Occasion Lighting

Dan7312

I want to improve the lighting in the simple videos I make for my courses. Right now I depend on the happenstance of the light that comes into the room in our house where I do the shooting, along with some little LED lights to light the green screen. The result is the color suffers and the time when I do the shooting is limited. Here is one I did recently: http://www.danalphotos.com/p304735871/h5957f71c#h5957f71c

I would like big LED's because they are not hot, but the cost for big LED is in the multiple $1000's range and is out of my budget for infrequent use they would get. In fact I'm pretty sure I could get a hot light kit for the cost of just renting big LED's.

So I'm going to have to go with hot lights.

What would be the minimum kit I would need to shoot green screen videos like the one above? I assume I need two lights too prevent harsh shadows? Would I need things like diffusers or other accessories? And of course what particular lights should I use.

BTW I've tried things like using all the tungsten lamps we have in the house cleverly arranged but that just doesn't seem to work. I think I need "real" lights.:D


Thanks in advance.

angevin1

Dan7312 wrote: »

I want to improve the lighting in the simple videos I make for my courses. Right now I depend on the happenstance of the light that comes into the room in our house where I do the shooting, along with some little LED lights to light the green screen. The result is the color suffers and the time when I do the shooting is limited. Here is one I did recently: http://www.danalphotos.com/p304735871/h5957f71c#h5957f71c

I would like big LED's because they are not hot, but the cost for big LED is in the multiple $1000's range and is out of my budget for infrequent use they would get. In fact I'm pretty sure I could get a hot light kit for the cost of just renting big LED's.

So I'm going to have to go with hot lights.

What would be the minimum kit I would need to shoot green screen videos like the one above? I assume I need two lights too prevent harsh shadows? Would I need things like diffusers or other accessories? And of course what particular lights should I use.

BTW I've tried things like using all the tungsten lamps we have in the house cleverly arranged but that just doesn't seem to work. I think I need "real" lights.:D


Thanks in advance.

Hi Dan, the cool thing about doing Green Screen is you can use mixed lighting without all the trouble that can come from doing so. For instance you could easily light your GS with Tungsten and light the talent (You) with another type (WB) lighting. Preferably something that coincides with your natural light when it's available, or works well when not.

Here's and easy to make set-up. 2 shop light stands and pvc pipe and elbows with 4 250w shop lights for that BG. like this: ETA: actually the fourth one is of cam to left and pointing at the reflector.



And I love these Silver backed Sheathing from Lowes ($11) for reflectors:



It is hard to beat tungsten for $/W, no doubt. But as you know the heat index just rises with the wattage.

Doing video just like the one you linked I'd be very tempted to light that GS with several smaller tungsten for coverage and then light you with some beautiful wrap around light from a Softbox with Florescent's. Of course lots of folks use the T-8/10/12 bulbs in 4 foot fixtures too for both those situations, but I found that I tend to need wattage and CFL's deliver that a lot easier than their tubed-bulb counterparts.



http://youtu.be/0q820tjMSEE

angevin1

About 40 seconds in you can begin to see the Mixed lighting I used to good effect, I think (!)

Tungsten thru window onto her left face and My Fluorescent CFL's coming from Camera side.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0q820tjMSEE

Dan7312

I like this vid, esp. where the talent is playing in the window pane while she is playing in the scene.

angevin1 wrote: »

About 40 seconds in you can begin to see the Mixed lighting I used to good effect, I think (!)

Tungsten thru window onto her left face and My Fluorescent CFL's coming from Camera side.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0q820tjMSEE

angevin1

Dan7312 wrote: »

I like this vid, esp. where the talent is playing in the window pane while she is playing in the scene.

Thanks Dan! Actually it's a good comparison Video too. All the slider/movements were recorded on the Nikon D600. The Still Shots from the Canon 5DMk2.