The f-stop numbering makes perfect sense when one knows what those numbers represent. They represent a value by which the _radius_ of the circular aperture is multiplied to double the amount of light passing the (typically) circular aperture. Now, the radius is one-dimensional but the _area_ of the circular opening (the aperture) is two-dimensional. And since the area of a circle is πr², to double it, and with it the amount of light passing through the aperture, the radius of the circular opening must be multiplied by the _square root_ of 2, which is roughly 1.4. So, to double the light from f-stop = 1, we need to multiply the radius by (roughly) 1.4, hence the next f-stop = 1.4. To double that, again we multiply the (roughly) 1.4 by another (roughly) 1.4 to get f-stop = 2, etc. That is why every _other_ f-stop is a power of 2 (so, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, etc) and the rest of them are the previous one multiplied by (roughly) 1.4. The non-integer values are printed rounded down to two significant digits. Knowing that completely removes whatever mystery there may appear to be when it comes to f-stops. And thus we get 1, 1.4, 2, 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16, etc.
You’re most welcome. I should add that the first and the final f-stops on some lenses may not be a multiple of the square root of two. For example, if the lens goes from f-stop 2.5 to f-stop 3.5, we would just square those numbers to find out how much more light passes through in comparison with f-stop = 1. So, in this hypothetical example, 2.5² = 6.25 and 3.5² = 12.25, which would mean we could set the amount of light getting through from 6.25 to 12.25 times what f-stop 1 lets through. But the typical f-stops are in the multiples of the square root of 2, so each stop doubles the amount of the light of the previous f-stop (and of course halves the amount of the light of the following f-stop).
I need to add a bit to it, as I was typing faster than I was thinking. The f-stops are actually meant to be interpreted as 1/f, so when it says, for example, f-stop 1.4, it means 1/1.4, so the radius is 1.4 times _smaller_ and only half as much light passes through, and if it says f-stop 2, it actually means 1/2, so the radius is 2 times smaller and only 1/4 as much light passes through, etc.
The "f" number is actually the ratio of the focal length / diameter of the aperture. The "f" numbers are different to an "f-stop". One "f-stop" means a doubling or halving of the amount of light. A doubling or halving of the circular aperture AREA results in a doubling or halving of the amount of light entering the camera. As you stated, the area of the circular aperture opening is proportional to the diameter^2. Therefore a change in the diameter of the aperture by a factor of 1.4 (square root of 2) doubles or halves the amount of light.
Curtis, unlike most of the annoying, sophomoric 'how to's' here on TH-cam - you always get right to the heart of the matter in a concise, professional manner. I enjoy your vids a lot, and hope you keep posting. Nicely done!
In late 2000s, early 2010s video shooting tutorials were made by industry professionals which set the bar high for enthusiast. These days, when everyone has a YT channel the quality of tutorials degenerated drastically. Kids shoot themselves without knowing what they're talking about. This guy is the only one in top 20 search results for "infinite white background" who talks (and actually knows how to) about controlling the spill. And that's exactly what I was looking for. Thanks.
Curtis, I have a whole new respect for what you (and other photographers) do. I am a dentist by trade and NOT a videographer...I'm trying to record some post-op instruction videos for my patients using the method in this video. It seems I've tried everything but can't get the same "pop" and clarity you have in your videos. Thank you for all the work you put into your videos, you are brilliant.
A Palmer Thanks! If you've got a sample clip posted somewhere, I'd be happy to take a look at it and provide some feedback. And thanks for you work as a dentist! I have plenty of gratitude for my dentists over the years.
Thanks Curtis...I have been doing white background stuff for years in still photography but found your explanation the best I have heard. Got it all and understood it all, thanks. Your a great teacher. Gerry
Your video is old, but the single BEST ONE OUT THERE! If I could get a course from you, I would def. take it! Thank you so much for this. I have studied it for 6 times or so. I keep upgrading and practising to get to your level.
Curtis, Thanks so much for the great tips on how to set up lighting to get a true white background. My channel is just starting out and one of the objectives I had was to produce a professional clean and simple look. By applying what you said I have improved the background a lot. Thanks for your advice.
Curtis, just curious if you ever did a video tutorial on lighting a small or limited space area? I have a small space where I have limited room between the camera and talent and between the talent and backdrop and would love to go through how best to light the space.
+Mitch Leigh hi Mitch, I haven't but with your vote, I've bumped that up in the queue. Small spaces are tough to light in a super stylized way so I usually just bounce a lot of light off the walls or a reflector/bounce board. More to come
Excellent Tutorial. I already knew how this is done for strobe lights, but your explanations are even better than anything I've seen and work for continuous light, although the principles are the same. I especially liked the simple method for measuring exposure using a grey card and your digital camera. Thanks!
BEST VIDEO on this topic!! Thank you so much, I've watched soo many on how to get the white bkgd and your video finally made it all click for me. Subscribed!
Excellent information. I shot my first infinite white wall this past week. Following your tips, I got it right the first time! The clients were beyond impressed, especially since they paid someone previously to do the same shoot and he butchered the whole thing. I'd love to send you the unedited photos for some feedback.
Hi Curtis! Any recommendations on achieving this looks with a LED light kit? I learned a ton from this video but would like to light the talent with LED’s. Any help on this would be highly appreciated!!
Hi Samuel, I'd just make sure to white balance for the LED lights, preferably a custom white balance. Otherwise, everything works identically but you generally have more ability to dim LEDs so they're even easier to work with. Good luck!
Curtis is There a way to achieve this white background look with a rounder lighting on your subject like in your videos with the black back drop ... Again thanks for all your help and enjoy your videos very much thank you!
Sure--any way you want to do it is legit! I was just trying to stay true to the "Apple" look here where they intentionally make a very flat, clean look. They avoid any key/fill and just key everything. Any direction you choose to take is at the very least a lesson learned and at best, an awesome new look!
very good and informative video and it looks absolutely spot on and perfect on my TV ... I have to do a promo video and was thinking of this, but only have access to 3 LED's , and I have no idea if this will work, but thanks anyways :). P.S I think it would be useful to also give tips on camera settings as well and what to use ;)
Thank you so much for this Curtis. I've been watching so many videos and you deliver in such an organized way - I learnt so much from you! Keep inspiring, subscribed!
Great video! Can you please provide a link for the stands for the clamp lights and the flag off boards. Also is there a barn light that I can use with the fluorescent bulbs for the backdrop so i wont have to use clamp lights and the flag off board?
Irfan Mahmood The stands I used for flagging the background are just standard light stands but I would recommend one with a boom arm: amzn.to/1PNi2ww Or if you have a larger budget, I love my C-stand and it is so rugged it will probably last for decades: www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/372016-REG/Impact_CT40MKIT_Master_Century_C_Stand.html/BI/19904/KBID/12941/kw/IMLSCT40MK/DFF/d10-v2-t1-xIMLSCT40MK Kino Flo style lights like this would work well for the backdrop: amzn.to/1L9GQOw Best wishes!
Curtis Judd Thanks for the quick reply. I have a follow up question. I am shooting on a white projector screen 70 x 70 inch. Do you think I would need two Fotodiox ProPremium lights or just one will light the backdrop evenly? Also I was curious what kind of camera did you use for shooting this video. I am debating between a Canon T5i or Canon 70D.
Irfan Mahmood You could try with one though I suspect you'll need two to get perfectly even coverage. I shot this one some time ago with a Nikon D600 which I don't own anymore (it was ok, but not great for video). I now shoot with a Panasonic GH4 and a Nikon D750 as a backup/special purpose camera. Before my Nikon D600, I used to shoot with a Canon 60D but found it frustrating that it produced so much moire. Before I bought the 60D, I didn't think the occasional moire would be a big deal but it ended up really creating issues on several projects. I'm not sure whether the 70D has corrected that issue. Best wishes!
Hi Curtis! This video is great and I love that you listed all of your materials used... very helpful! I do have a question... I am doing a dance recital session using an 18'x20' white seamless. I'll be doing individual dancers and large dance groups. Would you suggest placing an additional light behind the large groups to ensure adequate center lighting across the 18' or will the lights you're using span across that distance evenly? I don't want to over light it, but I definitely don't want grey areas that require post editing afterwards either. Thanks in advance!
Hey nice presentation... I want to make videos on my iphone I'm not going to film a large area as you did in the video. So can you give me a list of not so expensive equiptment?
Hey Curtis, May I ask which lens out of the list were you using when filming yourself talking in front of the white screen? Plus- a word of appreciation: you have a bunch of wonderful and incredibly helpful videos. And I admire you taking the time to answer comments and questions viewers ask. Thanks in advance, Omri.
hey thx for your video! very informative for someone like me just preparing to make a start with creating my own live music videos from home. I'm just in the process of getting a three-light softbox setup which all use fluro lights.. but these won't address the white background effect.. I'd like to achieve that white "apple" background look.. Are there any fluro lighting setups that you would recommend for lighting the backdrop area? thx again :~)
Dino Jag Depending on your budget, you can use the clamp lights like I did in the video. 4 of them with 50 watt CFL bulbs should cover a 10 foot wide backdrop pretty well. If you have more to spend, a Kino Flow type light would provide even more light and more even coverage: Clamp Lights: amzn.to/1qa56HO CFL Bulbs: amzn.to/1yaH5Hf Kino Style Light: amzn.to/1InWZBf
Curtis Judd unfortunately those CFLs won't ship to Australia where I'm based.. just to be clear the three-light softbox kit I'm looking includes 2 x 5-head softboxes (45w/5500k bulbs) ... is it practical to get another couple of these to use for the backlighting?
Great video explaining light and back drop products. My apologies, my question is not directly related to getting a "white background" but I'm using a colored Savage back drop with an electronic white board, 55 inches. Do you have any recommendations for focal length, 28 mm greater/less, on my Canon Rebel camera and what should the distance be between me and the camera? ~Thanks
I'd think that you'd want at least a 50mm to 70mm lens so that you can "compress" the background. And I'd generally recommend you position yourself at least 1.5 to 2 meters from the backdrop.
+Anthony Sharp hi Anthony, I'm not sure, never tried it. The two critical factors are that the gray be free of any color bias (must be true gray) and it should also be the right reflectance (18%). Might be easier to buy in this case.
Thanks for another great lesson. I'm unsure about the section of the video which is supposed to show the problems of over-lighting the background. Perhaps I am mis-judging, but the objectionable light that I see is from the side, hitting the sides of your face. I'm not seeing the haloing around your head and hair, that I would expect from excess backlighting. This leads me to believe that I am seeing the spill light that you mention, rather than excess light bouncing off the backdrop. Can you say more about how I would judge the difference? What would it look like, if I could limit the spill light, but had two stops difference between the backdrop and the talent?
Hi Derek--the clip that shows the light spilling onto me is just a result of not flagging off the lights. It turns out I didn't have enough light to over-light the background so I couldn't show it--sorry for the confusion there. When the background is over lit--more than a stop or two, you will start to see less "crispness" between your talent and the white background because the contrast at the edges will decrease, especially noticeable at the edges of your talent's profile (if that makes sense). This guy did a nice job illustrating the issue: th-cam.com/video/b_6sSGA5SNg/w-d-xo.html
If your background is too bright, then fine wisps of hair (portraits of people with long hair) will have broken edges and looked terrible. I believe this is not from spilled light, but simply blow out occurring at the level of the sensor in the camera. Hence you would expect to see this problem with any thin fine objects viewed against a too bright background.
Thanks so much for the video! I have one issue. Yours looks very clean and no beams on your face (unlike other videos). I did this and there was too much on the subject. Made the subject look way too white and blinded them a bit. I want to do this for items instead of a person how would I do this? Thanks in advance!
