My pale skin is not so pale afterall...

[kammenos]

Hello Guys, first time here

I just got myself a new set of gears to begin shooting my videos. I got a canon legria HFR406, a mic with boom, and 2 light fixtures (softbox) each one with 3x150W CFLs 5500K color. My problem is that in the videos my skin appears somewhat.. pale. Which is not! I asked a photographer and told me to get this powder #3 and apply. This powder actually reduced the shining, nevertheless my skin still appears paler than normal.

Is it the 6x150 W CFLs too much? Should i reduce? Should i add more? Is the 5500K color correct? My setup is i have one fixture on the left at about 2 meters away (6 feet) and the other one is on the right side about the same distance.

I tried different camera settings but i had no luck. The camera is about 6 meters away (20feet) and there is an autocue underneath scrolling the script.

Thanks guys!

 

[dgatwood]

I'm assuming that you're using automatic aperture, etc. If so, be aware that with video cameras, if you have a dark background, faces tend to wash out in automatic mode—often very badly. Try full manual mode if the camera has one, and then roll back the aperture considerably so your face is in a range where the highlights don't come anywhere near blowing out.

 

[kammenos]

as a background i have a green background, you know a green paper background for later editing and removing it (keying i think its called).
In manual mode i can change the white balance to "automatic, tungsten, daylight" and there is also one setting which i press, does something weird and then sets the white balance to a custom but i cannot change it manually. I can also change the exposure manually.
What is the "aperture"? Is this the "exposure" thing?

 

[ajfotofilmagem]

Fluorescent lamps can have many different colors, but as a rule they all have rather poor color reproduction of the region of the red, and green colors in excess. Search for "Color Rendering Index" to understand better. The green background that you are using for "Chroma key" also reflects green light back to the person's skin. You could try another type of lamp, such as Halogen, or HMI. Either way, it is essential to make the "White Balance" in the camera before you start recording. You can read about the concept on the link below

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_rendering_index