Hi,
I'm filming some pieces-to-camera against a white background, and inadvertently in the last piece the very slightest ege of the light barn door is in shot. Is there some method of removing this in post - say, maybe a mask of some description, or some other method? I have never one anything like this before, so a process spelled out would be much appreciated.
Further to this, the white background is not the most evenly lit, and I'm blasting the exposure in-camera and still pumping it up in post to get what ultimately is a decent final result. Any suggestions as to how to improve?
Thank you,
DC
The paint effect in Avid will allow you to clone part of a shot and move it over another part.
Failing that, depending on how small an edge you're talking about you could use 3d warp or frame flex to blow the shot up a little. If they all have to match, blow them all up the same amount.
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Carl Amoscato | Freelance Film & Video Editor | London, UK
I've had that happened to me as well, when the talent went past the edge of a screen and the image in the camera LCD didn't show it at the time.
What I ended up doing was rotoscoping around an arm and a leg for the frames in question, keyed out the background, duplicated the clip on the next track down, and then moved the lower track to find a clean section of the screen. Noone ever noticed.
Dave S.
The latest version of After Effects has incorporated a video version of Adobe's Content Aware Fill feature, which has been so successful in Photoshop.
It replaces an object with a seamless copy of the background and can be tracked.
Thank you, all. In a way, I'm kinda glad this has happened as it's a challenge to solve - an extra string to the bow. I don't have AE, so looking for solutions just in MC.
To expand on this, my studio set-up is rather cramped, so I have to tighten the frame from a head & shoulders-only shot. I have the NewBlue FX green-screen plug-in and there I can, if chosen, shoot a full length body, which then would include filming the 4-point lighting set-up, then simply mask around just the body, key out the green, and replace the entire extraneous with the desired background. Likewise, here, with a white background, and by whichever method most suitably works, can I film the entire, including the lights, and simpy work around? This would solve two issues: framing (in a cramped space), plus the present unevenness of the lit white background.
Can anyone advise?
Supermandan1:I have the NewBlue FX green-screen plug-in and there I can, if chosen, shoot a full length body, which then would include filming the 4-point lighting set-up, then simply mask around just the body, key out the green, and replace the entire extraneous with the desired background. Likewise, here, with a white background, and by whichever method most suitably works, can I film the entire, including the lights, and simpy work around?
I don't know the plug-in you're talking about, so I'm not sure if this is a question about two different things, or two different ways of doing the same thing, or something else.
Hi Carl,
Maybe I could've been clearer here. I was using this as an analogy in terms of masking - that the analogy is a green bg and my present example a white bg may or may not have significance. All I'm getting at here is that if I film on a white bg, in a cramped space where to obtain a full length shot would require having the lighting stands in frame, can I then work around this using masking techniques? The green-screen analogy uses masking to then fully replace the entire bg with a chosen alternative - I've tried it and it is brilliant. In short, can I film lighting stands on the edge of frame against a white bg, with the subject (me) fully-centred, then mask out the stands and fully end up with a smooth white bg completely across the frame with the subject fully remaining?
D.
Supermandan1:In short, can I film lighting stands on the edge of frame against a white bg, with the subject (me) fully-centred, then mask out the stands and fully end up with a smooth white bg completely across the frame with the subject fully remaining?
In theory, yes, if you have the tools to make it look good you can shoot it whatever way you want to and mask to your heart's content. FWIW they used to teach a similar technique for green screen in the advanced media composer effects class (they may still do so).
In practice, using the tools you have to hand? I have no idea. If it works with green screen and your goal is for a fully white background, I think you could just mask the lights with green and then replace whatever background you're using now with white.
There are a couple of issues with doing it the way you're describing. The predominant issue is that unless the white is lit completely evenly across the entire width, you may have issues with tone differences in the areas masked out. You may require color corrections to get them to match the rest of the backdrop. Next, any shadows case by the actors or other objects in the areas to be masked will disappear, So if your actors are moving, you may end up with shadows being cut off.
A better method is to green screen the background instead, use a garbage matte around the lights, and then composite in an appropriate white backdrop. If shadows on the backdrop are required, these can be synthesized from black mattes created from the alpha channel and then pushed through a perspective change. Then alter the opacity of the mattes to make them mostly transparent. This works best on a flat surace.
Hi Dave,
Thanks for the warning. I've typed in "Avid MC mask" in YouTube and come across a load of tutorials. May I ask, can you recommend an appropriate one?
Not having watched any of them, I really couldn't offer an opinion. Look at anything made by Avid. The free ones from Douglas Bruce are also good (though getting dated).
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