Hi bmm, it sounds like the exposure settings are your camera need some adjusting. Here's a video where we covered exposure: th-cam.com/video/z1rDYKtnqkU/w-d-xo.html
Curtis, Great video, extremely helpful! I've got a few videos under my belt for my business and they're a big hit, however looking back on them my lighting is awful compared to yours. I also need major help with camera video settings for my Canon T2i. Is there a way I can contact you to possibly get some offline consulting? Thanks much!
Hi, Curtis! Thanks so much for this video. It was very easy to understand! I have almost everything in place, EXCEPT the background lighting. I can find the clamp lights, but I cannot find a stand like you have to clamp them to, especially one that can support two clamp lights. Where did you find yours? And what are the foamcore boards clamped to? Thank you!
TeacherMelanie Hi Melanie! I just used some standard light stands like this: amzn.to/1HK71s6 Same thing for the foam-core board but I use the one-dollar spring clamps you can buy at a hardware store. For the lights and foam-core boards, you can use anything that can hold the clamps, it doesn't have to be light stands. Best wishes!
Curtis, I can not see the image well in the video. Are you saying that you use the stand above, and open the spring clamp to go around the stand poll and then pinch the form board flag? My clamps don't work for this. What clamps are you using to attach them to the stand? Also, I would like to defuse the clamp lights, so I am looking for a low cost double clamping solution for placing a scrim or defuser in front of the clamp lights. Any ideas? Thanks for all you do!
Thanks. I learned a lot. Can I buy regular fluorescent bulbs at the store that are cheaper ($4/bulb) or do I have to get expensive ones designed for the studio? Also, I noticed that some bulbs give off a yellowish color, even if they say white light on their purchase package. To achieve a white background, should I try to stick with the ones that give off white light, or will this not matter when the light hits the white sheet? Also, the packages that the bulbs come in say "to replace a 100 watt bulb, 23 bulb." Is the second number the number that you are quoting? when you a say 26 watt, is it a bulb that usually replaces a 100 watt condescent?
+Ninja 250 Motorcycle Maintenance You can get the cheap bulbs but the color may be funky which means that skin tones may end up having an odd color cast. I'd stick with "Bright White" which are usually around 5500 Kelvin color temperature. Every product reports wattage differently. When I referred to the 4500 watt softbox kit, that is "the equivalent of 4,500 watts in tungsten terms...". Technically it doesn't draw anywhere near that amount. When I referred to the 50 watt BlueMax bulbs, that is actually 50 watt power draw. I hope that helps!
Hey Curtis, I really enjoyed the video, and it really did help my understanding of how to acquire the perfect "white look". My camera that I'm using for this background is a mid-tier camera (Canon Vixia HF R500) and it does NOT have the ability to read the F/Stop meter for various subjects. In this case, It cannot display the F/Stop of the subject with the grey card and the grey card alone. All I can do that I think will help me reduce the light spillage that you mentioned would be to customize my white ballance when im standing in front of my backdrop. By customize, I mean letting my camera automatically set the ballance according to the shot thats being taken (me in front of the backdrop). Will this help at all? I'm a novice when it comes to lighting, and would like to be able to make this work with the camera I currently have. Thank you!
+BigBroJournalism It may work, I'd just do some test shots to confirm. Some cameras are better at white balance than others. The most important thing will be to use light of the same color temperature. Best wishes!
Question: you say that you put your gray card in front of the camera to get a reading while you are in manual mode. My Sony A7iii if I use manual mode the camera won’t tell me anything because I’m the one choosing the values I want. I kind of got lost in that part.
Hi, I'm not familiar with the A7iii, but if it will not give you exposure info in manual mode, you'll need to switch to a mode that will. However, I'd be surprised if there wasn't some menu setting to display some sort of exposure info in manual mode. Perhaps somebody else here knows?
Hello Curtis, Thanks a lot for sharing this great video. I am not sure I understand the brightness i should use for my background.. I am using Fancierstudio 2400 watt lighting kit softbox on my face what should i use for the background ? THanks so much !
Sofia MyNutritionist Technically, you should add light until you have one EV more light on the background than on you. You can measure that by setting up all your lights, slightly more on the background, then hold a gray card where you will be standing and measure the exposure with your camera and then do the same for the background. You want the background measurement to be one EV brighter than the measurement from where you will be sitting or standing. The exposure episode I did a while back may also help explain this a little more clearly: th-cam.com/video/z1rDYKtnqkU/w-d-xo.html
Also, I don't see that the 50w version is available on Amazon nor the BlueMax website. They've got a 55w version now though. Do you think (4) of these would be a good replacement (not too bright) or would you reccommend another bulb? goo.gl/8Vrali. Thanks Curtis!
Great video Curtis. I've been trying this with a muslin white back drop that seems to have been manufactured a bit thin. I'm finding it difficult to get it over exposed enough. Do you prefer paper over muslin fabric for this effect? Thanks.
I use muslins for my usual black backdrop and for chromakey but have only used paper for the white backdrop look. If it is a bit thin, that's probably part of the issue. I think the two main options are to add light or get a more opaque backdrop. How much light do you have dedicated to the backdrop so far?
Curtis Judd Hi Curtis...thanks for your videos, I find them helpful. I am really trying to video take with my iphone as I like seeing myself as I record. What do you think of the quality? Do you recommend it? I also have a T1 cannon, but I am resisting using it...Also, I just ordered 2000w soft boxes and you did not talk much about how to use them in this setting...any advice? Thanks! Ana
Ana Afzali Hi Ana, it'll be tougher to get the exposure right with a phone since they don't let you manually set the exposure or white balance, at least with the default camera app. You can make it work but it will require a fair bit of practice. Also, here are a few previous episodes about the lights that I hope you'll find helpful: th-cam.com/video/Iqo7W1pmmBQ/w-d-xo.html
hi Curtis. I love your videos. if you were shooting portraits on a background like this how would you set the white balance push. on the white background? on the Greycard in front of the white background? on the Greycard in the subject zone? . I set mine on the actual white background and it still looks blueish. I'm using all fluorescents but different types tube cfl and different sizes and manufacturers.
Great video and excellent explanation, however I'm tad confused (photography newbee)isn't it going to make it brighter at 4 compared to 5.6? I shoot with the Lumix GH5, I assume it has a auto meter mode to see the fstop, but I always shoot manually. Thanks Curtis!
@@curtisjudd Thanks for your reply, I know this is an old video but still a great one! Yes, you mentioned the background to be brighter than the subject but you set the background at f5.6 and the subject at f4, that's where I got confused.
@@curtisjudd Sweet thanks Curtis! I didn't mean to point out any errors, not at all,l you know I love your channel and all your content, I just got confused as I'm an old video guy trying to learn more photography and product photography and how to light a white background properly.
Hi Chris another question. You state in the video that you want the background brighter than the talent by one F-stop. The values in the video are talent = f/4 background f/5.6 Isn't the lower the number, the bigger the aperture and hence the more the light?
Bonecrusher27WTF Its a little confusing at first, but because the lights on the talent aren't putting out as much light as those on the background, the gray card or light meter gives a reading of f/4. The gray card or meter suggest shutting down the aperture to f/5.6 for the background lights to compensate for the fact that they're putting out more light. Does that make more sense?
@@curtisjudd Hi Curtis, Light meter I do not have, I am trying to get the meter using canon sl2 but in the backdrop and talent using the gray card do not change anything, the f stop always the same in backdrop and talent. How can I get the correct meter for the correct f stop in canon sl2?
Curtis!! You're a drummer too? So awesome! Your videos are super helpful and are great quality. Seriously, I've learned so much from you. Thank you! Ps, If you're interested in seeing drumming videos I've got some on my page! I'd love for you to see one!
Hi, thanks for the videos, it has helped me a lot to understand how to make videos. I'm a hairdresser and I'm going to start recording video lessons, we'll use two DSLR canon SL2, one to film the whole complete space (me, the model and assistant) and for that purpose what canon lens tells me? the second camera will be used to film only the head of the model to better show how I am cutting the hair of the same, and for this camera what lens tells me? in short, a lens to film three people and another lens to just to film the model's head. It does not have to be lenses with good focus because the background of the scene is totally white. I need good, inexpensive lenses to film my course.
Hi Alex, I'm not a Canon shooter these days but I'd look for a wide angle lens in the 24-28mm range for the wide shot and probably a 50mm lens for the closer shot, assuming you don't have a ton of space to put the camera in front of the model (between the mirror and model). Best wishes!
Hi Bruce, not it is probably 12 feet. I moved it back because I "floated" the camera on a home-made steadicam from the spot where I normally shoot. Normally I shoot about 8 feet from the chair and only because I have enough room and a full-frame DSLR and a long lens. The same can be accomplished from about 5 feet with a much shorter lens and a crop-sensor DSLR or video cam.
I like the color grading on your videos. They have a semi-film feel, as opposed to straight digital look that many other white background videos have. Are you using any special filters or color grading tools?
+Jim Wells Hi Jim, thanks. I shoot at 24 fps and 1/50th of a second shutter speed for pieces like this so that imparts some of the look. The rest is just basic color correction and contrast tweaking in DaVinci Resolve. I'll have a new episode coming later this week where we'll spend a little time in Resolve and Color Finale (in Final Cut Pro X).
How hot do CFL bulbs get? I have quite poor air-conditioning and I don't want to fry my subject. Another consideration is LED. Also for the background light total of 50W x 4 = 200 means 100 per side. What type of wattage are you talking about? I've been looking at CFL and LED and they have W but also W equivalents. Thanks!
Bonecrusher27WTF Not nearly as hot as old-school tungsten lights but hotter than LEDs. I haven't yet found inextensive LEDs that produce natural color, particularly for skin tones but I'm always watching for developments in LEDs. I'm talking about true wattage, not equivalents.
Curtis Judd Thanks Judd, appreciate it. That means that I'd probably have to get something like 20W (CFL) x 4, and give the LEDs a miss for now. Too bad, but yeah the cheap ones won't do what I want then I'd better forget it.
Bonecrusher27WTF Sorry, I meant 50W CFLs so that would be 200 watts total, 100 watts per side. In "equivalent" terms that would be more like 800 watts total (the "equivalent" is confusing and every manufacturer uses a different value)
Could you please explain what are the specifics about obtaining it with the green screen? Or even better a short video. :D Thanks in advance for your help.
Hi, Curtis. Great video! Question: it looks like you have tungsten softbox lights for your talent, and CFL's for the whiteboard. If you set the camera's white balance for tungsten, won't that make the whiteboard look blueish? PC
Curtis, my setup uses three Savage Quartz tungsten softboxes for the talent. Since I'm using tungsten to light the talent, I went ahead with four 100-watt GE Reveal lights for the paper backdrop. This seemed like enough light for the paper (400 watts seems like more than enough), but I found the paper dull and dark, so much so that I had to jack up the camera's exposure to wash out the paper to white. You used only 50-watt CFL's for yours, but is it just the simple fact that your backdrop lights were flo that allowed you to light the paper so well? Thanks. Cranking up the exposure can't be the way to go I'm sure.
computertips2013 I just use the $0.99 clamps from the hardware store for backdrops and lots of other things (holding reflectors, bounce boards, flags, etc)
Question: I know this video was made with a white background in mind, but how would one go about lighting a coloured background to achieve this effect - a background that is coloured and evenly lit w/o resorting to a green screen?
The process is nearly identical except one may need to work more carefully to get even coverage. This is where fluorescent tubes or linear quasar science LEDs make things easier.
