Hi everyone,
I really want to improve my video quality.
The darkness and lack of light is very frustrating and I don't know what to do to improve.
I record during the daylight with all windows opened and all lights on.
I have tried some heavy duty work lights bought at the home depot, but it didn't help at all.
I don't know what to do. I am so frustrated.
Any help? I am willing to invest into some lights (not too expensive). Do you guys have ideas?
Could the background be an issue? I use black because it looks professional..
Any suggestions would be welcome!
Great topic David!
In this lesson you had pretty good quality:
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/solo-guitar/david-gilmour-style-lesson/
Do you remember what your settings were?
Day light is greatest for sure.
However sometimes I record during evening and here's my light setup add.
-2x70watts lamps from ceiling
-50watts smooth lamp pointing at the neck(headstock)
-50watts heavy lamp pointing at body
-light neon lamp(maybe 20watts) aiming at fingerboard
It's kind a party,I know
Hi David,
I started to use a 500w halogen lamp like this one
in my last lesson, without the grid.
I've paid around 9 euro for it.
I will experiment adding some other lights to avoid shadows.
I tried a construction lamp but didn't have much success (except I managed to heat the apartment).
I came to the conlcusion that the light that gave me good quality was "white" light (produced by desktop/office halogen lamp, not so expensive either) as opposed to the "yellow" one produced by the construction lamp.
But somewhere I got the advise to place something in front of the construction lamp as a light filter - the kind of paper used for bakery in the oven (don't know the word). I haven't tried it though - and be careful to not start a fire though!
Ok, I just got back from a photograph here.
We talked quite a while and he gave me a good adress to get pro lights.
I went there and they were very nice.
They told me to call this other guy next week.
He's a photograph and he happens to be a guitarist too. Perfect combination!
I'll talk to him next week and get what I need.
I'm expecting major improvement sometime next week! :-)
Sounds great David,fingers crossed!!!
What camera do you use David ? Try playing with exposure values on it o get the more light in?
I use that 500W as well. Walli if you don't have money for a pro light difuser, just buy this cheap 500W halogen can, and you can point it in the wall and let the wall difuse the light. Two of this pointed in oposite walls will make your room shine.
The most important is that you don't mix daylight and lamps, so if the daylight is not enough you should darken the room as much as possible and then adding lights
I agree, the natural and artificial lights have different frequency, and the result is not very good, especially if the daylight is too dark. But darkening the windows has side effects too, not only that the outside light cannot enter, but inside light does not disipate out the windows - it stays in the room and disperse.
Actually I have quite good experience with mixing daylight and lamps!
However I haven't done this in a while,winter day time and stuff.
I did some lessons with winter light, and it didn't came out that nice to be honest. With the summer sun it is a whole another story.
That's what I'm saying,waiting for the summer
Summer has its disadvantages too, the Sun can be too bright, and different camera settings are needed. If you have a small window like me, it is the best to record drapes closed. Too much Sun, even in the summer is not a good thing.
Over the summer in my room is this big heat, because the room is on the sunny side of the building, so I don't know what to do. I know - must get air conditioner from my next salary
I empathise with you Ivan - no air con here either and in Summer it gets really hot - often over 45 outside and so hot electronics starts to overheat and shut down (I do as well). Personally, air con isn't a solution as it does my throat and chest no good. All I can do is to try and work late in the evening and early in the morning before the sun cooks us.
Oh man you just reminded me how hot it gets to be in my room here where I record..I guess for me it will be impossible to work (all the lights will add up to heat)...
I'll have to get air con installed here by then..I know its not good (have it in other room) but I'll have no other choice
That's the exact problem that I have too, specially now when summers are warmer adn warmer each year. I've recorded a few lessons while the temperature was around 30 degrees inside, and MAN it is hot with a 500W halogen lamp on! Now, in the winter, I keep my 500Watter on all the time when shooting and it warmes up my room pretty nicely, even with the windows halfopen! Waiting for the summer....
I always have a looong shower after recoding during summer,you'll get the idea!
And spot on air condition Tony,it's non natural cooling/heating system and
might lead to very bad health problems,
I know my dad has got many,specially when driving car with AC.
Btw,good to see you back and well Tony,
I was missing your posts a lot!!
Stay off the AC Bogdan, Muris is right, you could really get health problems that way in the long run.
