Tagged with key - Personal View Talks

budget lights for green screen?

cevahic — Mon, 23 Sep 2019 00:27:40 +0000

I am buying a Westcott 130 fleece green backdrop: https://www.fjwestcott.com/9-x-10-green-screen-wrinkle-resistant-backdrop

What sort of lights would be best to evenly light this screen and get a perfect key? Ideally under $500 for a pair of lights (or more lights if needed). I am thinking of lights that I can mount on C-Stands or light-stands.

The talent will be lit separately with soft boxes, around 4 meters away from the green screen.

Panasonic GH4 4K vs Blackmagic Cinema Camera Green Screen / Chroma Key Comparision

AKED — Tue, 22 Jul 2014 02:11:58 +0000

Here a clip from Video Alchemy where he tests the croma keying abilities of the GH4, 4K downsampled to 1080p, 4:2:0 8bit, compared to the BMCC Prores 4:2:2 and uncomressed cinemaDNG

Who would have thought this: the GH4 wins :-)

Does anyone know how to select only the bokeh part of a shot?

lolo — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 20:59:01 +0000

Helloo, Does anyone know how to select only the blured part of an image??, as there is focus peaking (even though i don´t know if there is a desktop software that can do this), i´m guessing there should be a way to select only the bokeh of an image instead of what is in focus???

can anyone think on a software, or a method, to achieve this??

Greetings!

Green screen in small space

tonalt — Mon, 22 Jul 2013 17:05:45 +0000

I'm building studio to small room (size about 3m x 3m).

I need 3 backdrops: green (for chroma key), black and white.

For this I already have 3-roller background paper support system (similar to this http://www.ebay.com/itm/400373022462 ).

The background paper will be about 2m wide. Haven't found any place where to get this custom size though. Any ideas?

I will put this in between cheap man's Manfrotto Autopoles: http://www.biltema.fi/fi/Rakentaminen/Vari-ja-Saumaus/Tyokalut/Kattotuki-86034/ . That's the best version in Finland, in US I guess it's this one: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000067S12/ref=asc_df_B000067S122575981 . Reason for "autopole" is that I don't want to drill extra holes to the wall and the "autopole" provides attachment point for lights etc.

I attach the 3-roller to the "autopoles" using these Manfrotto super clamp replicas: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Articulating-Small-Super-Clamp-Crab-DSLR-Rig-LCD-Monitor-Studio-Light-Magic-Arm-/200926374880 . If I find them to be bad quality, I will buy original super clamps instead.

And then the biggest problem. How to light green screen in limited space? I don't want any extra tripods / softboxes to the studio. I'm thinkg using led lights something like this http://www.ebay.com/itm/Portable-500-LED-Light-Panel-Photo-Video-Studio-Portrait-Dimmer-Lighting-Filter-/290900481579 on both sides. Hope them will be enough. I would attach them using super clamps and Manfrotto extension arms http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/546373-REG/Manfrotto_by_Bogen_Imaging_042_042_Extension_Arm_with.html to the "autopoles". This way I would not have any extra tripods on the floor for the green screen lights.

It would be also cool to have head light attached also to the "autopoles", with something like this: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/546560-REG/Manfrotto_024B_Boom_Assembly_Black.html . The Manfrotto is pretty expensive though so I'm looking for alternative.

I have seen many DIY green screen light projects like this

but those don't get me too excited.

Main purpose for the studio is basic "interview setup" and I aim to get everything as cheap as possible.

Any ideas would be appreciated!

Chroma key experiences, workflow,tips, etc

virgilr — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 13:58:12 +0000

So I've trawled and searched for GH2 user experiences for chroma key work here at PV, and it seems to be spattered and scattered around the boards. I have access to a GH2 that will be used on some upcoming projects, and I'm putting this here for anybody to share their best patch - workflow - tips in terms of pulling the best keys possible using the GH2.

Obviously lighting and setup are critical to pulling good keys, and I know that many may be tempted to say "try it and see"- which I'm definitely willing to do! I'm just trying to shortcut a bit to the best possible starting point I can before delving into the process on my own.

Any sample footage would also be greatly appreciated!

GH2 or GH3 for green screen?

flablo — Wed, 15 May 2013 11:09:39 +0000

Hi, I own a GH2 and a GH3, quite happy with both. I'm going to shoot videoclip on green screen. I already have some experience with GH2 and green screen, and I've already searched and followed all related discussion here on PV (and outside), but one thing I couldn't come up with a decision is basically wether using the GH2 (hacked) or the GH3. What appeals me of the GH3 is essentially the improved DR, while for the GH2 the main factor would be using a hack (Driftwood or CM Green Screen). I would not use the horrid All-I with the GH3. I'm not asking tips on green screen, I just want to know it anyone used both for this task and has some thoughts to share.

Thank you

Placing a Hard Key Light

Vitaliy_Kiselev — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 03:15:03 +0000

By Art Adams

The most important thing you will ever learn about lighting is this: LIGHTING IS NOT A FORMULA. Learning about lighting, though, is a process of becoming aware, and in this first of many articles I’m going I’m going to try to increase your awareness of one specific thing per article. The more awareness you have the more easily you’ll be able to adapt your lighting to your circumstances because you’ll see, with your own eyes, what you need to do to make an image that satisfies your inner artist.

I think the best place to start is with classical key light placement. This knowledge is not something you will use verbatim as this is not a style that is in vogue at the moment. The underlying principles, however, should be of daily benefit.

In film school we all learn about the key light, fill light and backlight. We’re typically shown a setup where a key light is placed 45 degrees to one side of the camera and raised high and tilted down toward the subject at a 45 degree angle. The fill light is placed in the same position on the opposite side of the camera. The backlight, or hair light, is opposite the camera, behind the subject.

This is a great way to learn the basics of lighting as long as you can grasp what the lights do and then completely forget everything about this formula. Lighting is not about formulas, it is about seeing. Formulas can be a trap. Learn from them, but don’t rely on them.

There are almost infinite variations of this setup and other setups that deviate completely from this plan. The goal in my upcoming “Lighting Strategies” series is to open your eyes to some lighting techniques and strategies that I had to learn the hard way—because there are very few people who can communicate what they do artistically to another person. There are a lot of DPs who can tell their crew what they want, but if they had to tell another DP how they did it they’d fail miserably. I find that really frustrating, so I’m going to try to fill that void.

One of the hardest things to do is to light a face well with hard light, because hard light brings out details that not every face wants revealed: bumps, pores, imperfectly-formed noses, wrinkles… everything that can go “wrong” with a face shows up really well under hard light.

A hard light is defined as a light source that appears small in relation to the subject and casts a sharp shadow. This can be a small light up close or a big light far away. (I’ll go into soft and hard light in another article.)

I believe that the origin of the “traditional” hard key light placement came from the old studio days of the 1930s when it was most common to light from a lighting grid placed over the set. Film speeds were quite slow and the lights used were quite big, and the easiest way to power them and keep them out of the shot was to hang them. This is probably where the 45-degree downward-facing key light came from, as this angle is one of the more pleasing for hardlit faces.

I’m not going to talk about fill or backlight in this article. I’m going to focus strictly on classical methods of placing hard key lights. We’ll get to other lights, and mixing lights, in future articles.

Read the rest at: http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/aadams/story/lighting_strategies_placing_a_hard_key_light/P0/