Cool video and thanks for sharing your experience. I watched as much as I could, but had to stop at the 3 minute mark. Of course, I read the ethics statement afterwards and understood that it was a commercial after the fact. lol... Note: Not giving you a hard time. I understand. We use alot of gear and if there is an opportunity to recoup our costs or to turn a profit, go for it. Oh... point of the post... For your followers that do not have as large of a space as you do not have seven lights, my setup is still probably as expensive, buuuut good for smaller studio spaces. I took the greenscreen approach. 4 LED lights. 2 on the greenscreen, 2 on me. Lighting the greenscreen is important, but it is more important to minimize spill onto the talent and to minimize any wrinkles in the greenscreen. From there, use Adobe CS6 Premiere for the video editing and use the Keylight chromakeying feature in After Effects and you can get the infinite white or what I call fade to black or any other color that you want. The major pro is that you are not limited to one backdrop and you can set your camera to whatever you need to get the shot. How cool is that? In either case, thanks for sharing your experience and yes, I do understand that the numbber one YT question is.... Soooo what gear did you buy or use to get that look? lol.... Happy shooting....
Thanks for your kind response and you are welcome! Please continue to do what you do.... I stole the term, but I, for the most part, refer to TH-cam as TH-cam University as so many are teaching the rest of us goofballs how to do the technical so we can express ourselves better through our art. Thanks again....
Great tutorial , the use of a light meter would have gotten you more accurate readings than the in camera method you used, thanks for sharing the knowledge
This may be a stupid question, but I am attempting this for the first time and I have duplicated your background lighting, works great, but for the talent lighting I have three Alien Bees B800's , with soft boxes...the model lighting mode is not adequate to light the talent well, is there some other bulb I should be using, or can I even use my B800's for this purpose?
Hi Arian, are you doing video or still photos? I'm not sure what kind of modeling lamps ABs take, but you'll just want to match the color temp of your backdrop lights.
+Arian Deutsch I see. What kind of socket do the AB's have for the modelling lamp? Can you use standard household bulbs? If so, I'd look at bluemax compact fluorescent bulbs which put out a lot of light with good color rendering: www.bluemaxlighting.com/26w-power-compact_198_prd1.htm
Curtis, Great video and very informative indeed! Much thanks for sharing your knowledge. Just one question/doubt though: Isn't f4 one stop brighter than f5.6....and not the other way round, as you mention in your video (at around the 6:16 mark)? If the above is indeed true, then your talent should be getting f5.6, and your b/g should be getting f4....which then makes the b/g one stop brighter than the talent. Perhaps I'm confused and/or have no idea what I'm talking about....but that was my understanding, up until now.
Hi Cyril, First thing to keep in mind for this look--we will set the camera up to expose for the talent, not matter what. Second, we want the background to have one stop brighter light than the talent to make sure it is totally white. So the question is, how do you set it up that way? You use a gray card or a light meter to measure and fine-tune the background lights separate from the talent lights. Gray cards and light meters will tell you which of the lights are more powerful by giving you an aperture reading (assuming you set your ISO and shutter speed consistently--let's use ISO 200 and 1/50th of a second for this example). If the meter reading says f/5.6 for the background lights and f/4 for the talent lights, which set of lights are putting out more light? The background lights are putting out a full stop more of light because the meter reading essentially says, "Hey, there's more light here, you need to close down that aperture and let less light in..." Now that we know we have the background exposed one stop brighter than the talent, we're good to start shooting. We just set up the camera settings to expose for the talent (ISO 200, 1/50th shutter, f/4 aperture) and shoot away! Hopefully that helps a little. :)
Curtis Judd Hi Curtis, Yes indeed! That explanation certainly helped a lot! Not only are you a knowledgeable professional photographer, but you're also very kind and helpful to share your knowledge with all of us...and to take the time to respond to all of the comments you receive for your videos is just plain awesome. Not in a million years would I have imagined/thought of the lighting scenario/readings the way you explained it. You certainly have cleared my confusion. Cheers
Can the lights be purchased at a place like Home Depot, etc. or do they have to be professional lights? If so, what type of bulbs are necessary? Thank you!
+Laron Hardy Yes, I purchased the clamp lights I used on the backdrop at home depot. You might find this episode where I cover cheap lighting options helpful: th-cam.com/video/Iqo7W1pmmBQ/w-d-xo.html Best wishes!
Question: Have you, by chance, looked at the Lastolite HiLite boxes that light the white backdrop from inside? Was watching a TH-cam review on the 6x7 and it seems like it should work for video but all I can find anyone talking about is how it's great for still photography. Thanks.
+Darin Cameron hi Darin, I have seen them but haven't had a chance to use one. I'm sure they'd work for video as well since exposure is nearly identical.
and im wondering what mic you used in a video? (that i cannot find!-on lighting i think!) . . flat response! vs nt1a or mxl 770 or akg c12 . . looks like my cad 179 and looks sorta like an rca77--curved at top-capsule area?? silvery grill??
The light bulbs you link to are no longer available. Do you have any other suggestions? Will other wattage work? I can only seem to find something much higher (100/150W) or much lower (15/20W). And is a projection screen background considered too shiny?
Rainmaker Roxy Unfortunately looks like they discontinued those bulbs. :( You can go with lower wattage bulbs. Here are some very high quality bulbs in terms of color rendering: www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/858246-REG/Kino_Flo_26S_K55_120_26W_KF55_Lamp_120VAC.html/BI/19904/KBID/12941/kw/KI26SK55120/DFF/d10-v2-t1-xKI26SK55120 They are 26 watt but you won't run into color mismatch issues if you use these. (little pricey, but probably worth it to avoid the frustration of consumer bulbs you'd get at your hardware store).
Do you have a link to how your footage looked straight out of the camera Curtis? You said in the comments that the video above includes post processing in Davinci Resolve. I'm really struggling to understand what I need to achieve in camera to allow me to then post process (ie blow highlights, increase contrast etc).
+Henry Scullion Henry, I don't have the original footage now that we're a few years in, but this should provide a good opportunity for an upcoming episode. In the meantime, if you've got a short clip, feel free to contact me over on my channel (message me on the about tab) and we should be able to get you up and running. Thanks!
Hi Curtis, thanks for the info! Do you recommend color correcting the background to 109ire? I'm masking out my subject and I think this might be the best way to create the cleanest background.
Hello, I love your videos! Will using 105w 6500k Softbox lighting on my white backdrop and 105w 5500k Softbox lighting on my subject disrupt the white balance in my video. Thanks!
Question. I need to know how to get all white background for some reason that background will be white by the subject is very grainy and darker? The subject is dark skinned and for some reason is grainy.
Great video! While I definitely like the flat look, I have been really enjoying your slightly off white background look in some of your more recent videos. Maybe it is just my eyes but it seems like there has been an off white/slight gradient look on your channel trailer. Could you explain how that look is achieved? Thanks for any info you can give me! :)
+Sam Walter Hey Sam, I agree, I prefer the off white look as well. To get that I'm using the same white paper roll backdrop but I light it with a single LED panel (Aputure Light Storm LS1s) aimed right behind me and set to about 50%. The idea is to light the backdrop, but not nearly as much as you would to get the white backdrop look. The natural falloff of the single LED panel is what creates the gradient look. I hope that helps!
aah one more question if you don't mind! Do you flag the lights on the talent from hitting the background? I would assume your talent lights would interfere with the natural falloff of the backdrop light.
+Sam Walter Hey Sam, I don't usually worry about that since I put a little space between the talent and backdrop and since they backdrop has more light on it anyways (an additional stop), there isn't a critical need to flag the talent lights. Thanks!
I may have to find a new place to shoot my "studio" vids. I only have an 8x8 place to shoot in. That leaves black background out because I can't get far enough away from the backdrop. What about this infinite white method Mr. Judd? Can I block off the backdrop lights enough so it'll work and won't spill over and still give the infinite look? Any suggestions for that small a space? Find a larger space? lol
Movies From Japan Glad you asked, I actually met a new friend here in my area who was able to do this in a tiny 8x8 room without shadows so it is definitely possible. He didn't flag the background lights, just shot both of them at about the same intensity and it ended up working well. He was only about 1 foot from the backdrop. With some experimentation, you can dial it in!
Curtis Judd Thanks, I'm about to find out. I just ordered a black AND white background, just bit the bullet and decided I'd better get both. I also got the manual exposure card and am watching that video of yours now. My camcorder (panasonic HC-v770 has some manual controls at least). So I'll let you know as I progress how it's going in that small of a space for me ;-)
Question: I have a couple of dracast Led 500 bicolor light. Should i put those using daylight setting pointing at the backdrop or tungsten or middle setting between daylight and tungsten?
thanks for this vid. I am using a grey background. No issues making it look black but am struggling to get it to look fully white. Currently using b400 alien bees both with 160 watts each. one for the subject and the other for the backdrop. the backdrop is only 10 feet wide. I'm getting greys on the edges even at full power. I've tried 3 feet distance then 6 feet and still having issues lighting it up. My guess is I need a secondary backlight. Would that be correct? Any other suggestions?? Thanks in advance!!!
Hi Joel, you might first try decreasing the power of the light on your subject while leaving the backdrop light on full power and at 6 feet so that you get good coverage. This will effectively increase the amount of light on the backdrop. You may have to increase your ISO or decrease your shutter speed to compensate.
+CARLOS ZALDIVAR Hi Carolos those were clamp lights (details with links in the about section under the video). The settings I used were as follows, but that all depends on your lights so you'll need to tailor them to the lights you're using: shutter speed = 1/50th (because I shot at 24 fps), ISO , f/4 - all explained in the video at 5:30: th-cam.com/video/mVIzzGBeK0w/w-d-xo.htmlm30s Best wishes!
Do you have a video (or maybe you can just reply with a simple answer) on what you would think the smallest space would be in which you could organize a simple video shoot (talking head video like a lot of yours)? I've got some space considerations for indoor videos I want to do and so I'm wondering what the smallest foot print (in square feet) would likely be. I'm sure you'll have to give me approximate figures, but I'll take whatever I can get.
Hans Eisenman While it is easier to pull off this white background look if you have a little more room, I did meet up with a friend that is putting together an educational course with some talking head clips and he is shooting in a tiny basement room of about 8 x 9 feet. He had to place the camera about 1/2 way into the room's closet and tweak the light positions quite a bit, but once he dialed it in, it looks great. So it is possible in smaller rooms but just might take a little more work to get it dialed in.
Nice. Thanks for the quick response. I'm going to have to get pretty creative because there are already other objects in the room such as furniture and so on. If I come up with any innovative configurations I'll let you know. :)
I've been trying to figure out how to build a contraption to keep my light from spilling over on white seamless. I've heard of people using bi=fold doors, but do you have any suggestions? If I am using two Alien Bee 800's pointed at the background and I am photographing a 6 foot model, does the V or bifold have to be the same height? I see you use foam board. Would you recommend that for everyone? Thank you.
Hi Christina, I don't usually worry about that with the white background look because I expose the background at least one stop over the key light on my subject/talent which means that any spill onto the backdrop cannot be seen. But in cases where I need to flag lights off, I usually use foamcore boards up close tot he light to block spill from places I don't want it.
nick thorpe I shot this at f/4. On a full-frame DSLR, the background may blur a little but on most other cameras it wouldn't. And actually, since the goal is to make the background pure white by slightly over-exposing, it doesn't really matter--you can't see whether or not it is blurred if the exposure is done correctly. Hope that helps!
