Sorry John, I don’t know the technical aspects of these lights...

I can’t say anything about it

@Karkes

Hi

Checking the video you posted the green background is contaminated with blue which is what I suspected.

The colour temperature is a measure of the colour spectrum of the light, the higher the number the more blue is in the light. A warm white is ~2700 - 3200K, neutral white is ~ 3500K, Daylight is about 6500K, ie is more blue.

I suspect that the 2 floodlights give a much bluer light then the LED lights, they may have 6500K lamps and the LED lights are 3500K - these values should be stated on the LED lights, they may even have a range of colour settings, and the lamps in the floods. If this is correct than it would account for the high level of blue I measured in the video

John EB

Thank you guys!

It is a backdrop John

@Karkes Hi, i was just looking into light wavelengths, i found this link

So i searched for lamps in the 565 nanometer range, they're mostly 'Marine & Reef Performance LED Lamps, but it would be interesting if such a lamp was a good 'green' lamp or maybe a line to follow to find good green screen lamps, just a thought, all the studio lighting talks of daylight lamps in 5500k etc. https://www.thoughtco.com/the-visible-light-spectrum-2699036

Lighting for video: the colour temperature

https://www.photonia.net/lighting-for-video-the-color-temperature/

@Former user

Hi

The big issue with mixing of 2 or more different types of light source for video and photography is White (Colour) Balance.

Which does the camera use (Auto mode), or the user select (manual mode), for determining the White Balance setting of the camera - many users tend to rely on Auto to get this right.

You may have noticed in your videos if you are recording indoors under tungsten or halogen lights and a window is just in shot - the outside through the window looks very blue/cold.

In @Karkes situation there is also the added complication of the green backdrop which is dominating the scene, this would skew the cameras Auto setting.

The ideal solution in this scenario, and many others, would be to use a 18% Grey Scale card to set and lock the white balance manually in the camera, it can also be used to lock the exposure setting as well.

The young lady holding the card in front of her where it is illuminated by the LED lights would give the correct setting to maintain good flesh tones and resolve the green backdrop trying to dominate the white balance setting.

John EB

Than you very much for all your information guys!

@johnebaker @Karkes @Former user

Hi all.

I have never used a green screen for live video work and most of my limited use with backdrops are to do with stills photography and situations similar to shooting into a light-box but on a larger studio scale. I have also in the past watched TV and film crews do large scale use of green screen for outside shoots.

The things I notice about the video outside shoots and the similarity to doing stills studio work is how bright you have to light the main subject matter to reduce unwanted shadow effects. In the case with video I'm assuming that anything that moves within a given frame and causes blur will increase bleed-through and not produce a sharp mask if the lighting is not illuminating the blur areas sufficiently. I don't know if a more even lighting wrapping around the edges more to the sides would reduce that or not or whether it would be better to reduce the exposure time of each frame to reduce blur.

In Karkes example you see the blur from a still image.

So when you try to produce what is in effect a moving mask you get this.

Areas of grey that amount to bleed through when applying a background that increases or decreases depending on the strength of the lighting in those places or the amount of movement where portions then don't reflect enough light to keep the edges sharp.

My result therefore looked like this

.

Am I correct thinking like this?

The video bye the way is only visible through accessing the link from this thread. It is not on general public view.

Ray.

Thank u Ray!!

@Karkes, @CubeAce

Hi

The smearing of hands in the green screen video is aggravated by the low framerate of 23.976 fps - you can see how bad it is if you step through 11:14 to 11:19 in the video.

The speed of the young lady's hands are travelling across the field of view at a fast enough rate that there is a smearing of the hands due to the distance moved while the 'shutter' is open.

Recording at a higher framerate eg 50 or 60 fps would give the Chromakey effect a much better chance of working.

John EB

Thank u John!!

@johnebaker @Karkes @Former user

Hi John.

I wholeheartedly agree with the frame rate choice and one reason I use different frame rates for different projects depends on whether there is fast movement or not as well as lighting conditions generally. However speeding up the frame rate may in poorer lighting may also push up the ISO value of the recording if the exposure time is not sufficient at the frame rate selected and does not give each frame enough exposure time. With good strong lighting this should not be an issue. What also concerns me with faster exposure times regardless of frame rate is the time between frames where no image is captured, this can result in the eye seeing several overlays of the moving subject rather than a smoother movement upon playback. An example such as looking at a drummer's drumsticks while playing. Every decision pays a price up to a point and decisions sometimes have to be made as to what is least visually distracting.

The last point I would like to make is the green screen effects offered within most video editors are quite basic compared to a dedicated green screen plugin that a TV or film company would have at their disposal such as the one offered by Boris Effects shown below which offers many more tools for refinement of the green screen images produced, so maybe expecting similar results from the in house effects offered within most video editors may be difficult to achieve for more complex or demanding shoots.

