How to Light Green Screens For Video
People are using green screen for everything these days, from promotional videos, affiliate videos and corporate videos, but there seems to be no reason for it.
They shoot there whole production on a green screen and then drop in a white background when they edit it together, I don't get it, you should just shoot it on white if that's your end plan.
You'll save yourself a lot of work and aggravation.
However, if you do have a plan in mind for your green screen production, then here are a few tips to keep in mind when shooting it.
The key to effective green screen editing is lighting.
You should light the screen first and as evenly as you can.
Big umbrella lights or soft boxes are good for broad, even lighting.
Then you want to separate the subject from the screen as much as possible, so spot it as far out in front of the background as you can.
Spotlights are good because you can aim them away from the screen.
Use key and fill lights placed a little more out to the side than usual.
The most important thing is that the lighting for your subject doesn't get in the way of the background lighting.
And don't use rim lights-they're likely to cause interference with your software later.
You want to make your subject look like it's actually in your background, not just standing in front of a picture.
That means you have to match the background image's lighting.
If possible, set up your editing suite right where you're shooting so you can adjust your composites in real time.
You'll need to analyze how the background image is lit so you can figure out how to light your own subject.
For example, if the background is nighttime, your subject should be lit for night.
Shadows have to fall in the same direction; the color temperature should be the same; and you can even use lighting effects to simulate the lighting in the background image.
Something else to consider is perspective.
If the subject looks out of proportion (too big or too small) for the background, the effect will be unconvincing at best.
If you've hung your backdrop carefully and lit your subjects well, you should have set up composites that will be technically clean and ready to edit.
Now you can start getting creative with your editing techniques.
Most editing software has lots of tweaks you can make to your green-screened images.
They shoot there whole production on a green screen and then drop in a white background when they edit it together, I don't get it, you should just shoot it on white if that's your end plan.
You'll save yourself a lot of work and aggravation.
However, if you do have a plan in mind for your green screen production, then here are a few tips to keep in mind when shooting it.
The key to effective green screen editing is lighting.
You should light the screen first and as evenly as you can.
Big umbrella lights or soft boxes are good for broad, even lighting.
Then you want to separate the subject from the screen as much as possible, so spot it as far out in front of the background as you can.
Spotlights are good because you can aim them away from the screen.
Use key and fill lights placed a little more out to the side than usual.
The most important thing is that the lighting for your subject doesn't get in the way of the background lighting.
And don't use rim lights-they're likely to cause interference with your software later.
You want to make your subject look like it's actually in your background, not just standing in front of a picture.
That means you have to match the background image's lighting.
If possible, set up your editing suite right where you're shooting so you can adjust your composites in real time.
You'll need to analyze how the background image is lit so you can figure out how to light your own subject.
For example, if the background is nighttime, your subject should be lit for night.
Shadows have to fall in the same direction; the color temperature should be the same; and you can even use lighting effects to simulate the lighting in the background image.
Something else to consider is perspective.
If the subject looks out of proportion (too big or too small) for the background, the effect will be unconvincing at best.
If you've hung your backdrop carefully and lit your subjects well, you should have set up composites that will be technically clean and ready to edit.
Now you can start getting creative with your editing techniques.
Most editing software has lots of tweaks you can make to your green-screened images.
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