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How to turn your old TV into a stunning photo and video background

Nov 4, 2022 by Dunja Djudjic 1 Comment

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TV isn’t only for spending countless hours in front of it when you don’t feel like doing anything. Instead, you can turn it into a creative prop, and a pretty awesome one.

Caleb Pike of DSLR Video Shooter will show you how to turn a TV, a monitor, or even a projector into a fantastic background for all sorts of product shots. He guides you through the process step by step, helping you build a setup for some neat stills and videos.

Caleb used this $500 55-Inch TV (it was on a discount, though). But of course, you can go with nearly any TV or monitor you already own. It’s important for the TV, though, to have Roku built in so you can control the background through your phone.

You can use the TV as a tabletop, which is what Caleb starts with. He shoots the product laying on the table, using stock footage as the background. He tweaked it to fit his needs, and the result is pretty interesting and unusual. The TV also acts as a light source, so this solution is pretty practical. And for the additional light source, you can use a continuous LED light.  Please note that you should be careful when placing the objects onto the screen. You may want to add a layer of clear Plexiglas to protect it from any scratches.

The second setup involves using the TV behind your subject and using it as a background. You can go with photos or videos, depending on what you want to achieve. Using a longer lens is a good choice in this scenario because it gives you more lens compression and it’s easier to fill the screen with the background this way. The wide-angle lens is a bit of a challenge in this scenario. As for the lighting, you can use any continuous LED light. Caleb went with an RGB light so he could match the color of the scene with that of the background.

Make sure to watch Caleb’s video for a bunch of examples and the step-by-step guide. And if you decide to give this technique a shot, feel free to share the result with us.

[Make INCREDIBLE Backgrounds With a TV! | DSLR Video Shooter]

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How to turn any boring office space into an interesting background This is how to turn Sony video colors from horrible to awesome How to shoot video with a white seamless background on the cheap This video shows how focal length and zooming affect subject-background relationship in your photos

Filed Under: Tutorials Tagged With: night photography

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.net

About Dunja Djudjic

Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

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Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.netDunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

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