Hi Curtis, I am trying to do a black background but I have only about three feet behind me to work with. I noticed that you are about 10 feet away from the background. I don't have much space to work with. I have two softboxes with 1600W each and an overhead light and the lights are about 5 feet away. Is a lack of space a fatal problem?
No, there are still ways to make it work. I usually shoot with about 6 feet behind me and the background exposes to a very dark gray which I then crush in color grading. But I would recommend you flag those lights to prevent as much spill as possible--using cheap foamcore boards to prevent most of the light from falling on the part of the background in the frame would help a lot.
Curtis Judd Hi Curtis, thanks for responding. Do you mean make like a lens shroud for the lightbox so that light is more focused? That could be a good idea. I am going to get the black muslin today and see what it looks like but I have altered my setup so that now I have about 10-11 feet behind me, so I think that will make all the difference. But if not, I will have try your idea, and maybe also do something with my video editing software. I bought Pinnacle Studio 12.
Hi Curtis, I am having one problem though. Hopefully you know the solution. My autofocus on my T4i keeps searching for focus. However, if i turn off the servo motor, then how do I focus on my face?
theknightlynews Ah yes, autofocus for video is tricky. I prefer to set it to manual focus. Here's a video describing how I set focus when set to manual: th-cam.com/video/WTdp8C6hmD8/w-d-xo.html Good luck!
hi Curtis. I think my problem is the cloth background. it's a stiff kinda cool white fabric that is actually slightly bluish. it was sold as a photography background (albeit by a Shady shop in Thailand). the background is lit with 4 huge 200 watt photo CFLs, 2 4-foot tube flos and 2 2-foot tube flos. subject is lit separately by softboxes with similar flos but mixing 175 watt and 200 watt bulbs and different manufacturers. I lit the subject and background one stop different like you said but the background comes out an ugly color, not pure white. what can I do in camera to correct this? or does it all have to be done in post?
+Curtis Judd thanks for your reply. I only have one shot from last night when I went in to meter. the other ones I've done had the subject too brightly lit and the background not bright enough. that worked perfect for green screen but not white :) drive.google.com/file/d/0B5yyTZIRsFc8bUN3VklVczVpZmc/view?usp=docslist_api anyway I took away lights from the subject and added them to the background to try to match the one stop difference you recommended. lighting is as follows on 9ft white cloth I have 10 lights evenly distributed sides and top: 2 x 175 watt big photo cfl, 4 x 200 watt huge photo cfl, 2 x 4ft t8 electronic tube flo, 2 x 2 ft t8 electronic tube flo on subject keylight has two bulbs one 200 watt and one 175 watt photo cfl. fill has one 200 watt cfl. metering on grey card in manual mode at 1/125 shutter iso 100 (I think) I got f.Stop 2.0 for the background zone and around f3.5 or f4.0 in the subject area. I'm thinking I might have had metering set to multi instead of spot though. but I filled most of the frame with the grey card like in your video. could this have been the problem. when I shot the snapshot I allowed the camera to auto adjust exposure using the face detect mode with smile shutter (it meters on the face) also I have a diy ring light (ring flo bulb) which I like on the eyes but had to forego using it in order to maintain the difference in light between subject and background. how can I improve this situation. do I need more light on the background?
And two of the 200 watt cfl background lights haven't been flagged off. Maybe that's causing problems? When I metered the background zone the subject lights were on too and vice versa. Is that the right way?
That looks pretty good! What problem are you trying to solve at this point? The background looks white (I haven't tested it with a vectorscope but on my calibrated monitor it looks white). There is some spill onto the side of the face which can be fine if you want that look. If not, you may want to move the talent away from the backdrop a bit or reduce the amount of light on the backdrop.
Curtis Judd Do to limited real estate on my backdrop I decided to get Sony Vegas to fill in the sides as I am using a collapsible white back drop that is currently turned vertically. After spending all day playing around with the function ChromaKeyer I found it only works with green/blue/red screens. Then I moved onto trying to mask my image and lay a white background which I could not get to work correctly. So I have come to the conclusion that maybe I just need to acquire a larger white backdrop or move onto a green screen that will allow the use of chroma keyer found in Sony Vega? My ultimate concern is how do I keep the same 16x9 video; If I run out of space when I am trying to use only 1/3 of the video for movement and the rest of the video for text? I hope this is not to confusing!
Michael Carpenter That makes sense. Sometimes you can just use a garbage mat effect to clean up the edges. First you create a JPEG file that is the same resolution as your video (e.g., 1920 x 1080) and you put that on the layer below your footage. Then you use a garbage mat which allows you to select the edges where you have non-background and it should mask that out and instead show your white JPEG. Does that make sense? If not, I'll put a little tutorial along these lines in the queue. Also, its been a long time since I've used Vegas and I assume it has a garbage mat feature... I hope that helps and best wishes!
Curtis Judd I understand what you are saying but I could only find this accomplishable with green screen. That would be awesome if you made a video on it for white screen as no one has from what I could find. Once again thanks for your help Curtis you are a wealth of information!
Michael Carpenter Here are a couple of episodes on green screen both in terms of light and post-processing that may help: th-cam.com/video/PYTDRzT3hNI/w-d-xo.html You'll just need a white JPEG image to slip behind the key.
+Mark Wesley I just put together some PVC pipe (heavier weight PVC tubing) from the local hardware store. They're not the greatest because they tend to flex so much. This is why I haven't done a DIY episode on those. I think it is actually worth buying a proper light stand instead.
When doing a White Background set up, I notice I get some anti-aliasing around the subject's ear and especially down along the neck. Could this be a camera bit rate issue?
@Jb Zavala Hmm, I'm not familiar enough with the A7iii to know whether you can record at a higher bitrate? If so, it is definitely worth a try. Best wishes!
Hi Curtis, I'm having real frustrations trying to light the white background. There is always this centre spot that is darker. If I increase the brightness of the light overall, then the centre may get brighter but the sides become too bright. What do you think might be the problem? does the shape of the lights make a difference? I have tired both the spiral CFL bulbs as well as the squarish Neewer CN 216 lights. Both still have that centre dark spot. Thanks!
Bonecrusher27WTF Sounds like you might need more lights to cover the center of the backdrop. Perhaps place one on the floor behind the talent aimed at the center of the backdrop.
I'm going to be doing this and getting all the same parts (first time trying video anything) but those bulbs are very hard to find. Can you recomend a replacement bulb more readily available?
Hi James. I haven't looked at CFL bulbs in a while and when I search now, it would seem that the world has almost completely switched to LED. Wow! Here's one I found that you might consider: amzn.to/2rxKgKJ
Curtis Judd Thanks! One other question. If i want to get the apple look with entire people in the shot, you know, that makes it look like they're standing in the white basically. Hope that makes sense. It's in those old Mac versus PC ads were they actually got the entire people in the white shot. How do I do that?
+sambking I use ISO as my primary exposure control setting, so that I can rely on aperture as a creative control (for depth of field). In this case with the amount of light I had available, 640 worked well.
The f-stop numbering makes perfect sense when one knows what those numbers represent. They represent a value by which the _radius_ of the circular aperture is multiplied to double the amount of light passing the (typically) circular aperture. Now, the radius is one-dimensional but the _area_ of the circular opening (the aperture) is two-dimensional. And since the area of a circle is πr², to double it, and with it the amount of light passing through the aperture, the radius of the circular opening must be multiplied by the _square root_ of 2, which is roughly 1.4. So, to double the light from f-stop = 1, we need to multiply the radius by (roughly) 1.4, hence the next f-stop = 1.4. To double that, again we multiply the (roughly) 1.4 by another (roughly) 1.4 to get f-stop = 2, etc.
That is why every _other_ f-stop is a power of 2 (so, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, etc) and the rest of them are the previous one multiplied by (roughly) 1.4. The non-integer values are printed rounded down to two significant digits. Knowing that completely removes whatever mystery there may appear to be when it comes to f-stops. And thus we get 1, 1.4, 2, 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16, etc.
Great info, thanks for that RustyTube! I'll need to tuck this one away for future use.
You’re most welcome. I should add that the first and the final f-stops on some lenses may not be a multiple of the square root of two. For example, if the lens goes from f-stop 2.5 to f-stop 3.5, we would just square those numbers to find out how much more light passes through in comparison with f-stop = 1. So, in this hypothetical example, 2.5² = 6.25 and 3.5² = 12.25, which would mean we could set the amount of light getting through from 6.25 to 12.25 times what f-stop 1 lets through.
But the typical f-stops are in the multiples of the square root of 2, so each stop doubles the amount of the light of the previous f-stop (and of course halves the amount of the light of the following f-stop).
I need to add a bit to it, as I was typing faster than I was thinking. The f-stops are actually meant to be interpreted as 1/f, so when it says, for example, f-stop 1.4, it means 1/1.4, so the radius is 1.4 times _smaller_ and only half as much light passes through, and if it says f-stop 2, it actually means 1/2, so the radius is 2 times smaller and only 1/4 as much light passes through, etc.
That makes sense, thanks!
The "f" number is actually the ratio of the focal length / diameter of the aperture. The "f" numbers are different to an "f-stop". One "f-stop" means a doubling or halving of the amount of light.
A doubling or halving of the circular aperture AREA results in a doubling or halving of the amount of light entering the camera. As you stated, the area of the circular aperture opening is proportional to the diameter^2. Therefore a change in the diameter of the aperture by a factor of 1.4 (square root of 2) doubles or halves the amount of light.
Curtis, unlike most of the annoying, sophomoric 'how to's' here on TH-cam - you always get right to the heart of the matter in a concise, professional manner. I enjoy your vids a lot, and hope you keep posting. Nicely done!
Thanks JR.
In late 2000s, early 2010s video shooting tutorials were made by industry professionals which set the bar high for enthusiast. These days, when everyone has a YT channel the quality of tutorials degenerated drastically. Kids shoot themselves without knowing what they're talking about. This guy is the only one in top 20 search results for "infinite white background" who talks (and actually knows how to) about controlling the spill. And that's exactly what I was looking for. Thanks.
Thanks generalcontrol!
Curtis, I have a whole new respect for what you (and other photographers) do. I am a dentist by trade and NOT a videographer...I'm trying to record some post-op instruction videos for my patients using the method in this video. It seems I've tried everything but can't get the same "pop" and clarity you have in your videos. Thank you for all the work you put into your videos, you are brilliant.
A Palmer Thanks! If you've got a sample clip posted somewhere, I'd be happy to take a look at it and provide some feedback. And thanks for you work as a dentist! I have plenty of gratitude for my dentists over the years.
I just wanted to say how much I appreciate the clarity of your explanations. Formidable camera and pedagogical skills. Thank you!
Thanks Edward!
Thanks Curtis...I have been doing white background stuff for years in
still photography but found your explanation the best I have heard. Got it
all and understood it all, thanks. Your a great teacher.
Gerry
Thanks Gerry!
Girl, your nose contour is amazing. Also, thanks for this, VERY helpful!
Haha! Thanks.
😂😂
😂
Great video thanks for sharing so many details
👍
I had a lighting professor teach me this, but after watching your video I actually understand it and can replicate it. THANK YOU!!! :)
Thanks Tiffany, glad it worked out!
Your video is old, but the single BEST ONE OUT THERE! If I could get a course from you, I would def. take it!
Thank you so much for this. I have studied it for 6 times or so.
I keep upgrading and practising to get to your level.
Thanks Roberto!
Ty been in photography in film days and getting back into it with digital. Got my brain back in gear. Thanks
Thanks!
