clear background question

dave2800 · Sep 24, 2003

I am hoping someone here can help me. I have some products which I am trying to take picture of and I want to have an invisible background similar to what they do when putting product pictures in magazines, fliers, etc.

I have tried taking the pictures and then bring them into PSP and erasing the background but that doesn't seen to work well. I did start trying to paint out the background but the time that it would take would be extreme.

Is there any type of background material I can use that would be easy to make invisible? Any help or tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Dave

metroshane · Sep 24, 2003

It's fairly easy. Think Green or Blue screen. Use a background with an odd color (one that isn't in the object you are photographing.) Then in PSP, you can set the background color to transparent.

The bad thing is that if the object is reflective, you're going to see the background in the object.

http://www.jasc.com/tutorials/tgif.asp?

This tutorial is ok, but if you notice he chose the white background color...so when he sets it as transparent, any white in the object will be transparent also. Better if he had the guitar on a green background.

dave2800 · Sep 24, 2003

metroshane,

I remember hearing of blue screen when a local tv station was answering questions on how they put the weather map behind them. They explained that they use blue screen. This may be a dumb question but is blue screen a product you can buy or is it just a term?

We manufactuer shifters which are polished aluminum and some steel fittings which would relect light. I had thought of painting some material that I could then use as my background and then make that color invisible. Would I do best to use a flat color so it would no reflect the light? You help is very much appreciated....

Thanks,
Dave

Chase · Sep 24, 2003

Painting a background surface the appropriate color should work, as well as purchasing any fabric-type background.

One of the keys to allowing this to work really well is to try to get the lighting that falls on the background to be as even as possible. Most people use a green background these days. You may be able to find more info on the subject by searching *insert your favorite search engine here* for the term "chroma key", although this is likely to provide more of a TV/Motion Picture explanation.

Good luck!

metroshane · Sep 24, 2003

Blue screen is called that b/c it just happened to be blue they were using for thier neutral color. They then went and superimposed weather and such over anything that was blue via the computer. Since blue is a pretty popular clothing color, they have since switched to a glaring green color. You can buy blue and green screens.

dave2800 · Sep 24, 2003

Both of you have given me some things to try. I really appreciate all the help. I am going to have to try the fabric idea and see who the works. I will just have to watch since this item is polished aluminum it might pick up some colors from the reflection. You mentioned I could buy blue or green screen. Where would I find that?

Thanks,
Dave