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  • Lighting Design

    Flourescent lights for chroma keying?

    Posted by Rick Davis on October 6, 2008 at 10:57 pm

    Flourescent vs. Incandescent?

    I have a project which involves shooting most of my subjects in an office/boardroom situation and I’m considering purchasing a fluorescent based lighting kit to use to light my subjects which will be shot in front of a green screen background.

    My main considerations for using fluorescent vs incandescent are:
    Lower amount of power needed (no worries of tripping office circuits)
    Lower amount of heat given off in tight office environment

    From my research I’m aware of the fact that the most important factor in successful chroma keying is even lighting on the background and good separation between subject and chroma background. My goal is for a minimum of 8 feet separation. I’m also hoping for at least 10 feet separation b/w subject and camera. Most shots will be medium framing. I’m planning on using 2 or 3 lights for my subject and 2 soft diffuse lights for my green screen.

    I’m shooting with a Panasonic DVX 100B. I plan on using 24p for film like appearance. I’m editing with FCP HD 4.5.

    Assuming proper white balance is there any reason I shouldn’t go with the above plan?

    Any and all input would be very welcome from a shooting as well as editing point of view.

    Thanks in advance for your input.

    Rick Davis replied 17 years, 7 months ago 3 Members · 3 Replies
  • 3 Replies

  • Rick Wise

    October 6, 2008 at 11:18 pm

    The basic outline looks good. The devil, of course, is in the details. You will want about the same intensity of light on the green screen as on your subject(s). If the two units can do that evenly across the screen, sounds good.

    If you can shoot a test first, that would be a good idea — test it all the way through post.

    Rick Wise
    director of photography
    Oakland, CA
    http://www.RickWiseDP.com
    email: Rick@RickWiseDP.com

  • Michael Palmer

    October 6, 2008 at 11:38 pm

    As Rick has said the setup you have outlined is what you will need, I can’t help but wonder why you wouldn’t or haven’t upgraded from FCP 4.5. Final Cut isn’t a good keying program even with 6.0.4, however Motion is much better. I realize you may need new hardware to properly run the latest FC Studio 2, but I can’t recommend it enough.

    Good Luck
    Michael Palmer

  • Rick Davis

    October 14, 2008 at 9:42 pm

    Thanks for your input guys. It sounds like testing is the way to go. Neither of you raised any red flags with regards to using flourescent lights so I guess I’ll give it a go.

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