[MacDV] A Lighting Question

[Erica Sadun]

>Not Mac specific- just a general question on shooting video, upon 
>which some of you may be able to shed some "light."
>
>Yesterday, I was shooting video of a musician. One performer on 
>stage- playing a very shiny new guitar. I set up a consumer-type DV 
>camcorder on a tripod, about 10 feet in front of (and slightly to 
>the left of) the musician. This camera remained stationary to record 
>the master shot and the master audio. I used another camera to move 
>around the room and shoot different angles.
>
>The main lighting came from two fairly bright spotlights hanging 
>from the ceiling (roughly directly above the camera position) which 
>lit the performer uniformly on both sides. When I started capturing 
>the video from the tripod mounted camera, I noticed the picture was 
>fluctuating between correct exposure and slightly too dark- 
>seemingly a random intervals. After watching carefully, I finally 
>realized what was happening. Every time the guitar reflected one of 
>the spots. the glare would force the camera to adjust it's exposure 
>setting. When the guitar moved- and the glare disappeared- the 
>camera went back to the correct exposure.
>
>So far, I haven't come up with any bright ideas to counter this kind 
>of problem. Anybody care to venture a solution?

Use manual white balance settings. -- E