@troyp
Latest posts by Troy Pesola (see all)
- How to Make Lemon Sorbet - February 4, 2012
- Simple Video Backgrounds - January 29, 2012
- Samson Meteor Mic For Podcasts, Vlogs, or Videos - January 4, 2012
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Have you ever wanted to add a background to a video? Wouldn’t it be cool if you were on a beach, or floating in the clouds instead of sitting in your house on your videos?
Well if you have an Apple computer you already have the tools to add simple video backgrounds. Just Photo Booth, a well-lit backdrop, and an image is all you need. Just follow these steps to create some simple video backgrounds.
What You Need for Simple Video Backgrounds
- Photo Booth – Is a simple application from Apple that lets you take snapshots, create filmstrips like the old-school coin operated photo booths, and lets you record videos.
- Lighting – better lighting, makes better videos. No seriously, get some lights. Use extra room lights, shop lights, anything. You need to light up the room to eliminate shadows. Any shadows are going to make a mess of your simple video background.
- Smooth Backdrop – you need a plain backdrop behind you when you shoot your video. This is where Hollywood uses “green screen”. They create a solid backdrop of a color that won’t be worn by anyone in the video. The backdrop shouldn’t have any creases, lines, or shadows. Find a smooth wall, hang a sheet, or even tape colored paper to the wall with matching duct tape. Your goal is to make a smooth backdrop so the computer can find it and replace it with your cool simple video background image.
- Background Image – the last thing you need is bounded by your imagination. Find an image of where you want your views to see you.
Putting It all Together to Make Simple Video Backgrounds
When you start the Photo Booth application select video. You should now see yourself sitting in your studio with your well lit plain backdrop behind you.
Press Effects on the lower right side of the screen. This is where you see different options for video effects. Keep pressing the right arrow, two times. Now you can see eight default background images that you can use.
If you want to use your own background image, press the right arrow one more time. You should now see where Photo Booth lets you upload eight different backgrounds by just dragging one of your images into one of the boxes.
To use the simple video background, select one of the images. The screen will show a prompt asking your to “Please step out of the frame“. Do it – get out of the way. Hide from the camera; imagine the paparazzi have tracked you down.
This lets Photo Booth capture a clean image of your nice, plain, well-lit back drop. It uses this image to determine where you are and where it should insert the simple video background.
If you miss the prompt, or forgot to turn on your lights, you can reset the simple video background by pressing command – shift – R. This will retake the image of the background, by asking you to “Please step out of the frame“.
Now just record your video. An easy way to use simple video backgrounds with Photo Booth.
The results aren’t going to win any video production awards. They aren’t as good as production green screen technology used in Hollywood; not even close. But hey if you want a simple video background to have some fun for your next YouTube video this will do the trick.
Go Make Your Own Simple Video Background
Just pull out your copy of Photo Booth on an Apple, have a plain and well-lit back drop, and a background image to use. That’s all you need for a simple video background.
Your turn. Give this a shot, upload your video, and post a link in the comments below. Let’s see where you can take us with Simple Video Backgrounds.
Twitter: troyp
Bring on the questions. Have you tried out using backgrounds, yet? Let’s see yours.
Troy P recently posted..Kettlebell Guide
Twitter: troyp
It must be too early. I hopped over to YouTube to grab MY example only to find a “your account is terminated”. I swear I saw it – screenshot is on my g+ account http://gplus.to/troyp
I searched around on YouTube, posted two questions, then went back … it worked. Now I’m confused.
Anyway … here’s my example http://youtu.be/_KuNpKL7CVg
I’m going snowboarding. Enough of this.
Troy P recently posted..Workout Finisher Review | Work Out Tips
The example with cloud background looks superb! I am guessing that youtube automated monitoring processes may have disabled your account temporarily during some minor updates (Not sure though). I have not had any problem with Youtube. My facebook account was disabled once and I had to contact them via help page. I hope you had a good time snowboarding.
Cheolsu recently posted..Tumblr Login
Twitter: troyp
Cheolsu, Thanks I have no idea what happened with the YouTube account. Hopefully nothing more will happen. I do think I’ll start distributing videos over to Vimeo http://vimeo.com/cubedwellerfitness as well as just on YouTube http://youtube.com/cubedwellerfitness
Snowboarding was great. My daughter came home for the weekend to join me. We had an awesome day.
