• Lighting Design

  Interview Hair Problem…

  Posted by Ryan Schultz on March 1, 2012 at 4:38 pm

  I recently set up an interview shoot with a nice, clean black background. I decided to do it because I have a number of interviewees and I need to be able to easily replicate the setup. I used basic 3-point lighting, key fill back, but I have a bit of an issue. Some of my interviewees have some frizzy hair that is kind of distracting shining from the lights. Two questions:

  1. What can I do next time to prevent this, maybe without telling my interviewees they should take better care of their hair…?
  2. Now that I have shot the footage, is there anything i can do in post to make the hairs less obvious? Or at least could you point me in the right direction?

  I would really appreciate any help, here’s a screenshot (it was much more evident with my other interviewee):
  

  Thanks
  Ryan

  ryangschultz.com
  SUNY Oswego (Broadcasting & Graphic Design)
  Panasonic AG-AF100
  MacBook Pro (Snow Leopard) 2.66Ghz, 4GB RAM

  Ryan Schultz replied 14 years, 6 months ago 3 Members · 3 Replies
• 3 Replies

• 

  Todd Terry

  March 1, 2012 at 4:52 pm

  Well, I don’t know much about fixing what you already have… but there’s a couple of ways to prevent that in the future… or at least lessen it…

  Firstly, I usually tell the talent “I’m going to do a magic trick,” and briskly rub my palms together. Then lightly smooth their hair with your hands. I’m not sure what it is, whether it’s discharging (or creating) static electricity, or just skin oil from the rubbing, or what… but it does work. I can’t remember who taught me this, some old timer probably.

  Secondly… hair spray, of course. But DON’T spray it on their hair. Firstly, that doesn’t work too well, and secondly some people won’t like you doing that to them. Instead, spritz it on your palms and, much like the above tip, use your hands to smooth down the fly-aways. An old-fashioned lacquer hairspray (AquaNet, etc) works best.

  Thirdly… tweak your lighting. I’ll often take my “usual” interview setup and find that I have to flag the top barndoor of the backlight down a bit…. so that it is still hitting the shoulders but less so on the hair. This is especially true with blondes, or gray hair, or with frizzy hair. As long as you still get a good spill on the shoulders, losing a bit of the hairlight is ok if it solves the frizz problems.

  T2

  __________________________________
  Todd Terry
  Creative Director
  Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
  fantasticplastic.com
  
• 

  Jason Jenkins

  March 1, 2012 at 5:55 pm

  Great tips, Todd; thanks! I’ve never really cared for the black limbo look and this seems like another good reason not to use it.

  Jason Jenkins
  Flowmotion Media
  Video production… with style!

  Check out my Mormon.org profile.
• 

  Ryan Schultz

  March 4, 2012 at 2:08 am

  [Todd Terry] “”Qu”

  Thanks a lot for the tips Todd! Exactly what I was looking for. It was one of those things that I noticed a little bit in the viewfinder during the shoot, and figured it would be worse once it hit the bigger screen, but I didn’t really know how to go about fixing it without completely losing the hair light.

  Thanks again,
  Ryan

  ryangschultz.com
  SUNY Oswego (Broadcasting & Graphic Design)
  Panasonic AG-AF100
  MacBook Pro (Snow Leopard) 2.66Ghz, 4GB RAM

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