Curtis, Thanks so much for the great tips on how to set up lighting to get a true white background. My channel is just starting out and one of the objectives I had was to produce a professional clean and simple look. By applying what you said I have improved the background a lot. Thanks for your advice.
Curtis Judd, I just love you man. Thanks for everything over the years.
Thanks for the support!
Curtis, just curious if you ever did a video tutorial on lighting a small or limited space area? I have a small space where I have limited room between the camera and talent and between the talent and backdrop and would love to go through how best to light the space.
+Mitch Leigh hi Mitch, I haven't but with your vote, I've bumped that up in the queue. Small spaces are tough to light in a super stylized way so I usually just bounce a lot of light off the walls or a reflector/bounce board. More to come
Bump it up Curtis
Excellent Tutorial. I already knew how this is done for strobe lights, but your explanations are even better than anything I've seen and work for continuous light, although the principles are the same. I especially liked the simple method for measuring exposure using a grey card and your digital camera.
Thanks!
Thanks Dan!
BEST VIDEO on this topic!! Thank you so much, I've watched soo many on how to get the white bkgd and your video finally made it all click for me. Subscribed!
Thanks for the feedback!
Excellent information. I shot my first infinite white wall this past week. Following your tips, I got it right the first time! The clients were beyond impressed, especially since they paid someone previously to do the same shoot and he butchered the whole thing. I'd love to send you the unedited photos for some feedback.
+Dj TeeOh great job! Feel free to direct message me from the about tab on my channel.
Hi Curtis! Any recommendations on achieving this looks with a LED light kit? I learned a ton from this video but would like to light the talent with LED’s. Any help on this would be highly appreciated!!
Hi Samuel, I'd just make sure to white balance for the LED lights, preferably a custom white balance. Otherwise, everything works identically but you generally have more ability to dim LEDs so they're even easier to work with. Good luck!
Thanks so much for getting back to me! I’m going to work on trying to achieve this look. Thanks again!
Could you also give info on how to adjust the camera settings for a newbie? Also what microphone do you use? Thanks again
@curtisjudd can I just use a white wall?
Yes, absolutely!
This helped SO MUCH, I have been struggling with my white and grey backdrops
Glad it helped Chrissy!
Hi Curtis. Helpful video thanks...however, not seeing the links to purchase the lights, etc.
Curtis is There a way to achieve this white background look with a rounder lighting on your subject like in your videos with the black back drop ... Again thanks for all your help and enjoy your videos very much thank you!
Sure--any way you want to do it is legit! I was just trying to stay true to the "Apple" look here where they intentionally make a very flat, clean look. They avoid any key/fill and just key everything. Any direction you choose to take is at the very least a lesson learned and at best, an awesome new look!
very good and informative video and it looks absolutely spot on and perfect on my TV ... I have to do a promo video and was thinking of this, but only have access to 3 LED's , and I have no idea if this will work, but thanks anyways :). P.S I think it would be useful to also give tips on camera settings as well and what to use ;)
Thanks! Lots of camera and settings videos on my channel as well.
Thank you so much for this Curtis. I've been watching so many videos and you deliver in such an organized way - I learnt so much from you! Keep inspiring, subscribed!
Thanks Alexandra!
Great video! Can you please provide a link for the stands for the clamp lights and the flag off boards. Also is there a barn light that I can use with the fluorescent bulbs for the backdrop so i wont have to use clamp lights and the flag off board?
Irfan Mahmood The stands I used for flagging the background are just standard light stands but I would recommend one with a boom arm: amzn.to/1PNi2ww Or if you have a larger budget, I love my C-stand and it is so rugged it will probably last for decades: www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/372016-REG/Impact_CT40MKIT_Master_Century_C_Stand.html/BI/19904/KBID/12941/kw/IMLSCT40MK/DFF/d10-v2-t1-xIMLSCT40MK Kino Flo style lights like this would work well for the backdrop: amzn.to/1L9GQOw Best wishes!
Curtis Judd Thanks for the quick reply. I have a follow up question. I am shooting on a white projector screen 70 x 70 inch. Do you think I would need two Fotodiox ProPremium lights or just one will light the backdrop evenly? Also I was curious what kind of camera did you use for shooting this video. I am debating between a Canon T5i or Canon 70D.
Irfan Mahmood You could try with one though I suspect you'll need two to get perfectly even coverage. I shot this one some time ago with a Nikon D600 which I don't own anymore (it was ok, but not great for video). I now shoot with a Panasonic GH4 and a Nikon D750 as a backup/special purpose camera. Before my Nikon D600, I used to shoot with a Canon 60D but found it frustrating that it produced so much moire. Before I bought the 60D, I didn't think the occasional moire would be a big deal but it ended up really creating issues on several projects. I'm not sure whether the 70D has corrected that issue. Best wishes!
Hi Curtis! This video is great and I love that you listed all of your materials used... very helpful! I do have a question... I am doing a dance recital session using an 18'x20' white seamless. I'll be doing individual dancers and large dance groups. Would you suggest placing an additional light behind the large groups to ensure adequate center lighting across the 18' or will the lights you're using span across that distance evenly? I don't want to over light it, but I definitely don't want grey areas that require post editing afterwards either. Thanks in advance!
+Anna Lynn Hi Anna, thanks! For a seamless that wide, you'll likely need another light to keep the center even with the sides. Best wishes!
Thank you! I ordered a small stand with an extra housing and bulbs to mimic your side lighting. I do appreciate your help!
+Anna Lynn Great! Good luck!
That was INCREDIBLY helpfull and well made-explained. Thanks man =)
Thanks Pedro!
Thank you for your video. Full of information and finding every little bit helps. Off to buy more lights now.
Susan Connor Best wishes on your lighting!
great video - what is the spacing between the backdrop, the talent, and the lights?
About 5 feet between talent and backdrop, 4 feet from lights to talent. Backdrop lights are 2 or 3 feet from backdrop.
Hey nice presentation... I want to make videos on my iphone I'm not going to film a large area as you did in the video. So can you give me a list of not so expensive equiptment?
JĀMMIN RC What do you have so far?
720p camera and a tripod.
JĀMMIN RC You might have a look at my lighting playlist as a start: th-cam.com/play/PLLQDQ5OW1X3L70CH5eJ3t2JV2BVb3vMhw.html
I just watched it.
Hey Curtis,
May I ask which lens out of the list were you using when filming yourself talking in front of the white screen?
Plus- a word of appreciation: you have a bunch of wonderful and incredibly helpful videos. And I admire you taking the time to answer comments and questions viewers ask.
Thanks in advance,
Omri.
Hey Omri, thanks! The talking head shots were made with the Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8 AF-D Lens.
Neat.
Thank you.
hey thx for your video! very informative for someone like me just preparing to make a start with creating my own live music videos from home. I'm just in the process of getting a three-light softbox setup which all use fluro lights.. but these won't address the white background effect.. I'd like to achieve that white "apple" background look.. Are there any fluro lighting setups that you would recommend for lighting the backdrop area? thx again :~)
Dino Jag Depending on your budget, you can use the clamp lights like I did in the video. 4 of them with 50 watt CFL bulbs should cover a 10 foot wide backdrop pretty well. If you have more to spend, a Kino Flow type light would provide even more light and more even coverage:
Clamp Lights: amzn.to/1qa56HO
CFL Bulbs: amzn.to/1yaH5Hf
Kino Style Light: amzn.to/1InWZBf
Curtis Judd thx for your response Curtis.. gr8tly appreciated! I will check out those suggestions.. :~)
Curtis Judd unfortunately those CFLs won't ship to Australia where I'm based.. just to be clear the three-light softbox kit I'm looking includes 2 x 5-head softboxes (45w/5500k bulbs) ... is it practical to get another couple of these to use for the backlighting?
Dino Jag Absolutely!
Great video explaining light and back drop products. My apologies, my question is not directly related to getting a "white background" but I'm using a colored Savage back drop with an electronic white board, 55 inches. Do you have any recommendations for focal length, 28 mm greater/less, on my Canon Rebel camera and what should the distance be between me and the camera? ~Thanks
I'd think that you'd want at least a 50mm to 70mm lens so that you can "compress" the background. And I'd generally recommend you position yourself at least 1.5 to 2 meters from the backdrop.
@@curtisjudd Great idea, thanks for responding so quickly.
Curtis, can you make a homemade grey card? If so, what would you recommend to do so?
+Anthony Sharp hi Anthony, I'm not sure, never tried it. The two critical factors are that the gray be free of any color bias (must be true gray) and it should also be the right reflectance (18%). Might be easier to buy in this case.
Thanks for another great lesson. I'm unsure about the section of the video which is supposed to show the problems of over-lighting the background. Perhaps I am mis-judging, but the objectionable light that I see is from the side, hitting the sides of your face. I'm not seeing the haloing around your head and hair, that I would expect from excess backlighting. This leads me to believe that I am seeing the spill light that you mention, rather than excess light bouncing off the backdrop. Can you say more about how I would judge the difference? What would it look like, if I could limit the spill light, but had two stops difference between the backdrop and the talent?
Hi Derek--the clip that shows the light spilling onto me is just a result of not flagging off the lights. It turns out I didn't have enough light to over-light the background so I couldn't show it--sorry for the confusion there. When the background is over lit--more than a stop or two, you will start to see less "crispness" between your talent and the white background because the contrast at the edges will decrease, especially noticeable at the edges of your talent's profile (if that makes sense). This guy did a nice job illustrating the issue: th-cam.com/video/b_6sSGA5SNg/w-d-xo.html
Curtis Judd Thank you for the additional detail and the link.
If your background is too bright, then fine wisps of hair (portraits of people with long hair) will have broken edges and looked terrible. I believe this is not from spilled light, but simply blow out occurring at the level of the sensor in the camera. Hence you would expect to see this problem with any thin fine objects viewed against a too bright background.
Thanks so much for the video! I have one issue. Yours looks very clean and no beams on your face (unlike other videos). I did this and there was too much on the subject. Made the subject look way too white and blinded them a bit. I want to do this for items instead of a person how would I do this? Thanks in advance!
Hi bmm, it sounds like the exposure settings are your camera need some adjusting. Here's a video where we covered exposure: th-cam.com/video/z1rDYKtnqkU/w-d-xo.html
Curtis,
Great video, extremely helpful! I've got a few videos under my belt for my business and they're a big hit, however looking back on them my lighting is awful compared to yours. I also need major help with camera video settings for my Canon T2i. Is there a way I can contact you to possibly get some offline consulting? Thanks much!
Hi, sure, email me curtis@curtisjuddphotography.com
Hi, Curtis! Thanks so much for this video. It was very easy to understand! I have almost everything in place, EXCEPT the background lighting. I can find the clamp lights, but I cannot find a stand like you have to clamp them to, especially one that can support two clamp lights. Where did you find yours? And what are the foamcore boards clamped to? Thank you!
TeacherMelanie Hi Melanie! I just used some standard light stands like this: amzn.to/1HK71s6 Same thing for the foam-core board but I use the one-dollar spring clamps you can buy at a hardware store. For the lights and foam-core boards, you can use anything that can hold the clamps, it doesn't have to be light stands. Best wishes!
Curtis, I can not see the image well in the video. Are you saying that you use the stand above, and open the spring clamp to go around the stand poll and then pinch the form board flag? My clamps don't work for this. What clamps are you using to attach them to the stand? Also, I would like to defuse the clamp lights, so I am looking for a low cost double clamping solution for placing a scrim or defuser in front of the clamp lights. Any ideas? Thanks for all you do!