Troy P recently posted..Hip Swing | How To Do The Bulgarian Training Bag Swing
I’ve been wanting to get a Macbook or iPad2 for a while and this is the biggest reason I have found to get one. I really need to start making some short videos for my blog and for a business course I am going to start running soon but because of travelling so much I was worried about dodgy hotel room lighting and constantly changing backgrounds. This looks like the best way for me to get around some of these issues, it’s a shame photo booth isn’t available on my iPhone 4S I’ve just purchased.
Matt Kinsella recently posted..Never Give Up
Twitter: troyp
I like to help people adopt Apple products.
There must be Windows and Linux versions around, but this is what I’ve used. Like most Apple products – it just works.
Troy P recently posted..Body Composition
Hey Troy! I think this is one of the most fun, useful posts i have ever come across. I have been MAC person for many years and did not know this. It is very cool. Thank you!
Look out video tutorials and how to’s or Vblogs. I am going to give this a try as soon as I can. I needed some inspiration to try out a video for my own site.
Great Info Troy!
crystal
crystal recently posted..Fashioned by Fire-The Art of Lampworking.
Twitter: troyp
Thanks Crystal, I was excited when I found them tucked away neatly in Photobooth. Who knew it would be so easy?
Let’s see what you come up with.
Troy P recently posted..Hip Swing | How To Do The Bulgarian Training Bag Swing
So coo! Thanks so much for sharing this, I can’t wait to try this out..
sue recently posted..Student Interns Can Be A Great Asset for Managing CPA Websites
Twitter: troyp
Sue, Thanks. Where will you plan to “go” in your first video?
Troy P recently posted..Hip Swing | How To Do The Bulgarian Training Bag Swing
Twitter: LoneWolfMuskoka
I did some cool green screen stuff with my daughter for a class project on ancient Greece — put her and her friends at some cool locations 8=)
I use Sony Vegas for my editing (I’m on a PC, so no Mac tools 8=( but the effect was generally pretty good for a school project. Better lighting (especially the green screen itself) would have helped. I would have been able to put the tolerances a bit tighter to remove less of the foreground while still getting all the background.
One funny thing is that one of the girls had a hat with a green logo on it. The girls really liked how that showed the background through her head 8=)
Twitter: troyp
Amazing how it cut down on “travel expenses”! What a fun way to present on an area.
I’ve heard other people mention Sony Vegas tools. It is good to know what works on the PC side.
Lighting is definitely key. I’ve moved my “video studio” (you really can’t call a desk with a handful of lights surrounding it a studio, can you) and now I don’t have enough light. Check my latest video and see the aura in the blue wall behind me.
With Green Screen, or any background video, any color that matches the background BECOMES the background. Both fun and disconcerting at the same time. She got to be part invisible greek traveler.
Troy P recently posted..Hip Swing | How To Do The Bulgarian Training Bag Swing
Haha those are alot of fun. Great to have a Mac, I play around with those Photo Booth video backgrounds too. A little tip though – make sure when you load it you stay off screen otherwise it’ll get you totally mixed up with the background and won’t key it out properly. I never seem to do it correctly and I have to be really close to the camera for it to do anything. Swiveling chairs don’t seem to do all that well either, because the background it captures really shouldn’t move.
Hey this is great info! Thanks!
Twitter: troyp
Thanks Adam. I found that chairs can be an issue. When I first tried it I was sitting in a high-back chair. It made for all sorts of disturbing video noise in the image. Now the chair I use for recording has a much lower back so it isn’t in view.
Thanks Zac.
Let’s see some examples. The thing I’ve learned to love about video is in sharing the ridiculousness.
Troy P recently posted..What Is Keeping Me Awake? Chocolate, Stress, or Creative Genius
Twitter: @onlinetaxpros
I also had a problem with the chair. Thanks for the lower back tip, it fixed the problem. Now I just need to find a chair that has a low back that is more comfortable!
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Hmm, are you aware of any sites listing or selling sample video backgrounds? I Am also looking for some free music which I can use in my projects.
Saksham Talwar recently posted..Thesis Coupon Code
Twitter: troyp
Saksham,
I’ve got two suggestions for you that I’ve used.
http://www.imagecodr.org/ – provides a way to search for creative commons (read non-copyright) images you can use. It has options to search for images that you can alter or use commercially as well. I use it a lot for images on my site. They even have a tool to create html code to copy-n-paste into your site.
http://ccmixter.org/ – is a similar site for music. While I haven’t found a good way to search and find music it is there. You can wander around to find tracks you like. I’ve included a few in the workout and DIY videos on my YouTube channel (can I get a like?
http://youtube.com/cubedwellerfitness
See if those are helpful. I’d love to hear what you think, or if you come across other resources.
