Welcome to Griff's new Lair!

MikeS

Student Of The Blues
Staff member
For those of you that get Griff's daily emails, you may have noticed a different look.
That's because he's recording video from his new studio in Texas!
He's worried about the lighting (something about it looking flat with now depth of field. - I always thought that was a lens thing, but I'm no expert), but I thought it looked great.
 

PapaRaptor

Father Vyvian O'Blivion
Staff member
The background in the newest email does look a little bit two-dimensional. I saw the video before I saw this post and for a moment, I thought he was doing it in front of a green screen, with the amps chroma-keyed in the background. But he's the focus of the video, so I don't see a problem with it. I also noticed it's the first time I've ever actually heard his footswitch controller for the cameras, but that could have been just the I was paying extra attention to the video.
 

MikeS

Student Of The Blues
Staff member
Interesting that the video in Papa's post is about Griff playing/teaching 'Jessica'. I've been teaching myself to play Jessica over the last few days. Coincidence??...I think not :cool:

Sick Minds.. I mean Great minds and all that...
 

MikeS

Student Of The Blues
Staff member
The background in the newest email does look a little bit two-dimensional. I saw the video before I saw this post and for a moment, I thought he was doing it in front of a green screen, with the amps chroma-keyed in the background. But he's the focus of the video, so I don't see a problem with it. I also noticed it's the first time I've ever actually heard his footswitch controller for the cameras, but that could have been just the I was paying extra attention to the video.

I met him for a drink last night and he said that the amps are literally 8-12" behind him.
I just seem to remember back when I was playing with manual photography, there's a thing you can do to add or reduce depth of field using F-stops and shutter speed. I'm not sure how or even if that correlates to video.
 

artyman

Fareham UK
Same rules apply as regards depth of field and aperture, though most video cameras have a short focal length so virtually everything is going to be in focus
 

snarf

making guitars wish they were still trees
Funny you mention this. I watched today's video while I was starting work this morning, and thought there was something different about it. It seemed the background was a bit darker than I remembered, and that he was going to bump into that amp directly behind him. I decided that he had gotten one of those greenscreen programs like I've seen a few others start using since covid started, taken a picture of his wall of amps, and was using that as his background.

Hopefully the move is going smoothly. My life long best buddy was born somewhere else, but his folks moved to TX when he was like 2 months old. We always made fun of him for not being born here, so he put this sticker on the first truck that he bought. I should get one for Griff. lol

TEXAS.jpg
 

JohnHurley

Rock and Roll
I have been to Texas a bunch but its way too hot for me mostly. Compared to the West Coast burning down maybe its not so bad.
 

Cowboy Bob

Horse Player/Guitar Wrangler
My late brother lived in the Austin area. Nephews are cop in Austin and cop in San Antone.

Mrs. CBB’s best pal lives in Irving, and she has cousins in Carrollton. We’ve got friends in the valley also.

Before my brother passed we’d planned on going to Austin to retire. I love that area.
 

Elio

Student Of The Blues
The background in the newest email does look a little bit two-dimensional. I saw the video before I saw this post and for a moment, I thought he was doing it in front of a green screen, with the amps chroma-keyed in the background. But he's the focus of the video, so I don't see a problem with it. I also noticed it's the first time I've ever actually heard his footswitch controller for the cameras, but that could have been just the I was paying extra attention to the video.

The audio sounded slightly more distant so I'm guessing the mic is maybe set further back and a little less directional.
 

OG_Blues

Guitar Geezer
The background in the newest email does look a little bit two-dimensional.
What is needed are a couple small lights behind the amps and pointed up towards the backdrop and at an angle. The backdrop should have some texture or folds in it to create a shadowed effect which will add the illusion of depth. I almost always use uplights on the backdrop or whatever the background is in the educational videos I shoot. The very tiny LED lights like the LumeCube or Aputure light panels have built in brightness adjustment so you can dial in just the right amount of backlight. Some are multi-color as well so you can add accent colors which can be very effective. When done correctly, the backlight does not detract from the main element of focus in the foreground, but enhances the overall look of the scene.
What is the camera these videos are shot with?
Getting a blurry background (generally considered the way do do this type of video) is a matter of selecting the proper focal length / aperture / distance from camera to subject combination and takes a bit of experimentation - and usually a camera with interchangeable lenses.
 

PapaRaptor

Father Vyvian O'Blivion
Staff member
What is needed are a couple small lights behind the amps and pointed up towards the backdrop and at an angle. The backdrop should have some texture or folds in it to create a shadowed effect which will add the illusion of depth. I almost always use uplights on the backdrop or whatever the background is in the educational videos I shoot. The very tiny LED lights like the LumeCube or Aputure light panels have built in brightness adjustment so you can dial in just the right amount of backlight. Some are multi-color as well so you can add accent colors which can be very effective. When done correctly, the backlight does not detract from the main element of focus in the foreground, but enhances the overall look of the scene.
What is the camera these videos are shot with?
Getting a blurry background (generally considered the way do do this type of video) is a matter of selecting the proper focal length / aperture / distance from camera to subject combination and takes a bit of experimentation - and usually a camera with interchangeable lenses.
You must have been in touch with Griff telepathically. In his AAP livestream, he had blue accent lights shining up from the floor onto the curtain, which accentuated the folds in the black curtain behind him.
 
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