Thanks. I learned a lot. Can I buy regular fluorescent bulbs at the store that are cheaper ($4/bulb) or do I have to get expensive ones designed for the studio? Also, I noticed that some bulbs give off a yellowish color, even if they say white light on their purchase package. To achieve a white background, should I try to stick with the ones that give off white light, or will this not matter when the light hits the white sheet? Also, the packages that the bulbs come in say "to replace a 100 watt bulb, 23 bulb." Is the second number the number that you are quoting? when you a say 26 watt, is it a bulb that usually replaces a 100 watt condescent?
+Ninja 250 Motorcycle Maintenance You can get the cheap bulbs but the color may be funky which means that skin tones may end up having an odd color cast. I'd stick with "Bright White" which are usually around 5500 Kelvin color temperature. Every product reports wattage differently. When I referred to the 4500 watt softbox kit, that is "the equivalent of 4,500 watts in tungsten terms...". Technically it doesn't draw anywhere near that amount. When I referred to the 50 watt BlueMax bulbs, that is actually 50 watt power draw. I hope that helps!
Thanks!
Hey Curtis, I really enjoyed the video, and it really did help my understanding of how to acquire the perfect "white look". My camera that I'm using for this background is a mid-tier camera (Canon Vixia HF R500) and it does NOT have the ability to read the F/Stop meter for various subjects.
In this case, It cannot display the F/Stop of the subject with the grey card and the grey card alone. All I can do that I think will help me reduce the light spillage that you mentioned would be to customize my white ballance when im standing in front of my backdrop.
By customize, I mean letting my camera automatically set the ballance according to the shot thats being taken (me in front of the backdrop). Will this help at all? I'm a novice when it comes to lighting, and would like to be able to make this work with the camera I currently have.
Thank you!
+BigBroJournalism It may work, I'd just do some test shots to confirm. Some cameras are better at white balance than others. The most important thing will be to use light of the same color temperature. Best wishes!
Question: you say that you put your gray card in front of the camera to get a reading while you are in manual mode. My Sony A7iii if I use manual mode the camera won’t tell me anything because I’m the one choosing the values I want. I kind of got lost in that part.
Hi, I'm not familiar with the A7iii, but if it will not give you exposure info in manual mode, you'll need to switch to a mode that will. However, I'd be surprised if there wasn't some menu setting to display some sort of exposure info in manual mode. Perhaps somebody else here knows?
Hello Curtis,
Thanks a lot for sharing this great video. I am not sure I understand the brightness i should use for my background.. I am using Fancierstudio 2400 watt lighting kit softbox on my face what should i use for the background ?
THanks so much !
Hi Sofia, you will need to dedicate two lights to the backdrop--it needs to be just slightly brighter than your talent.
Thanks a lot ! So, if i'm using 2400 watt for the talent i should use how many watts for the back ?
Most probably not a great question but i am trying to understand :)
thannnks !!
Sofia MyNutritionist Technically, you should add light until you have one EV more light on the background than on you. You can measure that by setting up all your lights, slightly more on the background, then hold a gray card where you will be standing and measure the exposure with your camera and then do the same for the background. You want the background measurement to be one EV brighter than the measurement from where you will be sitting or standing. The exposure episode I did a while back may also help explain this a little more clearly: th-cam.com/video/z1rDYKtnqkU/w-d-xo.html
thanks Curtis :)
Thanks Curtis, valuable information for free!!! Nice drum kit in your studio, when will you do a video testing a STEREO mic playing that drum :D
Thanks Rui. Trust me, you don't want to hear me play the drums. ;)
Hey Curtis, is this the same setup to get the white background look for pictures? Thanks!
Also, I don't see that the 50w version is available on Amazon nor the BlueMax website. They've got a 55w version now though. Do you think (4) of these would be a good replacement (not too bright) or would you reccommend another bulb? goo.gl/8Vrali. Thanks Curtis!
Yes, same process for still photos. The 55 watt bulb should work great. You can just adjust your aperture if needed.
Great video Curtis. I've been trying this with a muslin white back drop that seems to have been manufactured a bit thin. I'm finding it difficult to get it over exposed enough. Do you prefer paper over muslin fabric for this effect? Thanks.
I use muslins for my usual black backdrop and for chromakey but have only used paper for the white backdrop look. If it is a bit thin, that's probably part of the issue. I think the two main options are to add light or get a more opaque backdrop. How much light do you have dedicated to the backdrop so far?
Curtis Judd Hi Curtis...thanks for your videos, I find them helpful. I am really trying to video take with my iphone as I like seeing myself as I record. What do you think of the quality? Do you recommend it? I also have a T1 cannon, but I am resisting using it...Also, I just ordered 2000w soft boxes and you did not talk much about how to use them in this setting...any advice?
Thanks!
Ana
Ana Afzali Hi Ana, it'll be tougher to get the exposure right with a phone since they don't let you manually set the exposure or white balance, at least with the default camera app. You can make it work but it will require a fair bit of practice. Also, here are a few previous episodes about the lights that I hope you'll find helpful: th-cam.com/video/Iqo7W1pmmBQ/w-d-xo.html
hi Curtis. I love your videos. if you were shooting portraits on a background like this how would you set the white balance push. on the white background? on the Greycard in front of the white background? on the Greycard in the subject zone? . I set mine on the actual white background and it still looks blueish. I'm using all fluorescents but different types tube cfl and different sizes and manufacturers.
+Matthew Mawson I would use a gray card in the subject zone. Skin tones are the most critical part to get color balanced.
Great video and excellent explanation, however I'm tad confused (photography newbee)isn't it going to make it brighter at 4 compared to 5.6? I shoot with the Lumix GH5, I assume it has a auto meter mode to see the fstop, but I always shoot manually. Thanks Curtis!
Yes, more light will come into the camera's sensor at f/4 vs f/5.6.
@@curtisjudd Thanks for your reply, I know this is an old video but still a great one! Yes, you mentioned the background to be brighter than the subject but you set the background at f5.6 and the subject at f4, that's where I got confused.
Sorry, yes, in other words, put more light on the background.
@@curtisjudd Sweet thanks Curtis! I didn't mean to point out any errors, not at all,l you know I love your channel and all your content, I just got confused as I'm an old video guy trying to learn more photography and product photography and how to light a white background properly.
No, not taken as a criticism at all! Always looking for clearer ways to describe things like this.
Hi Chris another question. You state in the video that you want the background brighter than the talent by one F-stop.
The values in the video are talent = f/4 background f/5.6
Isn't the lower the number, the bigger the aperture and hence the more the light?
Bonecrusher27WTF Its a little confusing at first, but because the lights on the talent aren't putting out as much light as those on the background, the gray card or light meter gives a reading of f/4. The gray card or meter suggest shutting down the aperture to f/5.6 for the background lights to compensate for the fact that they're putting out more light. Does that make more sense?
Curtis Judd Super! Thanks Curtis! That is really, really clear. I'm just learning real photography so it really helps me :-)
@@curtisjudd Hi Curtis, Light meter I do not have, I am trying to get the meter using canon sl2 but in the backdrop and talent using the gray card do not change anything, the f stop always the same in backdrop and talent. How can I get the correct meter for the correct f stop in canon sl2?
@@alexalex444454 Decrease the light output on the talent.
Great info, and even better Groovy Orca track.
+AspectRatioPolice thanks!
Curtis!! You're a drummer too? So awesome! Your videos are super helpful and are great quality. Seriously, I've learned so much from you. Thank you!
Ps,
If you're interested in seeing drumming videos I've got some on my page! I'd love for you to see one!
Hi, thanks for the videos, it has helped me a lot to understand how to make videos. I'm a hairdresser and I'm going to start recording video lessons, we'll use two DSLR canon SL2, one to film the whole complete space (me, the model and assistant) and for that purpose what canon lens tells me? the second camera will be used to film only the head of the model to better show how I am cutting the hair of the same, and for this camera what lens tells me? in short, a lens to film three people and another lens to just to film the model's head. It does not have to be lenses with good focus because the background of the scene is totally white. I need good, inexpensive lenses to film my course.
Hi Alex, I'm not a Canon shooter these days but I'd look for a wide angle lens in the 24-28mm range for the wide shot and probably a 50mm lens for the closer shot, assuming you don't have a ton of space to put the camera in front of the model (between the mirror and model). Best wishes!
Is the camera tripod at 1:49 about 20 feet away from your chair??
Hi Bruce, not it is probably 12 feet. I moved it back because I "floated" the camera on a home-made steadicam from the spot where I normally shoot. Normally I shoot about 8 feet from the chair and only because I have enough room and a full-frame DSLR and a long lens. The same can be accomplished from about 5 feet with a much shorter lens and a crop-sensor DSLR or video cam.
I like the color grading on your videos. They have a semi-film feel, as opposed to straight digital look that many other white background videos have. Are you using any special filters or color grading tools?
+Jim Wells Hi Jim, thanks. I shoot at 24 fps and 1/50th of a second shutter speed for pieces like this so that imparts some of the look. The rest is just basic color correction and contrast tweaking in DaVinci Resolve. I'll have a new episode coming later this week where we'll spend a little time in Resolve and Color Finale (in Final Cut Pro X).
Thanks for the feedback. I'm looking forward to the episode.
amazing video, well explained, well made it, thanks dude!, very helpfull
How hot do CFL bulbs get? I have quite poor air-conditioning and I don't want to fry my subject. Another consideration is LED.
Also for the background light total of 50W x 4 = 200 means 100 per side. What type of wattage are you talking about? I've been looking at CFL and LED and they have W but also W equivalents.
Thanks!
Bonecrusher27WTF Not nearly as hot as old-school tungsten lights but hotter than LEDs. I haven't yet found inextensive LEDs that produce natural color, particularly for skin tones but I'm always watching for developments in LEDs. I'm talking about true wattage, not equivalents.
Curtis Judd Thanks Judd, appreciate it. That means that I'd probably have to get something like 20W (CFL) x 4, and give the LEDs a miss for now. Too bad, but yeah the cheap ones won't do what I want then I'd better forget it.
Bonecrusher27WTF Sorry, I meant 50W CFLs so that would be 200 watts total, 100 watts per side. In "equivalent" terms that would be more like 800 watts total (the "equivalent" is confusing and every manufacturer uses a different value)
Could you please explain what are the specifics about obtaining it with the green screen? Or even better a short video. :D Thanks in advance for your help.
Check out these two previous episodes on green screen:
th-cam.com/video/PYTDRzT3hNI/w-d-xo.html
th-cam.com/video/CYd2RZNe6io/w-d-xo.html
Curtis Judd
Thank you sir, really appreciate it, starting a project and could really use all the help I can get.
Hi, Curtis. Great video! Question: it looks like you have tungsten softbox lights for your talent, and CFL's for the whiteboard. If you set the camera's white balance for tungsten, won't that make the whiteboard look blueish? PC
+Paul Campbell hi Paul, these soft boxes are CFL as well. Yes, I agree, need to avoid using different color temp lights for this to work well.
Curtis, my setup uses three Savage Quartz tungsten softboxes for the talent. Since I'm using tungsten to light the talent, I went ahead with four 100-watt GE Reveal lights for the paper backdrop. This seemed like enough light for the paper (400 watts seems like more than enough), but I found the paper dull and dark, so much so that I had to jack up the camera's exposure to wash out the paper to white. You used only 50-watt CFL's for yours, but is it just the simple fact that your backdrop lights were flo that allowed you to light the paper so well? Thanks. Cranking up the exposure can't be the way to go I'm sure.
I reduced the amount of light on the talent and maxed out the power of the lights on the backdrop.
Can you recommend a cloth backdrop and stand combo?
