Photographing plasma screens on location...

Hi

Some advice people if you please!

I've got a commercial shoot planned. The product will in part be plasma based screens within an office environment. The shoots will involve models using the equipment (which doesn't really bother me); however, I was more concerned about screen glare and the narrow angle of view from some of these screens as I need to ensure that the image displayed is visible.

Anybody any experience or advice? Examples would be nice!

Kind regards
Chris
--

Your photo's will look better than any paused HiDef. Make sure to take a laptop and pipe in your own feed. Who knows, you may want to get a few facility shots if the skys right and the client is game...

Chris:

If I'm understanding your question, you need images-- not glare-- on the screens?

For what it's worth, I took a photoshop class once and they claimed all the images on computer screens and t.v.'s in print advertisements are added in photoshop. You can use a clipping mask so you don't have to line everything up exactly, though you still may need to tweak the perspective if the monitor is turned a bit.

--
Pete Springer
http://www.petespringer.com

Chris,

I do a lot of product photography work where the equipment has displays as well as many computer displays.

I find it best to shoot the displays separately and strip them into the images. For equipment displays, I photograph the displays I want. For computer displays, I use a screen capture from the computer when possible. Photograph the screen like other displays when not possible.

You'll want to experiment a little with shutter speeds on any display that is using a scan line technology to display the image. I would think your plasma displays are in this category as would be any television type and CRT displays.

You want to keep shutter speeds slow enough to capture a complete screen scan so you won't have dark horizontal bars running through your screen shots.

This method makes it a lot easier than trying to do a timed exposure for the display and then flash for your scene exposure. Although I've done this many times as well.

Wayne

Plasma and LCD displays are not scanning interlace devices like CRT, so they do not have a scrolling dark bar, this was an artifact of CRT only.

Your real problem will be solarisation. Plasma has a limited contrast ratio, which puts the colours into "bands", your camera will pick this out. My best advice, stick Shrek, Toy Story, or anything animated (even that fishtank DVD) something with low contrast ratio. Avoid fleshtones like the plague on plasmas.

Regards

Ben

I’m with Wayne after the models are shot I dim the room block off windows and just shoot the screens from the same perspective then PS them in to the keepers and or prime shot. I love MrScotts idea will be adding that to my bag of tricks

thanks for your advice so far. The plasma screens are part of a video conferencing system, so I need to pick up the image on the screen of the people at the other end. My major concern is the angle of view on the plasma screens, as the image tends to disappear as you move around them. I'll also need to catch the expressions on the models faces as well as the image on the plasma.

I did think about doing two exposures and photoshopping them, as some of you have said. I intend to tripod the camera, gel the strobe, balance the lighting and then drag the shutter. Now a couple of things could happen (I think), one of them is that the plasma screen colour temp could be a lot colder than the balanced flash and ambient lighting and give the faces a horrible blue hue. This concerns me. The other is that the positioning of the flash could cause unwanted reflections on the screen or that the angle i'm shooting is outside the the 'field of view' for the plasma.

Any experience of this?

Kind regards
Chris
--

Now a couple of things could happen (I think), one of them is that the plasma screen colour temp could be a lot colder than the balanced flash and ambient lighting

shoot some frames with the plasma off since you can add it later from the capture, or have a solid color of a hue of your choosing coming from your computer feed on the screen knowing you can replace this with the screen capture frames.

The other is that the positioning of the flash could cause unwanted reflections on the screen or that the angle i'm shooting is outside the the 'field of view' for the plasma.

Plasma is pretty good off axes

and be sure to dim the room and block off windows plus turn off your lights during the screen capture

and not ask it

But, here goes nothing. I would keep my camera perfectly square with the video screen and somehow position the rest of the help/models / gear/ furniture etc. to suit. What I would definitely do is keep all light away from the display screen. If you need to light up the cabinetry, go for it, but use a gobo to block the light from the screen as much as possible.

And remember to not have any direct reflections and keep it all diffuse.

I would also entertain polarizers on the camera lens because a lot of TFT designs polarize the light emanating from the display itself.

Good luck and definitely post your results. You're a real pro and probably have a few ideas up your sleeve already

Cheers
--
Manny
http://www.pbase.com/gonzalu/
http://www.mannyphoto.com/
FCAS Member - http://manny.org/FCAS

a CircPL is definately on the list!!!

Kind regards
Chris
--

The only problem you will have in shooting off axis is if the screens are not true plasmas, but LCD or DLP. They are the ones that have pretty sever light fall off when viewed to the side, or higher/lower.

Robert
--
http://www.streamlinestudio.com

One problem not mentioned with any of the display types is moire. The is is a problem due to the interference pattern created between the display which is a pattern of dots and the image sensor. I found my D70 was highly sensitive to this. The best solution I found was to have the screen slightly out of focus to the point of the Moire dissapearing then sharpen as necessary in post. If you use film this is not a problem.

If I remember well, plasma is fast - maybe as fast as crt, but faster than LCD, so your shutter might produce some darker areas is the shot. This together withe the vague chance that the viewing angle could wores than assumed, lets me second the idea to shoot the screens separately and pshop them in. I would shoot them directly square on and then strech them to get the perspective to fit the housings.

If you shoot them separate you are free to use a still with a longer exposure time to avoid shutter blocking problems.

But It's just an idea.

What kind of VCs are you shooting? The new Ciscos? The huge HP setups? Some Sony stuff?

Good night

Mike*

christianhough said:

thanks for your advice so far. The plasma screens are part of a
video conferencing system, so I need to pick up the image on the
screen of the people at the other end. My major concern is the
angle of view on the plasma screens, as the image tends to
disappear as you move around them. I'll also need to catch the
expressions on the models faces as well as the image on the plasma.

Click to expand...

I would :

a) Meter the models and the plasma screen border ... and the ambient or your artificial ambient.

b) Shoot first to have the scene impact ( note how your eye SEE the displayed image)
c) Fine tune the shoot to get the sreen borders right.
d) capture (photo, data ...) the display as best as possible.

e) playing in Software photos or data (distortion, perspective, tonal, contrast etc... as noted in (b) to get it as real - perception of a real situation or a little boosted - angle of 15 and still have a perfect display would be unreal - ihmo).
f) mix (b-scene) with (c-screen border) with (e-screen image)

I do not have expertise with all together - just lab system - instrumentation with stuff like table, robot etc... and sreens and image inside

No model - just (c)-like with (e)-like.

christianhough said:

I did think about doing two exposures and photoshopping them, as
some of you have said. I intend to tripod the camera, gel the
strobe, balance the lighting and then drag the shutter. Now a
couple of things could happen (I think), one of them is that the
plasma screen colour temp could be a lot colder than the balanced
flash and ambient lighting and give the faces a horrible blue hue.
This concerns me. The other is that the positioning of the flash
could cause unwanted reflections on the screen or that the angle
i'm shooting is outside the the 'field of view' for the plasma.

Click to expand...

I think, you guessed it right. Flash/strobe would wash the displayed image. Gives hard time to control reflection on the screens and sceens borders. Nightmares Balanced colors and WB.

So, in my opinion, the scene/scenario would be the most important - the model WOW-reaction within the ambient. Then the screen and the display.

Or the perfect displayed image with Sick Schtroumpfs ... ?

christianhough said:

Any experience of this?

Click to expand...

No - only partially.

Good luck,

Bach.