"how did they do this?" - background diffusion

Taylor Rudd

Taylor Rudd

Veteran
Friend pointed me to this and asked how it was done. I'm thinking it's visqueen (plastic sheet) between subject/background), but was wondering if anybody has incorporated this before.

Thoughts?

Edit: Thanks Luis...
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This American Life - Season 1 (episode 1 if I'm not mistaken)
:thumbsup:

I'm pretty sure that is part of the lab setup -at least I thought so when I saw it.
(it's been a while)

Seems to be frosted glass behind them - never ocurred to me that the camera crew set it up there, as it so obviously looks set up.
 
Probably not roto'd, as you can see the reflection of his right shoulder on the surface in question (that moves in the video, of course). Seems like a lot of trouble to go to for an effect!

Oh, and it's episode 6 :)
 
If this was an examine, my quick way would be to green screen it then get a plate shot and prop of chair and use reflection in some sort of composite program, combustion flint inferno after effects, etc. If it was video, if not then Photoshop all the way.
 
Funny, I just saw this yesterday. I'm petty sure it's plastic sheeting. I recall in the early days of DV someone used to sell some kind of plastic sheeting to fake shallow DoF. I'm thinking this is the only time anyone ever actually used it.
 
thought it was greenscreen+plate at first until I saw the reflection (for reference, the reflection of his shoulder cuts down the middle of the laptop screen).

If you look at the bottom right of the picture, it looks as if the blurriness ends. Not sure if that is a compression issue or an on-set error.

Cheesy or not, it was well done
 
rsbush is exactly right there was a company that sold a 6X6 for soft focusing background. I saw it once. I could not imagine why anyone would use it. This picture confirms it, it is BAD.
 
I like the shot, it got our attention, it made our community stronger, therefore the set up rocks and can remind us why we are part of this craft.
 
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The 6X6 background for soft focusing isn't BAD, it just has to be used in the right spot at the right time.

We used the same trick for a project I just recently worked on. We were shooting a man at his desk and behind him was a window. We needed it to look like night outside so we first made a duvatyne tent outside the window. Then we took a 12X12 muslin and put that up. We then took a single tube keno and put it on the ground to blast it up into the muslin. This looked ok but what made it look awesome was when we took the soft focus background and pressed it against the window to make outside look really soft. It sold the night effect and looked very cool. The trick is to not let any light nit the screen in any way, shape or form. The problem here isn't the equipment, it is the operator.

But I can see how people would be squeamish about a product if they aren't sure how to properly utilize it.
 
USing this thing the way Brooksy describes his utilization is very clever. That is about it. Unless your doing a music video or saying hey look at me - it's photography - not real life. In other words, if you want to call attention to the fact that something is "tricked up" and draw attention away from the message the tis is the perfect tool. It would just never work for me unless deploying it like Brooksy described.
 
phudsontx makes a very good point. I did fail to mention that I think only certain tools should be used certain ways. Good call.
 
Here is the thing about this THING: if you are trying to create shallow depth of field in a small space like this it fails completely. Depth of field is gradual, objects closer to plane of focus will appear less sharp, and the lack of focus will increase with depth. Think about this and you will understand the basic problem -- It looks completely unnatural.

The way brooksy described it works because at great distances the focus becomes so soft it virtually undetectable by the eye. That is why using it in a window will convey great distance to the viewers mind. when using this product in a small space you lose all sense of DEPTH -- the key word in depth of field.
 
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