy to cheat... it's something I wholeheartedly encourage!
After posting today I scoured my local city for some form of clamp lamp. Several stores later I found a shop with some "mini clip on spot lights" for £4 which is pretty near close to the $7 target. The one's I got look identical to these (in case any UK folk or struggling):
choiceful.com/disprod.php?pId=1100
The bad thing is that they don't have the reflectors. I imagine that reflectors are somewhat essential to this project, both in directing maximum light to blow out the backdrop, but also to prevent light escaping back towards the subject. I'm planning on using the cement in a bucket method as demonstrated on indymogul (thanks for the link) and make some bard doors to keep the light focused on the backdrop (unless there's any sneaky method of making 'almost free' reflectors?
The next, and hopefully final issue I've got to consider is my light temp matching. I have a couple of 5400k studio lights which I plan to light the subject with. I've been researching 'bayonet b22' 23w CFL bulbs but haven't seen any that have 5400k colour temp. Only 6500k. I believe this 1100k temp difference is less than the difference between 5400k and my halogen flood lights (and as a percentage difference even less still.) Do you think the 6400k CFLs will be a good enough match for my 5400k studio lights? Or should I really hunt down (and probably pay more for) 5400k CFLs?
Thanks for the direction towards lumakeying, I'll play with the feature with my test footage so far in preparation of getting the remaining gear together.
Thanks again!
It's funny - they all seems white to me before I started doing video. Now I'm obsessed with all the bulbs in a room matching (e.g., 6500K "moonlight" in the bedroom, 3100K living room). Oh well, video nerds need to obsess over something.
I ended up getting 6500k CFLs to go with the 5400k main lights. They seem to match OK. I can't spot the difference myself.
Taking inspiration from the indymogul site, I took two long painting poles, bashed them semi-flat with a hammer (to allow the clips to stay on) then plunged them into two buckets filled with concrete. When try that was plenty strong enough to support 5 lamps each.
Since my clip lights don't have any reflectors I needed to keep the light on the backdrop and not escaping toward the camera. The decorators poles had slightly tapered ends. I cut a 12 inch x 2 inch strip of cardboard from a box, made a hole in one end and pressed it over the end of the pole. I then stuck a 8 foot length of kitchen foil to it, letting it hang down to the floor. The cardboard 'support' could then be adjusted like a single barn door.
In Premiere I applied the luma key effect with a threshold of 3% and a cutoff of 7%. Seems to work pretty good. Now just got to film the project!
Thanks again for the advice!
I still haven't solved the clamping part in a permanent way (mine are clamped and duct taped - which is not a very good solution). Ultimately, I'm thinking I could build a really nice grid for about $20-30 out of PVC and metal strapping... might be the next upgrade.
As far as the paint goes, I used cheap flat latex wall paint. It may have been smarter to use a garage floor paint, which may have resisted dirt and footprints better, but since I never walk on the floor unless I'm shooting (the dropcloth is always down), it's not a problem.
Another question - is the paneling really needed? Cloth should automatically make a round edge on the floor - or is this solution not stable enough without the paneling?
I also plan to place the bottom part on carpet - my garage is really too small to act in it. I just have to figure out if I should try to apply the paint it in my bedroom. ;)
And, yes, cloth backdrops are definitely an option, especially if you don't have a dedicated (or semi-dedicated) space. Photography shops will have backdrop rolls that will work. 40€ for 50m² sounds like a good price - my local shop has high key white muslin (cotton) 10' x 16' rolls (~17m²) for US$60. (I've used paper rolls too, but they aren't much cheaper and are a lot less durable - not recommended.)
vimeo.com/780735
It's exactly what I was trying to do but it didn't work out quite how I had hoped. Now I can see why.
BTW mine was a low-budget shoot. I did find a studio with an 'infinity curve' but couldn't afford it.
Looks like I could have done it the way I wanted after all if I had seen this film!
I may do a segment on green, but I need to make a little money before my next video and, quite frankly, I'm not a fan of green screen + virtual sets. Too distracting if you don't get it perfect and I rarely have time/money to get it perfect. White is much more forgiving (when lumakeying over a light background).