Background/chroma key

TrueColors · Jun 1, 2010

Ive been trying to decide on a backdrop setup. I work for a school that assembled for the first time since it was built to have a year book for this school year (small private school). They knew photography was a hobby of mine and asked me to shoot portraits of their high school students. I decided to up my arsenal of photographic equipment and now im trying to decide on a backdrop. Is 6x9 too small - I know I have seen much wider and longer so how am I limited with 6x9?. I would like to try out chroma key - but Ive read that you need extra lighting to light the green backdrop.

Thankyou!

Big Mike · Jun 2, 2010

Yearbook photos are usually head or head & shoulders shots....so 6' x 9' should be plenty big. The bigger backdrops are more for full body shots, group shots etc.
You can use a large backdrop for head shots of course, it's just more of a pain to move & set up etc.

I would like to try out chroma key - but Ive read that you need extra lighting to light the green backdrop.

Firstly, chroma-key isn't really necessary for still photography. It's used a lot for TV & movies because they can be set up to automatically remove the color, and the minute details aren't as important. The purpose/goal is to separate the subject from the background...and you can do that with any background that doesn't blend with the subject...and you can control that with lighting.

In most cases, you need extra lighting for any background, not just chroma-key.

Pure · Jun 2, 2010

Are you offering only a single backdrop color or allowing for different background colors such as blue, gray, green, red, etc?

table1349 · Jun 2, 2010

To elaborate on what Big Mike was explaining with chroma key. With chroma key you need even lighting on the entire background to allow you to quickly extract the background and replace it with what you want in post processing.

Unless you want to do that much post processing you might want to consider a couple of different standard backgrounds in neutral colors that will work with whatever a student happens to be wearing.