Fixing lighting in background at DVinfo.net

Dennis Stevens · October 7th, 2008, 01:31 PM

Here's what happened:

I got permission to film in an actual diner. We started in the afternoon, and did our last scene just as the sun was setting.

The action takes place in a booth right up against the windows. We had the curtains drawn, but obviously there's light from outside.

Except for the last scene we shot, were it is noticeably darker outside. This can't be explained in the story, it's an obvious continuity problem. I was thinking there might be a way in compositing to help this?

PJ Gallagher · October 7th, 2008, 09:22 PM

Hi Dennis,

Any chance you can post a couple of frame grabs to show what the two different lighting states are like? And, what compositing software do you have access to?

Cheers
Pat

Dennis Stevens · October 8th, 2008, 06:39 AM

I tried doing that, I keep getting 'Request Entity Too Large'. The files are .bmp, and 2.63 MB which seems under the legal limit.

Any ideas?

PJ Gallagher · October 8th, 2008, 04:10 PM

You can email them to me if you like. Although please note that I may be of absolutely no use to you whatsoever ;-)

pat(at)caliburnproductions.com

Chris Coulson · October 9th, 2008, 03:00 AM

See if you can save the frame grabs as JPG or PNG, as BMP will alwyas be too large, but jpg or PNG are compressed and will be a lot smaller.

Dennis Stevens · October 10th, 2008, 03:11 PM

That seems to have worked!

Chris Barcellos · October 10th, 2008, 03:45 PM

Maybe those grabs aren't representative, but it doesn't look that off. What software are you using. Have you thought of selecting out the curtain area, and just adjusting levels so they will be closer ? In her shot, I notice it is a bit translucent, and I assume that is more what issue is ? Are the shots lock down or is there camera movement during shots. Is it possible to reshoot current and do background replacement.

Dennis Stevens · October 11th, 2008, 07:33 AM

Yeah, that's pretty representative. Basically it's only the 'darkerscene.jpg.' bit, which isn't very long, that's the problem.

Maybe I could even leave it as is, and suffer the slings and arrows of people who dig into stuff like that. But it would be nice to fix it, or make it less noticeable.

You are correct, it is the translucent light coming through the curtains.

I have Adobe Production Studio CS, so I have Premiere Pro CS, Adobe AE CS, Photoshop, Illustrator, etc.

George Kroonder · October 11th, 2008, 11:10 AM

From the look of it you should be able to pull a luma mask off of the curtains; it will take some cleaning up, but if you feather it you can use it to just brighten these up.

You can also double up the footage in AE and play with the blending modes and layer opacity to brighten up the scene.

If the highlights are headlights (from cars) you could duplicate the footage and timeshift it a bit, then track the lights for a moving mask. Only if the curtains are not moving and you are locked down.

George/

October 7th, 2008, 01:31 PM	#1
Dennis Stevens Major Player Join Date: May 2006 Location: Boston, Massachusetts Posts: 425	Fixing lighting in background Here's what happened: I got permission to film in an actual diner. We started in the afternoon, and did our last scene just as the sun was setting. The action takes place in a booth right up against the windows. We had the curtains drawn, but obviously there's light from outside. Except for the last scene we shot, were it is noticeably darker outside. This can't be explained in the story, it's an obvious continuity problem. I was thinking there might be a way in compositing to help this?

October 10th, 2008, 03:11 PM	#6
Dennis Stevens Major Player Join Date: May 2006 Location: Boston, Massachusetts Posts: 425	That seems to have worked! Attached Thumbnails

October 10th, 2008, 03:45 PM	#7
Chris Barcellos Inner Circle Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Elk Grove CA Posts: 6,838	Maybe those grabs aren't representative, but it doesn't look that off. What software are you using. Have you thought of selecting out the curtain area, and just adjusting levels so they will be closer ? In her shot, I notice it is a bit translucent, and I assume that is more what issue is ? Are the shots lock down or is there camera movement during shots. Is it possible to reshoot current and do background replacement. __________________ Chris J. Barcellos

October 11th, 2008, 11:10 AM	#9
George Kroonder Major Player Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Utrecht, NL \| Europe 3rd Rock from the Sun Posts: 612	From the look of it you should be able to pull a luma mask off of the curtains; it will take some cleaning up, but if you feather it you can use it to just brighten these up. You can also double up the footage in AE and play with the blending modes and layer opacity to brighten up the scene. If the highlights are headlights (from cars) you could duplicate the footage and timeshift it a bit, then track the lights for a moving mask. Only if the curtains are not moving and you are locked down. George/ Last edited by George Kroonder; October 12th, 2008 at 03:20 AM. Reason: Bad grammar

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October 7th, 2008, 09:22 PM	#2
PJ Gallagher Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Canberra, Australia Posts: 78	Hi Dennis, Any chance you can post a couple of frame grabs to show what the two different lighting states are like? And, what compositing software do you have access to? Cheers Pat

October 8th, 2008, 06:39 AM	#3
Dennis Stevens Major Player Join Date: May 2006 Location: Boston, Massachusetts Posts: 425	I tried doing that, I keep getting 'Request Entity Too Large'. The files are .bmp, and 2.63 MB which seems under the legal limit. Any ideas?

October 8th, 2008, 04:10 PM	#4
PJ Gallagher Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Canberra, Australia Posts: 78	You can email them to me if you like. Although please note that I may be of absolutely no use to you whatsoever ;-) pat(at)caliburnproductions.com

October 9th, 2008, 03:00 AM	#5
Chris Coulson Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Kent, UK Posts: 101	See if you can save the frame grabs as JPG or PNG, as BMP will alwyas be too large, but jpg or PNG are compressed and will be a lot smaller.

October 11th, 2008, 07:33 AM	#8
Dennis Stevens Major Player Join Date: May 2006 Location: Boston, Massachusetts Posts: 425	Yeah, that's pretty representative. Basically it's only the 'darkerscene.jpg.' bit, which isn't very long, that's the problem. Maybe I could even leave it as is, and suffer the slings and arrows of people who dig into stuff like that. But it would be nice to fix it, or make it less noticeable. You are correct, it is the translucent light coming through the curtains. I have Adobe Production Studio CS, so I have Premiere Pro CS, Adobe AE CS, Photoshop, Illustrator, etc.