I think I'll go with this setup, do I need clamps?
computertips2013 I just use the $0.99 clamps from the hardware store for backdrops and lots of other things (holding reflectors, bounce boards, flags, etc)
Thanks for the tips!
Curtis, are you also using 50 Watt CFLs on you (subject), and how many? What color temperature and CRI?
On me there are multiple 35 watt CFLs, daylight balanced (5500K) CRI 93.
Great explanation!
Thanks Javier!
Question: I know this video was made with a white background in mind, but how would one go about lighting a coloured background to achieve this effect - a background that is coloured and evenly lit w/o resorting to a green screen?
The process is nearly identical except one may need to work more carefully to get even coverage. This is where fluorescent tubes or linear quasar science LEDs make things easier.
Curtis Judd Great! Thank you!
Cool video and thanks for sharing your experience. I watched as much as I could, but had to stop at the 3 minute mark. Of course, I read the ethics statement afterwards and understood that it was a commercial after the fact. lol... Note: Not giving you a hard time. I understand. We use alot of gear and if there is an opportunity to recoup our costs or to turn a profit, go for it.
Oh... point of the post...
For your followers that do not have as large of a space as you do not have seven lights, my setup is still probably as expensive, buuuut good for smaller studio spaces.
I took the greenscreen approach. 4 LED lights. 2 on the greenscreen, 2 on me. Lighting the greenscreen is important, but it is more important to minimize spill onto the talent and to minimize any wrinkles in the greenscreen. From there, use Adobe CS6 Premiere for the video editing and use the Keylight chromakeying feature in After Effects and you can get the infinite white or what I call fade to black or any other color that you want.
The major pro is that you are not limited to one backdrop and you can set your camera to whatever you need to get the shot. How cool is that?
In either case, thanks for sharing your experience and yes, I do understand that the numbber one YT question is.... Soooo what gear did you buy or use to get that look? lol....
Happy shooting....
Looks like we agree. I covered exposure and preventing spill too, Thanks!
Thanks for your kind response and you are welcome! Please continue to do what you do.... I stole the term, but I, for the most part, refer to TH-cam as TH-cam University as so many are teaching the rest of us goofballs how to do the technical so we can express ourselves better through our art. Thanks again....
Thanks for that video . Well done. Is the backdrop wide eneough to have a two people interview?
Thanks
Yes, if the two sit close to each other.
Thanks!
Super helpful video. Thank you
Great tutorial , the use of a light meter would have gotten you more accurate readings than the in camera method you used, thanks for sharing the knowledge
Agreed. I used the camera to demonstrate for the 99.9% of the audience which do not have a stand-alone light meter. 😉
This may be a stupid question, but I am attempting this for the first time and I have duplicated your background lighting, works great, but for the talent lighting I have three Alien Bees B800's , with soft boxes...the model lighting mode is not adequate to light the talent well, is there some other bulb I should be using, or can I even use my B800's for this purpose?
Hi Arian, are you doing video or still photos? I'm not sure what kind of modeling lamps ABs take, but you'll just want to match the color temp of your backdrop lights.
+Curtis Judd normally I do still photos with this set up, but I'm trying to set up to shoot videos now
+Arian Deutsch I see. What kind of socket do the AB's have for the modelling lamp? Can you use standard household bulbs? If so, I'd look at bluemax compact fluorescent bulbs which put out a lot of light with good color rendering: www.bluemaxlighting.com/26w-power-compact_198_prd1.htm
Curtis,
Great video and very informative indeed! Much thanks for sharing your knowledge.
Just one question/doubt though: Isn't f4 one stop brighter than f5.6....and not the other way round, as you mention in your video (at around the 6:16 mark)?
If the above is indeed true, then your talent should be getting f5.6, and your b/g should be getting f4....which then makes the b/g one stop brighter than the talent.
Perhaps I'm confused and/or have no idea what I'm talking about....but that was my understanding, up until now.
Hi Cyril, First thing to keep in mind for this look--we will set the camera up to expose for the talent, not matter what.
Second, we want the background to have one stop brighter light than the talent to make sure it is totally white.
So the question is, how do you set it up that way? You use a gray card or a light meter to measure and fine-tune the background lights separate from the talent lights.
Gray cards and light meters will tell you which of the lights are more powerful by giving you an aperture reading (assuming you set your ISO and shutter speed consistently--let's use ISO 200 and 1/50th of a second for this example).
If the meter reading says f/5.6 for the background lights and f/4 for the talent lights, which set of lights are putting out more light?
The background lights are putting out a full stop more of light because the meter reading essentially says, "Hey, there's more light here, you need to close down that aperture and let less light in..."
Now that we know we have the background exposed one stop brighter than the talent, we're good to start shooting. We just set up the camera settings to expose for the talent (ISO 200, 1/50th shutter, f/4 aperture) and shoot away!
Hopefully that helps a little. :)
Curtis Judd Hi Curtis,
Yes indeed! That explanation certainly helped a lot!
Not only are you a knowledgeable professional photographer, but you're also very kind and helpful to share your knowledge with all of us...and to take the time to respond to all of the comments you receive for your videos is just plain awesome.
Not in a million years would I have imagined/thought of the lighting scenario/readings the way you explained it. You certainly have cleared my confusion.
Cheers
Can the lights be purchased at a place like Home Depot, etc. or do they have to be professional lights? If so, what type of bulbs are necessary? Thank you!
+Laron Hardy Yes, I purchased the clamp lights I used on the backdrop at home depot. You might find this episode where I cover cheap lighting options helpful: th-cam.com/video/Iqo7W1pmmBQ/w-d-xo.html Best wishes!
Thank you!
Question: Have you, by chance, looked at the Lastolite HiLite boxes that light the white backdrop from inside? Was watching a TH-cam review on the 6x7 and it seems like it should work for video but all I can find anyone talking about is how it's great for still photography. Thanks.
+Darin Cameron hi Darin, I have seen them but haven't had a chance to use one. I'm sure they'd work for video as well since exposure is nearly identical.
Thanks!
and im wondering what mic you used in a video? (that i cannot find!-on lighting i think!) . . flat response! vs nt1a or mxl 770 or akg c12 . . looks like my cad 179 and looks sorta like an rca77--curved at top-capsule area?? silvery grill??
I always like a little bit of spill from the background because it creates some dimension in the subject.
Cool, yes, can be a nice look as well as long as it isn't an overwhelming amount of spill.
Thanks for making this video! Super helpful! Thanks again.
You're welcome and thanks for the feedback!
The light bulbs you link to are no longer available. Do you have any other suggestions? Will other wattage work? I can only seem to find something much higher (100/150W) or much lower (15/20W). And is a projection screen background considered too shiny?
Rainmaker Roxy Unfortunately looks like they discontinued those bulbs. :( You can go with lower wattage bulbs. Here are some very high quality bulbs in terms of color rendering: www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/858246-REG/Kino_Flo_26S_K55_120_26W_KF55_Lamp_120VAC.html/BI/19904/KBID/12941/kw/KI26SK55120/DFF/d10-v2-t1-xKI26SK55120 They are 26 watt but you won't run into color mismatch issues if you use these. (little pricey, but probably worth it to avoid the frustration of consumer bulbs you'd get at your hardware store).
Curtis Judd Thanks for the quick response! I'll check them out.
What is the difference in a "Full Spectrum" bulb and a bulb with a rated CRI? Thanks.
Do you have a link to how your footage looked straight out of the camera Curtis?
You said in the comments that the video above includes post processing in Davinci Resolve.
I'm really struggling to understand what I need to achieve in camera to allow me to then post process (ie blow highlights, increase contrast etc).
+Henry Scullion Henry, I don't have the original footage now that we're a few years in, but this should provide a good opportunity for an upcoming episode. In the meantime, if you've got a short clip, feel free to contact me over on my channel (message me on the about tab) and we should be able to get you up and running. Thanks!
Hi Curtis, thanks for the info! Do you recommend color correcting the background to 109ire? I'm masking out my subject and I think this might be the best way to create the cleanest background.
Hi Jeremy, I usually push the background to right around 100, but 109 should do the job!
Thanks @@curtisjudd!
Hello, I love your videos! Will using 105w 6500k Softbox lighting on my white backdrop and 105w 5500k Softbox lighting on my subject disrupt the white balance in my video. Thanks!
Thanks! Those are close enough that you shouldn't run into any issues. Best wishes!
Hi, i have just 2 x softbox lights and a small video light. Is it possible to use them to get a good look for a Model photoshoot?
+Queensland Films Absolutely. Here's are a few episodes you might find helpful:
th-cam.com/video/cyGfd_AhofU/w-d-xo.html
I hope those help!
Thanks, those have given me a little more understanding of how i can get it right. Keep up the excellent work!
+Queensland Films Thanks!
Question. I need to know how to get all white background for some reason that background will be white by the subject is very grainy and darker? The subject is dark skinned and for some reason is grainy.
There are a lot of factors that could cause this. What ISO setting is your camera using? Lower is better in terms of preventing graininess.
Great video. This is helpful. So basically, twice the light on the background...
Basically, yes, but not much more than twice or things get funky. :)
Great video! While I definitely like the flat look, I have been really enjoying your slightly off white background look in some of your more recent videos. Maybe it is just my eyes but it seems like there has been an off white/slight gradient look on your channel trailer. Could you explain how that look is achieved? Thanks for any info you can give me! :)
+Sam Walter Hey Sam, I agree, I prefer the off white look as well. To get that I'm using the same white paper roll backdrop but I light it with a single LED panel (Aputure Light Storm LS1s) aimed right behind me and set to about 50%. The idea is to light the backdrop, but not nearly as much as you would to get the white backdrop look. The natural falloff of the single LED panel is what creates the gradient look. I hope that helps!
Very much so! thank you!
aah one more question if you don't mind! Do you flag the lights on the talent from hitting the background? I would assume your talent lights would interfere with the natural falloff of the backdrop light.
+Sam Walter Hey Sam, I don't usually worry about that since I put a little space between the talent and backdrop and since they backdrop has more light on it anyways (an additional stop), there isn't a critical need to flag the talent lights. Thanks!
I may have to find a new place to shoot my "studio" vids. I only have an 8x8 place to shoot in. That leaves black background out because I can't get far enough away from the backdrop. What about this infinite white method Mr. Judd? Can I block off the backdrop lights enough so it'll work and won't spill over and still give the infinite look? Any suggestions for that small a space? Find a larger space? lol
Movies From Japan Glad you asked, I actually met a new friend here in my area who was able to do this in a tiny 8x8 room without shadows so it is definitely possible. He didn't flag the background lights, just shot both of them at about the same intensity and it ended up working well. He was only about 1 foot from the backdrop. With some experimentation, you can dial it in!
Curtis Judd
Thanks, I'm about to find out. I just ordered a black AND white background, just bit the bullet and decided I'd better get both. I also got the manual exposure card and am watching that video of yours now. My camcorder (panasonic HC-v770 has some manual controls at least). So I'll let you know as I progress how it's going in that small of a space for me ;-)
Movies From Japan Great! Let me know how it goes!
Question: I have a couple of dracast Led 500 bicolor light. Should i put those using daylight setting pointing at the backdrop or tungsten or middle setting between daylight and tungsten?
Any of the settings are fine as long as all the lights are putting out the same color temperature.
thanks for this vid. I am using a grey background. No issues making it look black but am struggling to get it to look fully white. Currently using b400 alien bees both with 160 watts each. one for the subject and the other for the backdrop. the backdrop is only 10 feet wide. I'm getting greys on the edges even at full power. I've tried 3 feet distance then 6 feet and still having issues lighting it up. My guess is I need a secondary backlight. Would that be correct? Any other suggestions?? Thanks in advance!!!
