Light and shadow

[Anonymous]

Hello

i do reviews on YouTube on my channel MrExtremeTV

channel link : http://www.youtube.com/user/MrExtremeTV

You can see an example of my latest work on my YouTube channel

Now I do reviews and i was instructed to get more light into the video

Now I use two lights one big florescent one and a white light lamp

Also the ceiling florescent white light

All on a white background (note i am not willing to change background color)

My question is how do you I get more light in the video without getting shadow

Thank you

[JackWolcott]

Your unwillingness to change background color is self-defeating. No matter how much light you pour onto your subject, the bright white background will cause the subject to be back-lit and, therefore to look “dark.”

About the only thing you can do, and it will result in some pretty awful video, is expose for the subject and let the background blow out (i.e., clip.) This is often necessary when the subject is outside and has bright sky, snow, etc., behind them.

If you’re determined to use the white background, you might try using a gobo — i.e., cutouts in front of a light — to throw shadows or a colored pattern onto the white wall to tone it down a bit. If you have enough room, you could try lighting the talent in much the same manner you’d light for green-screen: bring the talent well away from the back wall and carefully light your subject, being careful not to allow light to spill onto the wall. Whether you can do this with the lights you’re using is problematic. But if you can, then equally carefully, light the wall, for which I’d use a couple of soft boxes on dimmer so I could control the levels and keep them below that on the talent.

Good luck,

Jack

[birdcat]

Check out this tutorial by D. Eric Franks: http://videopia.org/watch/learn-mainmenu-231/103?task=view

[Gregory]

I have to agree with jackwolcott, as a producer if a problem arises you need to be willing to make adjustments. That white background is problematic.

That said, the florescent light is a cause of part of the problem. Florescent lighting causes all kinds of weird issues. So after you watch the video posted by birdcat, you will have a better understand of lighting.

But the florescent light may also be picked up by the camera. Florescent lighting is a plasma, and plasma is made up of both particle and light waves, so it covers a wide range of spectrum’s, one of which is sound, the ballast that charges the plasma will give off an audible sound that the camera will pick up.

[Anonymous]

Im not going to be shooting movie scenes

but only small reviews

So i need to get a white background for the product to appear clearly

See this video where i would want to get more light in it without adding shadow on the white background because i have seen alot of other people do it

[Gregory]

Mr. E did you get a chance to watch the video posted by birdcat? It is very illuminating for the subject at hand? I did watch your ear phone video, and I do not know because it was just the single video, but it appears like you do tight shots of the hands and product, never a fuller shot. I do now understand the need for the white background so I spoke with partial knowledge before. Use the advice in the birdcat posted video but scale it down to meet your needs and you should be alright. I did notice another item of concern. Focus. The camera appears to be attempting to try and focus on your hand then the product, it might be helpful to set the camera focus to manual. then focus on an object about 2-4 inches above the white background and set it to that range and try to work within that range, just as a suggestion.

[birdcat]

I am not recommending these sellers nor am I saying anything bad about them, only using them illustratively.

For small things (like the headphones) you could get one of these light kits:

http://www.backdropoutlet.com/prodinfo.asp?number=EX4WEB

or, for larger needs, something like this:

http://www.backdropsource.com/Productinfo.asp?id=3301&pname=hair-light-kit

[Author]

Posts