The astute reader is probably now asking, “Why isn’t white always white? What’s the big deal?” Here is another example of why human imaging capabilities far surpass electronic imaging technology of today. Suppose you were to look at a white table cloth in a dance lounge where the DJ had a lot of multi-colored lighting flooding the dance floor. Would the white table cloth still look white to you? Probably not. The exact same limitation exists for electronic imaging except that it is far more narrow. Outdoor light is a different color or temperature than indoor tungsten light. The human brain is able to process the difference and white still looks white to you whether you are outside or indoors. Electronic imaging technology has not come that far yet. Recent technology developments have enabled an auto white balance capability commonly used in consumer grade cameras which is not too bad at white balancing. However, the pro videographer cannot settle for such white balancing and usually will want to manually capture a white balance before each shot.

There are two fundamental conditions that are commonly light balanced for: outdoor and indoor. While each has variations within, generally speaking outdoor light is 5700K (degrees Kelvin) and indoor tungsten lighting is 3200K. With a camera white balanced for outdoor imaging white will have a yellow hue when captured indoors. An indoor white balanced camera will show white outdoors with a bluish hue.

The Sony Playstation 3 is particularly good at upresolving DVD movies to high definition.

However, it is important to note that an upresolved DVD movie is only improved and not competition for native high definition imaging. Native HD Blu-ray movies remain far superior to upresolved DVDs.

For weddings we have found that it is better to have an evenly lit overall appearance so we ask the site staff to lower the overhead lights. You would think that we would crave any lighting we could get but this sort of lighting is counter-productive to good imaging. The surrounding ambient lighting is more than sufficient to allow us to capture fabulous video.

For staged events where almost all of the activity to be captured happens at a specific location such as a graduation ceremony, we elect to leave the overhead lighting unchanged. Intense light on the subject allows us to capture vivid color and skin tones that pop and look extremely pleasant to the video viewer. The background surrounding the speaker takes on a darker tone that corresponds with its lesser significance.

High definition videography is more than just increasing the resolution. It is also about making those appearing in the video movie appear more favorable. At the same time we want to always draw attention to the subject matter of the movie rather than allow the viewer’s attention to migrate away to meaningless details on the footage.  The classic example of this is human skin.

There are times in story-telling movies when we will show a closeup of a woman’s face. In 1920 x 1080 high definition when the subject’s cheeks occupy 75% of the screen we can clearly see the subject’s skin pores. This may seem like no big deal but the problem is that the viewer actually registers seeing the skin pores qualifying it as a distraction. Think about it: Suppose we are capturing a bride’s excitement at the altar. The viewer can see the bride’s imagination in her composure but also sees and registers seeing her skin pores!  This is NOT what story-telling is all about even if there are no blemishes what-so-ever. And may heaven help us if there is some skin anomaly that in real life nobody would otherwise notice.

The astute reader is now posing the question, “So, what can be done?” At W. Cardone Productions we have been capturing video in high definition for several years as of the time of this writing and we have developed some cures for situations such as this.

One solution is to use a special effect filter when capturing the original footage. The Schott-Desag B270 Crown Optical HD Glass Filter is a filter targeted for the HD shooter. This technological breakthrough gives HD shooters the touch of softness they want but with no resulting loss of contrast or detail.

The shortcoming of the optical filter approach is that there is almost never time to be re-configuring equipment and then changing it back again in event videography. Optical filters are, however, an excellent choice for studio videography where we might be capturing a toothpaste commercial, but not weddings.

A better choice is to adjust the image in the edit room. We create what might be called a “dreamy effect.” We do this by superimposing a video over itself such that now we have two copies of the same video playing simultaneously except that we only use one audio track. On the lower video we apply a slight blur and leave the upper video unchanged except for changing its opacity. The result is a stunning capture of all the detail HD has to offer without the distracting skin pores.

Lighting used in video capture depends on a variety of factors. These include the limitation for practical reasons and the necessity to use lighting.