-Troy
Troy Pesola recently posted..What Is Keeping Me Awake? Chocolate, Stress, or Creative Genius
Twitter: dennisknows
gotta love those Macs.. I saw this feature in Photo Booth but I didn’t know it was advanced enough to create a nice back drop.. What about a pure white backdrop like the gurus use on sales videos?
Is it possible using this method?
Dennis Marshall recently posted..Easy Video Player Review (w/ Demo & Walkthrough)
very interestingand i agree with alot of the commentsi have played around with a few programs which were okaybut ill give some mentioned in the comments section a try i thinkthanks heaps
James
Twitter: troyp
You are welcome James. Video can add a lot to a site; playing with backgrounds can liven things up even more.
Best of luck.
Troy Pesola recently posted..Featured in The Spartacus Vengeance Workout
Mac is really better compare to its competitors. I’ve been using this application whenever I do short videos of my own. Great quality and lots of features to choose from. That’s why I really love mac.
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Twitter: Elena__Anne
It is a pity that I haven’t a mac. There are so many applications to use and be creative. Is it possible to have something like this for PC?
elena_anne recently posted..Echinacea Benefits And Common Cold: How It Helps And What Are The Possible Side Effects
Never occurred to me to think about adding a nice background to my videos, Troy – nice touch.
Ana recently posted..Get More Traffic
Hi Troy,
HELP!! I am attempting to make a short video parody of a news broadcast for a kickstarter project and am having trouble with trying to use a newsroom backdrop. I have a mac, a green wall (!) and have tried using both the video clip I found of a news backdrop as well as it as a JPEG (thought it might be easier than the video).
I select the background, move out of the way, background is detected, I step back in and as soon as the countdown is over, it drops the background.
I am able to take a picture of myself with background, but not video. Any suggestions? This background would look so cool if I can get it to work.
Thanks in advance!
Suzy
Twitter: troyp
Suzy,
I love the idea. I have seen ways to do a video background in iMovie; you might want to try that so you can get the action in the background.
With PhotoBooth it sounds like you’re doing it right. What version do you have? I have 3.0.3. I thought you might have just set it up to take a picture instead of a video clip; but I tried that and on mine both capture the background.
If you want to send me an email jump over to my contact page: http://cubedwellerfitness.com/contact
-Troy
Troy Pesola recently posted..Crepes Gone Bad
Wow, this is comforting to read. I’ve always been intimidated by thought of creating videos but this post does give me some more confidence
Thanks for letting me know about Photo booth.
Sheila recently posted..How To Block A Phone Number
Twitter: troyp
Sheila, isn’t is great to find tools that you already have. Now you just need to go do it. Let’s see what you come up with.
Troy Pesola recently posted..Infographic – Work is Murder
Twitter: maz_arya
Excellent …. Thank you very much for sharing this, I can not wait to try it
Arya Utama recently posted..Kenakalan Remaja, Salah Siapa?
Twitter: troyp
Arya, What will your first video be about? Let’s see it.
Troy Pesola recently posted..Train for Tough Mudder Monkey Bars
Glad I was able to find this post. I have been debating on making videos in the past and due to all the complex video background tutorials and other tutorials on video making I have seen has cause my motivation to deteriorate. This may be just what I need to start, thank you for making it simple.
Twitter: koundeenya
Videos really do contribute a lot. I just felt, the end para could be better
Koundeenya recently posted..Hello world!
Awesome post, thanks! If I may add – one problem I was having was properly lighting my backdrop. 2 things that helped were for me to put more space between myself and the backdrop, 4 feet or so worked pretty well, and then to make sure to light the screen with lights that were between me (sorta beside or behind me) and the screen. Hope that helps folks.
Thanks again!
Twitter: debralmb@chldrnswelbeing
Child health and wellbeing is the focus of my site and I’m a newbie to internet marketing but I browsed through the comments and didn’t see anything for windows users? The background has always been the first thing which has made me rule out videos in the past and I would love to give something like this a try.
I’m a new comment luv user too Just downloaded it here and haven’t gotten it installed yet. Late; I’ll need to wait till tomorrow when I’m not half asleep.
Thanks.
Debra