Hi Joel, you might first try decreasing the power of the light on your subject while leaving the backdrop light on full power and at 6 feet so that you get good coverage. This will effectively increase the amount of light on the backdrop. You may have to increase your ISO or decrease your shutter speed to compensate.
what was the name of the background lights you used? 2nd question what was your f stop and Shutter speed and iso?
+CARLOS ZALDIVAR Hi Carolos those were clamp lights (details with links in the about section under the video). The settings I used were as follows, but that all depends on your lights so you'll need to tailor them to the lights you're using: shutter speed = 1/50th (because I shot at 24 fps), ISO , f/4 - all explained in the video at 5:30: th-cam.com/video/mVIzzGBeK0w/w-d-xo.htmlm30s Best wishes!
Do you have a video (or maybe you can just reply with a simple answer) on what you would think the smallest space would be in which you could organize a simple video shoot (talking head video like a lot of yours)? I've got some space considerations for indoor videos I want to do and so I'm wondering what the smallest foot print (in square feet) would likely be. I'm sure you'll have to give me approximate figures, but I'll take whatever I can get.
Hans Eisenman While it is easier to pull off this white background look if you have a little more room, I did meet up with a friend that is putting together an educational course with some talking head clips and he is shooting in a tiny basement room of about 8 x 9 feet. He had to place the camera about 1/2 way into the room's closet and tweak the light positions quite a bit, but once he dialed it in, it looks great. So it is possible in smaller rooms but just might take a little more work to get it dialed in.
Nice. Thanks for the quick response. I'm going to have to get pretty creative because there are already other objects in the room such as furniture and so on. If I come up with any innovative configurations I'll let you know. :)
Hans Eisenman It'll be an adventure! I've had some pretty full little rooms in some of my projects. Just be sure you don't knock any lights over. :)
Curtis Judd The trick will be keeping any of my five kids from knocking them over! : )
I've been trying to figure out how to build a contraption to keep my light from spilling over on white seamless. I've heard of people using bi=fold doors, but do you have any suggestions? If I am using two Alien Bee 800's pointed at the background and I am photographing a 6 foot model, does the V or bifold have to be the same height? I see you use foam board. Would you recommend that for everyone? Thank you.
Hi Christina, I don't usually worry about that with the white background look because I expose the background at least one stop over the key light on my subject/talent which means that any spill onto the backdrop cannot be seen. But in cases where I need to flag lights off, I usually use foamcore boards up close tot he light to block spill from places I don't want it.
nice drumset..is that a yamaha one
Thanks, yes, Yamaha Stage Custom. Sounds pretty nice if the person playing it can play well (not me) :)
hey curtis,do you open the operature with everything in focus?or do u blurr your backdrop
nick thorpe I shot this at f/4. On a full-frame DSLR, the background may blur a little but on most other cameras it wouldn't. And actually, since the goal is to make the background pure white by slightly over-exposing, it doesn't really matter--you can't see whether or not it is blurred if the exposure is done correctly. Hope that helps!
Thanks bro, that helps. clean video tut. by da way.
hi, can i light the background with kinoflo ?! what other options do you suggest i should use to light the background ?
+Osman Rafique kinos would do great. I'd just stick with the same type of light you're using to light the talent (flo, LED, or tungsten).
Thanks so much! I learned a lot! Very excellent info!
corkytoons Thanks! Glad it helped!
Hi Curtis, I am trying to do a black background but I have only about three feet behind me to work with. I noticed that you are about 10 feet away from the background. I don't have much space to work with. I have two softboxes with 1600W each and an overhead light and the lights are about 5 feet away.
Is a lack of space a fatal problem?
No, there are still ways to make it work. I usually shoot with about 6 feet behind me and the background exposes to a very dark gray which I then crush in color grading. But I would recommend you flag those lights to prevent as much spill as possible--using cheap foamcore boards to prevent most of the light from falling on the part of the background in the frame would help a lot.
Curtis Judd
Hi Curtis, thanks for responding.
Do you mean make like a lens shroud for the lightbox so that light is more focused? That could be a good idea. I am going to get the black muslin today and see what it looks like but I have altered my setup so that now I have about 10-11 feet behind me, so I think that will make all the difference. But if not, I will have try your idea, and maybe also do something with my video editing software. I bought Pinnacle Studio 12.
Great--good luck and let us know how it goes!
Hi Curtis, I am having one problem though. Hopefully you know the solution. My autofocus on my T4i keeps searching for focus. However, if i turn off the servo motor, then how do I focus on my face?
theknightlynews Ah yes, autofocus for video is tricky. I prefer to set it to manual focus. Here's a video describing how I set focus when set to manual: th-cam.com/video/WTdp8C6hmD8/w-d-xo.html Good luck!
hi Curtis. I think my problem is the cloth background. it's a stiff kinda cool white fabric that is actually slightly bluish. it was sold as a photography background (albeit by a Shady shop in Thailand). the background is lit with 4 huge 200 watt photo CFLs, 2 4-foot tube flos and 2 2-foot tube flos. subject is lit separately by softboxes with similar flos but mixing 175 watt and 200 watt bulbs and different manufacturers. I lit the subject and background one stop different like you said but the background comes out an ugly color, not pure white. what can I do in camera to correct this? or does it all have to be done in post?
+Matthew Mawson Let's have a look. Do you have a sample video posted somewhere online so I can take a look?
+Curtis Judd thanks for your reply.
I only have one shot from last night when I went in to meter. the other ones I've done had the subject too brightly lit and the background not bright enough. that worked perfect for green screen but not white :)
drive.google.com/file/d/0B5yyTZIRsFc8bUN3VklVczVpZmc/view?usp=docslist_api
anyway I took away lights from the subject and added them to the background to try to match the one stop difference you recommended.
lighting is as follows
on 9ft white cloth I have 10 lights evenly distributed sides and top: 2 x 175 watt big photo cfl, 4 x 200 watt huge photo cfl, 2 x 4ft t8 electronic tube flo, 2 x 2 ft t8 electronic tube flo
on subject keylight has two bulbs one 200 watt and one 175 watt photo cfl. fill has one 200 watt cfl.
metering on grey card in manual mode at 1/125 shutter iso 100 (I think) I got f.Stop 2.0 for the background zone and around f3.5 or f4.0 in the subject area. I'm thinking I might have had metering set to multi instead of spot though. but I filled most of the frame with the grey card like in your video. could this have been the problem.
when I shot the snapshot I allowed the camera to auto adjust exposure using the face detect mode with smile shutter (it meters on the face)
also I have a diy ring light (ring flo bulb) which I like on the eyes but had to forego using it in order to maintain the difference in light between subject and background.
how can I improve this situation. do I need more light on the background?
Oh for this shot I set white balance push on grey card in the subject zone.
And two of the 200 watt cfl background lights haven't been flagged off. Maybe that's causing problems? When I metered the background zone the subject lights were on too and vice versa. Is that the right way?
That looks pretty good! What problem are you trying to solve at this point? The background looks white (I haven't tested it with a vectorscope but on my calibrated monitor it looks white). There is some spill onto the side of the face which can be fine if you want that look. If not, you may want to move the talent away from the backdrop a bit or reduce the amount of light on the backdrop.
No one has a video on post production white screen editing? Can you put together a video it would be greatly appreciated?
Hi Michael. I generally don't do a lot of editing on white screen shoots. Is there a particular issue you're finding? Maybe we can talk through that.
Curtis Judd Do to limited real estate on my backdrop I decided to get Sony Vegas to fill in the sides as I am using a collapsible white back drop that is currently turned vertically. After spending all day playing around with the function ChromaKeyer I found it only works with green/blue/red screens. Then I moved onto trying to mask my image and lay a white background which I could not get to work correctly.
So I have come to the conclusion that maybe I just need to acquire a larger white backdrop or move onto a green screen that will allow the use of chroma keyer found in Sony Vega? My ultimate concern is how do I keep the same 16x9 video; If I run out of space when I am trying to use only 1/3 of the video for movement and the rest of the video for text? I hope this is not to confusing!
Michael Carpenter That makes sense. Sometimes you can just use a garbage mat effect to clean up the edges. First you create a JPEG file that is the same resolution as your video (e.g., 1920 x 1080) and you put that on the layer below your footage. Then you use a garbage mat which allows you to select the edges where you have non-background and it should mask that out and instead show your white JPEG. Does that make sense? If not, I'll put a little tutorial along these lines in the queue. Also, its been a long time since I've used Vegas and I assume it has a garbage mat feature... I hope that helps and best wishes!
Curtis Judd I understand what you are saying but I could only find this accomplishable with green screen. That would be awesome if you made a video on it for white screen as no one has from what I could find. Once again thanks for your help Curtis you are a wealth of information!
Michael Carpenter Here are a couple of episodes on green screen both in terms of light and post-processing that may help: th-cam.com/video/PYTDRzT3hNI/w-d-xo.html You'll just need a white JPEG image to slip behind the key.
How did you make the light stands?
+Mark Wesley I just put together some PVC pipe (heavier weight PVC tubing) from the local hardware store. They're not the greatest because they tend to flex so much. This is why I haven't done a DIY episode on those. I think it is actually worth buying a proper light stand instead.
When doing a White Background set up, I notice I get some anti-aliasing around the subject's ear and especially down along the neck. Could this be a camera bit rate issue?
@@LearnLightAndSoundSessions A7iii XAVC S HD @ 24p 50M. I am at the moment using the kit lense but I don't think that would be the issue.
Yes, likely. Which camera and which format are you shooting?
@Jb Zavala Hmm, I'm not familiar enough with the A7iii to know whether you can record at a higher bitrate? If so, it is definitely worth a try. Best wishes!
Hi Curtis, I'm having real frustrations trying to light the white background. There is always this centre spot that is darker. If I increase the brightness of the light overall, then the centre may get brighter but the sides become too bright. What do you think might be the problem? does the shape of the lights make a difference? I have tired both the spiral CFL bulbs as well as the squarish Neewer CN 216 lights. Both still have that centre dark spot. Thanks!
Bonecrusher27WTF Sounds like you might need more lights to cover the center of the backdrop. Perhaps place one on the floor behind the talent aimed at the center of the backdrop.
Curtis Judd Thanks Curtis! I'll look for a broad light to put on the floor, if they still sell those things at a reasonable price. Best wishes!
i finally know this because you thank you sooo much
You're welcome!
I'm going to be doing this and getting all the same parts (first time trying video anything) but those bulbs are very hard to find. Can you recomend a replacement bulb more readily available?
Hi James. I haven't looked at CFL bulbs in a while and when I search now, it would seem that the world has almost completely switched to LED. Wow!
Here's one I found that you might consider: amzn.to/2rxKgKJ
Whats the difference? If there is none, is there an LED you would recomend? Only doing the white background video to be clear. Thanks!
LEDs are safer as they do not contain mercury and are generally not as delicate. I'd look at these: amzn.to/2ryDuV7
Curtis Judd Thanks! One other question. If i want to get the apple look with entire people in the shot, you know, that makes it look like they're standing in the white basically. Hope that makes sense. It's in those old Mac versus PC ads were they actually got the entire people in the white shot. How do I do that?
All it takes is more room (to back the camera up) and more lights to light the entire backdrop.
Thanks for the video on this. Just curious....why ISO 640?
+sambking I use ISO as my primary exposure control setting, so that I can rely on aperture as a creative control (for depth of field). In this case with the amount of light I had available, 640 worked well.
+Curtis Judd Got it. Thanks for the info!