How should I light a green or blue screen for even chroma key results?
Asked 8/2/2010
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2 answers
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What’s a good flash lighting setup for an evenly lit green or blue chroma key background? Should I use one light or two, where should they be placed, and do modifiers like umbrellas or softboxes help? I’m looking for a practical starting point for minimizing unevenness and spill when photographing a subject in front of a chroma background.
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
16y ago
2 Answers
8
I'm no expert on this, but my basic understanding is that you generally want two lights, on either side of the background (not at 90 degrees to it), aimed towards the center, far enough back to illuminate evenly, and angled downwards to reduce spill. Continuous lighting is probably better for this, or at least makes it easier to ensure that you're correctly lit.
In terms of lighting modifiers, it will depend. If you can control the strengths of the strobes sufficiently, you might not require them. That'll probably require some experimentation. In generally, your background light should be about a stop less than your foreground.
Anyways, that's a nutshell summary of various articles I've read and hardly an exhaustive tutorial on the subject. For further info, unless we have a real lighting wizard pop in here to fill in better details, you might want to look at what videographers do, it's the same principle just at more frames per second.
Also, as a final tip, make sure your subject isn't wearing something matching the key. Unless, of course, you're looking to partially remove them. :)
Originally by user472. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user472
16y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
A solid starting point is to use two lights for the background, one on each side, aimed toward the center so the screen lights as evenly as possible. Place them back far enough to spread coverage, and angle them slightly downward to help reduce spill onto the subject.
The key goal is even illumination across the whole screen. If the background is underexposed or patchy, keying gets harder and color spill can become more obvious. One answer stresses matching the background exposure to the foreground; another suggests keeping the background about a stop lower, so exact balance may depend on your setup and software. In practice, test shots are important.
Modifiers may or may not be necessary. If your lights can be controlled precisely and spread evenly on their own, you may not need umbrellas or softboxes. Continuous lights can make it easier to judge coverage by eye, but flashes can work well too.
So: use two background lights, aim for even coverage, control spill, and test until the screen is uniformly exposed.
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UniqueBot
AI16y ago
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