Would 2 lights solve my DSLR green screen noises?

Question

I would like to make a presentation at the background and the human which is "green screened".

I tried with my DSLR Nikon D5200.

So for now the result is like in this short video: https://streamable.com/nf5tk.

The result is quite bad, because of noises. I tried to use small lamps to fix it but I could not. I read a lot and ask a question here already and it seems that fix can be made only by adding more professional light.

So I would like to ask if 2 softboxes with 4 bulbs each, 35W, 5500K would fix it? Is it enough? Would it fix noises at the human body in the video I have posted? I think to put them 45 degree in on both sides pointed at the human and green screen which is behind the human.

Eventually I can buy the third lamp like below and point it in front of the human. But I would prefer to save this money, since recording video is not my hobby.

Answer 1

The result of your key depends on many things. It would have been really nice to see a still of your footage before you keyed it. I believe you are working in after effects, which has a pretty solid keyer built-in called "keylight". Using the clip white and clip black settings under the matte-section will help you clean noise from foreground and background. You might want to throw a "roughen edges" onto your keyed footage and set everything to 0 before raising the amount gradually, which will give you a bit of a softer edge.

Other than that, proper lighting will be your only hope. Look for wrinkles in the screen, or shadows you or anything else throws onto it. Try standing as far away from the greenscreen as you can to minimize spill (the bounces green light thrown back at your body) and to avoid shadows of yourself on the screen. If the color of the greenscreen differs from the foreground at every place and has no shadows or wrinkles on it, you should be good to go.

If you want to you can send me a short clip of your unkeyed footage so I can try to key it as best as I can, so we can see how far you can push your current setup. Have a blessed day :)

Answer 2

Some thoughts about this question.

it seems that fix can be made only by adding more professional light.

Where to start?

The problem you have is noise. Period.

Noise is a product of low light, yes, but where does this low light is originated is the real question.

What aperture are you using and why? what shutter speed and why? and after these considerations you are probably compensating with high iso.

The answer to noise is simply more light. Open a window, put a brighter light bulb or put the lights closer to the subject.

"Professional light" does not say much. You need to understand the characteristics of light.

• Power

• Color

• Color rendition

• Quality (size)

• Direction

• Distance (falloff)

• Quantity

if 2 softboxes with 4 bulbs each, 35W, 5500K would fix it? Is it enough?

This answer is probably a bit late and you have already solved your question. But the answer is yes if they are at the proper distance considering other factors like the aperture of the lens.

The led light does not provide a real advantage to the problem, it has a different quality compared to the softbox but has other advantages like portability, but all those are different issues.