In the summer my preparations for lessons will be: towel, camera, towel, light, towel, guitar,
Yeah, I'm with you...say no to Air conditioning, during my last visit to L.A. (American people use it a Looooooooooooooot) people look at me like martian when I asked, "can you please shut off the air conditioning" and they "Why, the desert is Hot and Sunny"
Just wanted to give you an update.
I'm getting some lights today. :-)
Can't wait!
That's great Walli-man Tell us what you bought when you come home!
Thanks for everyones' help guys!
I bought some new lights yesterday. I invested but thought it would really help to get a better pro look.
This is what I got: http://www.smithvictor.com/products/detail.asp?prodid=104&id=14&pid=1&s1=Lighting+Kits&s2=Photoflood+Kits&nm=KT1500U+THRIFTY+INTERMEDIATE+KIT
I filmed my 1st video yesterday and it looks SOOOO much better!
I need to edit but will post a sample here soon.
Congratulations Walli! This kit looks awesome man. Can't wait to see the lesson!
Looks like a cool setup Dave - can't wait to see the results!
Those lights look awesome,I'm sure improvement will be huge,congrats!
Great kit you got there David !! I'm sure they are well worth the money!! They look great...I would like to buy something similar if I could find it here.. Can't wait for the sample video!
Here's a sample!
Let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions to improve this even more. :-)
Light_test.wmv ( 2.92MB )
: 159
Thanks for sample !! I can see that this is a definitive improvement !
Sounds really great David!!
Have you checked the quality/image after you upload it?
This looks great And you have only one light? And where is it positioned?
Only one remark, in one moment in second part there the neck was too shiny, nothing else
Thanks guys!
Dejan, the kit came with 3 lights. :-)
You're right about the shiny neck. I'll try to fix that.
I checked quality Muris, it doesn't loose a little of the quality after uploading, but not too much..
Muris, since you're using Vegas to, what settings do you covert to?
I use regular 150W standing light bought at Home Depot.
I just sit closer to the light.
The distance makes a huge difference.
I export it as Mov.(Multimedia 320-240),29fps,Sorenson 3 video codec.
That's sort of settings that gives me fine results without getting too big file.
hey walli, the new sample looks great. try to play with your codec and bightness and color in vegas to get even better results. Muris gave a fine example. I suggest wmv file, quality VBR 97%,
hey walli, the new sample looks great. try to play with your codec and bightness and color in vegas to get even better results. Muris gave a fine example. I suggest wmv file, quality VBR 97%,
Looks good I need some investigation and new light to improve quality !!
Hi all
I just ordered one of those 500 W halogen lamps after i read you could get one for 9 euro.. found one for 12 euros at a local webshop.
Hopefully it will help me get rid of that yellowish hue my macgyver-rigged light-setup causes.
What lamp does that Mcgyver set uses Trond? Is it halogen too?
I cannibalized a few 40 w wall lamps and connected them on a 1.5 meter board facing downards on me.
Not the best results, but gave me lightning enough for the first video.
Hey that's interesting idea. Maybe if you glue some alu foil on that board you can get even better results. just a thought.
Hm.. I'll give that a try
Great first lesson Trond!
You're lightning seems really good for me btw.
Improvements are always posible, but your quality is more than enough Well done Trond !!
Yes man, your videos look great judging on your first lesson. Great job there!
David,my latest settings is Avi with xvid codec,pixel aspect ratio at 1,0926 ,
frame size multimedia 320x240.
I tried with MainConcept AVC/AAC(mp4) as well,it looks awesome on my PC(and file is pretty damn small)
but it's not supported here,it includes H264 codec tho.
Sure,will stay tuned.
Have you installed the K Lite codec pack? You can find it on internet for download. It has decent codecs and it works for me... hope this helps..
I did but it didn't help me a lot to be honest...
Then I took Morgan's pack,I still cannot export wmv
BUT now I can import Avi in Vegas,which I couldn't before,
I'd had to convert all videos from cam into Mov and then do editing in Vegas.
When you install K Lite (or any other pack) you have to deinstall all other packs in order to avoid conflict issues. Some programs still use the old pack etc..
I'm glad you can now import avi. Try experimetning a little, and maybe you can export wmv, or avi too.
Sure,I had to reinstall all other packs before installing KLite but it didn't helped a lot,
you know,Widows stuff .
I was able to export Avi before,it's just that I couldn't import it in Vegas.
Well,I'm not that great in video/codecs area to be honest with you.
Did you try maybe some other packs? I use separate XVid and Divx packs besides K Lite. I can put it on share (they are free) if you want. They are about 7.5MB There's no cost in trying
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