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Noise in Dark Areas
Often when I shoot and there’s a high contrast ratio between the lightest and darkest parts of my shot, I see noise in the dark parts of the footage. An example of this happening is a recent green screen shoot I did where the talent was wearing a dark suit jacket. This was shot on a Betacam SP with 2/3 chips. I first thought it was compression, because when I first saw it I was shooting on DVCam 1/2 chips. Can I make contrast/black adjustments in-camera to avoid this from happening?
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4 Replies
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The solution to this, as always, is the correct level of lighting. It is essential that the ‘talent’ is correctly lit first and foremost. Then the backdrop/key screen should be lit bright enough to enable the chroma key to work but not so much that the green or bluescreen splashes back on the talent. The backdrop should also be evenly lit.
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With that said, in your opinion, what’s the best way to light a caucasian subject with a dark jacket? The green screen isn’t a problem – I can successfully light it with two totas (not the most ideal, but they work diffused) and get even zebras across the screen, while keeping the level a stop under the foreground subject. Should I try to diffuse the key over the subjects face and open it up over the jacket?
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Maybe your key light is too hard? unless its a specific effect you want.You mention Tota,s,with a XS Chimera the otherwise not so fantastic Tota(dont get me wrong Iam a fan) with a soft egg crate,to control spill off the screen ,becomes a very nice light for the money.
With these nice soft lights you dont need a fill at all,just put it 3/4 angle and a back light from the opposite side.Stills guys have been doing this for ages for portraits.With this soft even light a dark suit should look fine.The problem is a white suit 🙂 -
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