Geeen screen

[sratliff10]

I am a beginner and I want to work with green screens but it seems like my imagination goes blank when I don't have the full scene in front of me! How does a green screen work and how far can u go with it

 

[MLeeK]

Green screen isn't as easy as you think. You need software for properly removing the green screen and the color cast from the subjects. You will need some pretty extensive skills in editing to do good green screen work. You also need a very LARGE area to shoot in for green screen or you will have a hell of a time with green subjects.
It's not something I would even consider doing personally. It's not exactly easy to get it right.

 

[Big Mike]

What is your end purpose here? Do you just want to be able to extract your subjects from the background, to replace the background? If you know what you're doing, that is probably easier with a black, white or grey background. Using a chromakey (green, blue etc.) can be problematic because the color can bounce back onto your subject...especially if you don't have enough room to keep your subjects far away from the background.

You also have to have enough room and lighting to evenly light the background, separately from the lighting that is on the subject.

The times when chromakey backdrops are useful, is when you need a more automatic workflow for high volume. So if you're shooting 100s of photos that will need to be extracted, or if you're shooting video etc. Otherwise, it's probably easier to just use a background that won't reflect any color and just extract your subject from that.

 

[c.cloudwalker]

Green screen isn't as easy as you think. You need software for properly removing the green screen and the color cast from the subjects. You will need some pretty extensive skills in editing to do good green screen work. You also need a very LARGE area to shoot in for green screen or you will have a hell of a time with green subjects.
It's not something I would even consider doing personally. It's not exactly easy to get it right.

Although it is true that green screen done correctly is not the easiest thing, I've seen a portrait studio operate in a flea market booth (not the biggest space) doing nothing but green screen (pick your background) and the images looked very decent for the price.

The way green screen photo works is that you have software that removes the green from the photo then you add whatever background you want. The problem is that if your subject wears anything green, that is removed also. Which is why there are blue screens also. But, as Big Mike points out, you can do the same thing with black, white or grey.

If you understand music recording better than photo, green screen is the equivalent of NR (noise reduction) in a recording studio. NR removes unwanted hiss type noise by removing the proper sound frequency. In the process, it does remove some of the music

Neither is perfect but is used daily. NR in recording studios across the land and green screens in Hollywood. And most people listening to a CD or looking at a movie don't see the difference.

 

[NickA]

If you go the Chroma Key route, PhotoKey 4 Pro is a decent piece of software. I've tried several and this seems to work the best.

 

[sratliff10]

Thank you so! I appreciate the input. I am just wanting to save money really on buying backdrops! Those are expensive and I have adobe photoshop 3 and pre made digital backdrops on cd's...

 

[MLeeK]

It can be a savings if you are buying a lot of backgrounds, but for the basics? It's not really a savings.

 

[sratliff10]

It can be a savings if you are buying a lot of backgrounds, but for the basics? It's not really a savings.

So by basics you mean? Sorry newbie here!

 

[MLeeK]

black, white and about 4 seasonal's.

 

[sratliff10]

Oh ok I gotcha! Cool, yea.

 

[RyanSands]

When I first started out many years ago I too wanted to mess around with green screen. The concept to me was so interested and I always dreamed of manipulating my subjects and placing them in different scenes. The reality of that dream is WAY different haha. Like everyone else said there is a tremendous amount of work involved with getting the technique just right and even then you have to have fantastic retouching and editing skills in order to believably place your subject in a different scene. If I was you I would forget about green screens completely and just focus on your photography skills. Practice lighting in all different scenarios and situations. Also play around with shallow depth of field..around f2.8. You may be surprised how little you see your background when you use a long telephoto lens and shallow depth of field. I can shoot in almost any environment and you would never know how truly unattractive the backgrounds of the scenes actually are haha.

 

[arbogast]

All you really need is your subject in front of the green screen. It doesn't need to be any larger than that. Photoshop or any other decent editing software should let you select that color and make it transparent. You can just delete the rest of the image with a lasso or eraser tool.

Lighting it is another story. You will really need to experiment. If you're able, keep a light on the back of your subject to wash out any spill from the screen. Lighting will make or break this so it's worth the time to try different things.

 

[lovemygsd5]

I made this mistake last year. After 12 years of photographing dance schools and trying to please the majority with a nice backdrop to compliment all the different costumes, I invested in greenscreen technology. I purchased the greenscreen wizard software (a dream) and a cd of Denny digital backdrops $400. What I learned is that you can't have any wrinkles, folds or shadows on the backdrop. Your lighting must be even on the backdrop and your subject must not be wearing a green costume, clothing, etc. When you run batches of photos through the software to drop in your real backdrop, the shadows transfer as dark gray or black and you have to open it up in photoshop and clean them us. The green clothing will change to the backdrop just like the greenscreen. So, if you have an ocean backdrop, the person's green shirt will change to look like the ocean to match the greenscreen. Confused yet? Also, they work best on middle to low key backdrops. Anything light gives a green halo around the person's body and you have to clean that up in photoshop. I am now trying to sell the greenscreens. It created an enormous amount of work for me, but the client loved it.