Video Lighting Question
 

I'm not very good with instructions...

any quick tips to make my video lighting look more like my photo lighting? Is it just white balance that I can't figure out? It looked fine on my monitor (I thought)

left side: 1 alienbees flash with umbrella.
right side: 2 video lights with softboxes

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2332/...8956b347_o.jpg

1) what kind of camera are you using?
2) What kind of video lights are you using?
3) Can you adjust your gain?
3a) does your camera automatically adjust your WB? Or can you set it manually?

Notice on your flash how you have a shadow to your right.
Notice how on your video, you don't.

Softboxes, although they look cool, and can get you chicks, can be misused. try setting them up to model the lighting a little more. Maybe use one as a main light and one as a fill light. Otherwise the video tends to look a little flat.
(just my opinion)

the majority has to do with the ccd on your video camera. if you want really high quality video grabs, you need a video camera which produce really high resolution captures such as real HD. i guess you could try to really enhance the grabs in PS.

ah, yes, the chicks do love my softboxes. :)

My main aim is to re-create some of the crispness.
The still camera is a Canon rebel.
the video camera is a Sony HC-1 - it has manual WB .. it may have gain...not sure.
(http://www.amazon.com/Sony-HDR-HC1-D...566 28&sr=8-1)

ahh, that makes sense. But I actually want the VIDEO content to have that crispness. Don't care about the screen grabs. Just put it there to show the contrast.

With the HC-1 you will need a lot of light to bring the quality up. The Canon camera has a much larger sensor in it plus the Alien Bees throw a shit ton more light than whatever soft box hot lights you are using for video. You should not expect the same quality between the two cams. :2 cents:

cool camera. I put one that size into a toilet pipe.. (I'll explain later on GFY.. but it might come in handy for you too, but I digress)

Your specs say this: White balance: Auto/Outdoor/Indoor/One-Push
It definitely looks like a WB problem.

You might want to try a few things. Simpelest is to fuck with the WB setting and see if you can correct it. From the specs it doesn't sound like you can.

In that case you might need to gel the lights. Go to any of the thousands of expendables shops in LA and get some Color correcting Blue gels to correct tungsten lights. That shit is cheap and can be very useful.

I didn't read it completely but this article looks like it will be useful to you.
http://www.videomaker.com/article/7444/

And also try that modeling technique. Here is a simple yet effective method.
http://www.videoccasions-nw.com/voliset1.gif (taken from here)http://www.videoccasions-nw.com/volitbas.html Use that one as a main and one as a fill.

Also concur that it's a WB problem, although the exposure looks like it could use some pushing to get it where you want as far as matching up with the photographic quality. You can also get a color correcting lens to fix the tungsten issue. Easier to do that, typically, than put gels in front of hot 500 watt tungsten lamps. Some of the lower end video lights don't have any place for you to clip a gel. Oh, you can also look into flourescent video lighting (which is still not in any way perfected as you will still need to correct the white balance).

Which would not be as hot and be less expensive to operate, and greener (environmentally, and literally), in which case a light purple color correcting gel would be used.

Redshoe is the man. he saved me years of trial and error.
Duke

lol .... You look a little doofy holding the ice cream cone, lol

i would get flourecents, shoot at around 5000 kelvin which will give you that slight blueish/plasma tv look. You can always do the majority of this post production. Just set it to the setting "K" set it to 5000K. if you are under daylight balanced bulbs everything will work properly. if you are using incandescents which are 3200k add some blue gels. use a white posterboard where the action will take place and adjust the white you see in the lcd to what you see as white. Any editing software can fix that stuff easilly. tell me what you use and i will walk you through it.
duke

It is for my masterpiece, "Crap or Cone"

now playing at http://www.beliefbuffet.com

;)

thank you!! I'm going to search for flourecent lighting options

My biggest concern about doing video myself is that it won't look enough like my photography. My hugely amateur status established here, it seems like you need to be throwing A LOT more light at the video.

what he said. you might get a little better result but never the same

Thanks Duke. :thumbsup

Hi Halcyon,

I'm confused - do you want to use your video camera for still pictures (or grab still images from video?) If so, its impossible to get the same quality you would from a still camera.

nope!