First, a brief discussion of what lighting does for video imaging is presented. Any imaging system requires a minimum amount of light to produce optimum results including the human eye. Optimum results are usually interpreted to mean vibrant colors and fine detail of the image. When some of that minimum light is discarded, the colors begin to fade while fine detail is still present. Taking away still more light, the imaging electronics begin to compensate by amplifying (increasing the video gain) of the light that it is working with. Increasing the gain a slight amount is usually not noticeable in the results although significantly increased gain will result in graininess or loss of some minor fine detail in the image.

I would identify four different grades of available light:

• Excellent: colors will be vibrant and pop, detail will be optimum. Usually this is only attainable indoors with auxiliary lighting or outdoors without.
• Good: colors will look very nice with fine detail. This is usually attainable indoors with no auxiliary lighting.
• Poor: colors will be bland and video gain may increase slightly.
• Insufficient: camera gain will max out causing noticeable graininess in the image. Usually halving the shutter speed improves these results dramatically while the resulting motion blur is almost imperceptible. Tight zooms are prohibited.

The Practical Limitation Preventing use of Auxiliary Lighting

There are times when it is not practical to use portable studio lighting such as at a wedding ceremony. This is not only because it would be a distraction but because the distances usually involved between the camcorder and subjects are large making any supplemental lighting ineffective. Fortunately, most sanctuaries have sufficient ambient light for good imaging as defined by the category “good” above.

We do, however, routinely use on-camera lighting at wedding receptions. Please ask to see samples showing how vibrant colors become in even dimly lit dance floors.

Here is a curious note: Some sanctuaries have large sky lights letting in a flood of exterior lighting. When this lighting mixes with the indoor ceiling lighting, a color mis-match occurs which is MURDER for video imaging. The temperature of outdoor lighting is 5700K while indoor lighting is 3200K. Video imaging can deal with one or the other but not both simultaneously. The usual solution for these cases is to have the site manager turn off the indoor lighting even though it gives us less light to work with.

The Necessity to use Auxiliary Lighting

There also times when it would be foolish not to use studio lighting such at a studio interview. Still, there are other times when acceptable results are possible without lighting but the client wants stunning imaging. What it really comes down to is a trade-off between operational conditions and what level of results are required.

Use makeup sparingly. Eye liner and mascara are okay when used lightly.

Face powder should closely match your skin coloring.

If there will be any close-ups of your hands, give yourself a manicure.

Consider your hair color when choosing your outfit; if your hair is light (blonde or all grey) then lighter colors are okay. Beige, light grey, pink, light blue and most pastels are fine.

Men: Follow the same rules for choosing a tie—a non-shiny plain tie which complements your suit is best.

What happens when wearing jet black or bright white is that the NTSC standard called IRE can be exceeded. We simply lose some amount of detail in the image. It is not a lot and most people might not notice unless you had side-by-side comparisons to show them.

In this same line of thought, avoid Easter egg oranges and candy apple reds. In most cases we can still deliver excellent imaging even with these colors but it does push the envelope of what is technically challenging.

Avoid wearing any “loud” patterns like plaids, stripes, or checks. The smaller the detail with the prints, the more challenge presented. Herringbone weaves are especially to be avoided.

Avoid wearing eye shadow, especially dark or vibrant blue. Rouge is to be avoided as it stands out garishly on camera. Likewise, avoid deep red and glossy types of lipstick.

For clothing arrangements avoid picking contrasting colors such as very dark with very light colored clothing.

Don’t wear any “glittery” material like sequins, or anything that is very shiny and reflects light. These will draw attention to themselves and away from you and your message. To some extent eyeglasses are included in this consideration although at least they tend to maintain a consistent plane and when using studio lighting we can adjust for it.

Don’t wear anything distracting loud or distracting such as a sweater with a large turkey embroidered on it or a Mickey Mouse T-shirt.

Consider first of all that the NTSC (National Television System Committee) television standard, developed in the early 1950s, defines limits for what is black and what is white. Consequently, we can produce superior imaging if we will just recognize and allow for these limitations. With a vector scope connected to the camcorder we can gain a slight advantage by readily identifying when these limits are exceeded. While we at W. Cardone Productions will use a vector scope for scheduled videography such as an interview where we are using studio lighting, a vector scope is inappropriate and unworkable for typical event videography such as a wedding. It always pays to be attentive to good imaging practices with regard to how you dress and appear for the camera.

In posts to follow we will explain some of these considerations.