I believe this is an OFX plugin so should work within MEP of VPX but not cheap.

https://www.vegascreativesoftware.com/gb/boris-fx-video-plug-ins/boris-fx-continuum/

https://www.vegascreativesoftware.com/fileadmin/user_upload/products/borisfx_video_plugins/Continuum/videos/boris-fx-continuum-primatte-int.mp4

Ray.

@CubeAce That second link of the greenscreen looks good, I'd love that but HOW MUCH 😱😱😱😲😂😂

Have you deleted that second link?

@Former user

The difference between Pro level adjustment and enthusiast 😂😂😂.

Add on top of that it is updated as often as MEP or VPX.

It was ever thus.

On the plus side we are about where the TV weather presenters were in the early90s.

[Edit] have reinstated video link.

Ray.

@Former user

Hi Gid.

That is only part of that package Gid. The whole package does much more than green screen.

I would invest in it if I had more use for each bit and was not worried about the lifespan of the product.

This is the type of plugin that one should be able to rent for short periods on line.

Ray.

@CubeAce @Former user

It's only $25/month. Go for it! OK, try first and hope that it works on your machine.

I'll stick with clicking on Chromakey Color.

John CB

My dad died Nov last yr, I might be getting some cash, my only hobby is filming my work n messing around with this MEP uploading vids to YT, although i like to keep those YT vids as simple as poss, they're educational not entertainment It does frustrate me sometimes a little the limitations in MEP & seeing as i'm getting old, spending more time sitting doing this so i might invest, I have over £15k of tools I just spent £450 on a cordless chainsaw, a couple of yrs ago a £1000 on a chopsaw/mitre saw to compliment the £1000 Domino cutter i bought,

Might look into Vegas Pro too.

What the hell eh 🤣🤣👍👍

@browj2 @Former user

Hi.

Before I would even think about this type of plugin I would also think about it's impact on render times even on a powerful system. I don't want to go back to waiting 16 hours of video rendering for ten minutes of video produced.

If I was getting paid for it yes, but for a hobby?

I watch some video production companies on YouTube talk about their render times on machines and servers much more powerful than I have and have no illusions as to expectations. Much easier, cheaper, and less time consuming to get it right in camera than in post production. The reasons the tools exist for professional production is CG is more cost effective than building large sets and having massive cast extras. Even now they are cutting costs further by producing massive studio video walls instead as backgrounds to work with. Maybe we should aim to have one of those instead 😂😉.

Ray.

😂 @CubeAce @browj2 Yeah it would prob be just a toy until i buy a super dooper computer 😁 , I would still have on my PC & be able to do my simple YT stuff on MEP 20201 ? I see John has VideoPro X(12); MEP2021 Plus; MM2021 Premium, are all those on the same PC & can be open individually as n when wanted?

@Former user @CubeAce

Those and much more are on my desktop computer, now rather long in the tooth. I usually have VPX and Xara open at the same time, plus a few other things. Today, I added in MEP2021 on top of VPX, Xara and Word. Then, I ran the screen capture program to capture in MEP what I forgot to get for the tutorial that I'm working on. Oh yes, I also have a few Windows Explorers open plus Edge.

I've been playing with Photo Manager more and it will likely be open more often than before.

The only killer is opening BluffTitler. It causes the fan to take off.

John CB

@browj2 so i could have that fancy Vegas & Boris stuff to play with when i wish but Open MEP Plus 2021 to knock out a simple vid? , my YT videos only get the clips cut to length n a short crossfade transition between, occasionally a pic thrown in here n there but nowt fancy.

@Former user

Hi Gid.

John EB [Edit, meant to put John CB] tends to stick to an HD resolution when working on his projects. At least of what I have seen so far. I may have missed some. You will find if you start to work at 4K or higher that a system will quickly clog up opening more than one program at a time. For a starters I would probably have to double my 32GB of ram.

Also although I can open a MEP project in VPX and alter it, the project never then opens correctly in MEP ever again if I use any additional effects in VPX. Any Titling programs able to work in 3D or add complex shading effects will also have a direct hit on performance. I like the relative simplicity of MEP but also appreciate the more subtle controls of the same effects with benefits that VPX offers although I don't find I always need them.

Vegas is another editor that has some benefits as do other editors but projects can't be swapped around and the learning curves and drawbacks I find frustrating sometimes. I still maintain that content and quality of output is more important than effects. Most of what I watch has little to no effects whatsoever. Titling and opening sequences often are but are also often subtle and well produced.

I think video production is like good medical help and surgery should be a last resort and prevention is better than cure. 😆

Ray.