Experimental lighting with greenscreen

ciencin

ciencin

Well-known member
I shot on greenscreen before which was fine, but was looking at a few music video where it was shot on greenscreen but the subject is only partly lit up (eg half of the face is in shaddow).
Obviously the subject has to be well lit up otherwise it will be harder to edit it from the greenscreen, but how do you shoot it, or is this purely done in post?


here is an example of what I mean: 0:27 - 0:37 in this video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeJBd746-4w
0:27 - 0:37
 
I don't understand. If the greenscreen is well lit, what does it matter if the subject is well lit or not?

(I admit I haven't done a lot of keying yet but have pulled keys from light and dark subjects)
 
Well what I mean was, if you want to have that really contrasted where half the face is lit up and half is in the shadow then you'll need to turn off all the lights and keep your subject beside a softbox, but if you light up the greenscreen behind your subject then it will affect the lighting on the subject...
But I suppose if you have a huge greenscreen you can work around that... I only have a small one :-\
 
Your talking about light control here. You can light a subject anyway you want and make it look anyway you want as long as you have really good control over all your lights. This means using flags and bringing the blacks up on your subject. The point of really well done green screen lighting is about control. Your lights on the green screen shouldn't effect your subject at all. That's kind of the point of the green screen is that you are trying to control everything that is going into the camera.
 
What size is you screen?

How far away is your subject from the screen. You really want at least 10 feet between the subject and the screen.
 
ciencin said:
Well what I mean was, if you want to have that really contrasted where half the face is lit up and half is in the shadow then you'll need to turn off all the lights and keep your subject beside a softbox, but if you light up the greenscreen behind your subject then it will affect the lighting on the subject...
But I suppose if you have a huge greenscreen you can work around that... I only have a small one :-\
Click to expand...
Well, that would appear to be the conflict right there.

Your greenscreen lighting should absolutely not affect your subject in any way at all.

You want as much distance between your subject and the greenscreen as you can possibly get. 10 feet minimum. The lighting on the screen should only light up the screen, and not your subject. And the lighting on your subject should only light the subject, and not the screen.

If you only have a small screen, you can still get the subject a ways away from it and compensate by putting the camera further away and zooming in, which narrows the field of view and will make your greenscreen look proportionally larger.

If you're absolutely limited on space, then the only real alternative is to use something like the ReflecMedia Chromatte system.
 
Berry is right on here, as if he's ever not!

In best case, I'll use a 20x20 green screen in order to shoot a whole body. I will also use a small platform, covered or painted in green, for the subject to stand on so that they are off the ground and easy to cut out.

I will also put them as far away as I can from the green, so that both they, and the green, are lit by different sources that do not effect each other. This also puts the green out of focus more, which always helps, by lowering the DOF.

I understand that most people do not have the luxury of large studio and large green, but think about the shot you need. If you are shooting just a chest up- shot you can really separate the subject and the green, as long as the subject has green right around them. In small spaces you can also put the subject in the doorway (using the doorframe to cut off the light from hitting the greenscreen) and put the camera in the next room.

Be creative and good luck,
W
 
Berry is right on here, as if he's ever not!

In best case, I'll use a 20x20 green screen in order to shoot a whole body. I will also use a small platform, covered or painted in green, for the subject to stand on so that they are off the ground and easy to cut out.

I will also put them as far away as I can from the green, so that both they, and the green, are lit by different sources that do not effect each other. This also puts the green out of focus more, which always helps, by lowering the DOF.

I understand that most people do not have the luxury of large studio and large green, but think about the shot you need. If you are shooting just a chest up- shot you can really separate the subject and the green, as long as the subject has green right around them. In small spaces you can also put the subject in the doorway (using the doorframe to cut off the light from hitting the greenscreen) and put the camera in the next room.

Be creative and good luck,
W
 
Thanks for all the replies. Yea my greenscreen is pretty small, only around 2 X 1.5 meters, but I can see how having a bigger one will make life much easier :) guess its time to invest in some new equipment
 
Wilson and Barry are correct...
Try to find a larger room to shoot in. Your obviously being affected by bounce and spill from your lights.
Flag off all lights used on your background from hitting your subject . Light your subject separately.
If your ceiling is low, place "toppers" and "siders" on your background lights and you should be fine.
(Topper and siders- referring to black solid flags, such as floppies, used to cut and block light)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top