Chromatic Backdrops

[bogleric]

I have a client that wants to be "creative" with his background for his picutures to make it look like he is in other places. Because of this I have been asked to shoot the photos with a chroma green background and then process it out before deliver the final image with no background.

Has anyone here ever done this before and if so did you use any tools to make life easier to filter out the chroma green? This seems like it would be really time consuming without a tool/filter. I am a PS CS2 user.

 

[shingfan]

i'm curious...why is your client asking you to shoot with a chroma green background and then remove it on computer?....wouldnt it be easier to just shoot with no background (or white) at all then?

 

[Big Mike]

wouldnt it be easier to just shoot with no background (or white) at all then?

Not really. The idea of a green (or blue or whatever) is that is a solid color that with not have any common color with the subject...which will make it much easier to separate from the background. If it was a white background...you would still need to digitally separate/isolate the subject in order to use different backgrounds.

I haven't done this for a client...but I often practice it for fun.

This seems like it would be really time consuming without a tool/filter

There are plenty of different ways of doing this. Google 'Photoshop & extraction' (or cut out etc.) There is the extraction filter, the magic wand, the magnetic lasso. You could use the select/color range to easily select the background (or just the magic wand).

It may take some time to really find tune the edges...but it's pretty much a very basic thing to do in Photoshop.

*Edit* I forgot to mention that you should be carfull not to get a green reflection from the background onto your subject.

 

[shingfan]

yes are right big mike....i guess white is hard for post processing.....

CS2 has a lot of functions that you can use to remove the background....magic wand should be a good tool to use with appropriate similiarity scale