I just want to get my video to have the same crisp "whiteness."

I sent you the bible on lighting out of my own pocket what did you do with it? lol

hal email me dirty at dirtydanza.com ill give you a 2 sec trick that will solve all your probs with WB...

The problem is not just WB. It's a combination of things. Yes, WB should be properly done. Alien Bees come with daylight balanced bulbs by default. In contrast, many if not most hot lights do not come with daylight balanced bulbs. If you want them to look similar then you need to either master WB or at least get daylight balanced bulbs for your video lights.

You want your picture of apples to look like your videos of apples but you are using orange lights...So to speak.

The "crisp" image that you are looking for is going to be limited by low power/not enough video light AND the smaller CCD. You can't change the CCD size without buying a new camera.....But you can easily add light without spending a fortune.

I have the books out!!! (and was just thinking of you)

I'm just not very smart sometimes.

much appreciated. I'm gonna test a bit and see how it goes.

set the white balance using the one-push and a piece of white card, don't use the default settings. Also a back light down on your head would help knock you out of the background better.

Take the soft boxes off. It'll give it more of a direct lighting feel like the pics.

HDV requires a LOT of light to look good, and also properly positioned lights like in that drawing that Redshoe posted above is key to get a crisp image. The back light (actually I call it a 'hair' light, and call the light that lights the background the 'back' light ) is of *utmost* importance. Move the model away from the wall so that there is room to also light them from above and behind in addition to the key and fill lights lighting their fronts. This is what gives the image a slightly 3-D effect and keeps it from behing murky and flat.

Even for a simple setup in a small room when filming two models screwing o a bed or a couch I use no less than four of five very bright lights for hdv production.

You might want to invest in some fluorescent lighting like two large four-foot four-bank KinoFlos like I use for my key and fill lights plus some smaller light to light the hair and background.

Or if you own tungsten softboxes already get some large pieces of "color temperature blue" gels and cut them to cover your softbox so that they throw the equivalent of daylight, at reduced intensity.

the solution is quite simple really

learn to photograph and videotape in manual mode

that includes manual white balance learning what effects shutter speed, aperture and focal length have on the quality of the video

easier said than done, yes, but if it were easy any moron could just put a camera in auto mode and shoot...oh wait...thats what 90% of porners do...never mind

Ahh imagine a useful thread on gfy hehe. Good info all around. :thumbsup

hot damn!!

Thank you, guys!

a few things to consider.

1. white balance
2. light
3. post production

if you want great video the best way is to keep asking question, try stuff out and spend considerable time and energy working at it. -bmb

now that's very funny indeed. -bmb

at least half blue gels on any tungsten lighting when using daylight strobes

Thanks for all the suggestions and advice!!

I just need to practice. But It's getting better!

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2233/...2a8fcf98_o.jpg

don't stand so close to your background and the shadows wont be a problem - each light you set cast a shadow - keep a bit of distance - good to throw a light on that too actually

Great advice. This is all for hobby-stuff. So my "studio" is actually my living room. But It's getting there!

When I used to shoot in a white studio, we would simply BLAST the white background with overhead lights, really make it bright.

Then light yourself up a little, use a backlight if possible and VOILA, you have a MAC commercial going on.

oh and by the way, if you can, make sure to you "daylight" lights (57K) and not indoor lights (32k).

The indoor lights will be orangish while the daylights will give you that crips white you're looking for.

sweeeeeeet!

That's the goal. Thanks!

this is a good point and it takes some time to get there but is worth it, and i am going to throw in something very valuable here. for the best w/b settings ever, use a expodisc for setting your white balance on your video camera as well as your still camera, makes it right on the money, very crisp and no color bleed, even if the set is saturated with dirty light from painted walls etc...