green screen it or not?

[shed301]

hiya
I've been wanting to get into green screen photography for experimental purpose's etc..... the only thing is that i don't have a green screen.. I have 1x black and 1x White muslim backgrounds, so can i get away with those or not?..... or would i have to purchase a green or blue screen background?. Ive also heard that you could or get away with using a gray background. Also (last question). those digital backgrounds you see on ebay. are they any good?. and do you require special software to change backgrounds?... so far i'm using ps cs3 and lightroom 2 for editing etc.

If this is in the wrong place i apologise.

thanks
Grant

[scootermcq]

I have been playing around a bit with green screen. I have tried pulling the portrait out of a white background, and while it does work, it can involve some masking and cursing to make it work.

I have not extracted the image in photoshop, but I understand the anarchy plugin will allow you to pull them out. I have been using fxhome photokey and it does a good job, and is extremely easy to use.

If you do enough searching on the internet, you can get a ton of backgrounds and not pay. I have no clue how the ones on ebay work, but I would not pay, when I can find stuff on the net.

Maybe someone else will chime in on the areas I have not tried.

Here is a thread I posted earlier with one of the free backgrounds.

http://digital-photography-school.co...d-tonight.html

[scootermcq]

I had forgotten I had emailed myself these instructions for using PS...

I did not write this, but I forget where I got it from to give the proper credit. I just tried it, and it does not appear as good or as easy as FX, but it gives you something to play with without spending extra money.

Step-By-Step InstructionsOpen the photo you would like to remove the green screen from in Photoshop.
Select 'Color Range...' from the 'Select' menu.
After the Color Range dialog box comes up, click on the eyedropper tool, drag the 'Fuzziness' slider to about 30, check the 'Invert' checkbox, choose 'Grayscale' from the 'Selection Preview' popup and make sure the 'Selection'
radio button is pressed.
With the eyedropper tool, click in the green area of the image (either on the main canvas or in the 'Color Range' dialog. You should see much of the green area as white, and the rest of the image (which will be selected) black. If there are still areas (because of non-uniform lighting) of the green screen which are not white, hold down the Shift key and click on them with the eyedropper until all of the green area is selected.
This selection should work pretty well, but if there are still pixels here and there that are white, you can lower the Fuzziness until it's easier to click on the areas. Also, you can hold down the shift key and click and drag your mouse across an area to select many points at once, instead of clicking for each point. To select with even greater accuracy, you can zoom in by pressing 'Command' - '+' (Mac) or 'Control' - '+' (Windows).
Once you're satisfied with your selection, click 'OK'.
You should see the object you are trying to select selected. If there are any problem areas (i.e. you see scrolling ants in areas inside or outside your selection that shouldn't be selected), use the lasso tool (hold down Shift or Option (Mac)/Control (Windows) to add to or subtract from the
selection) to make your selection perfect.
Now you are ready to remove the green or blue screen. Make sure you're working with the proper layer, and, if you are on the 'Background' layer, double-click it and click 'OK' to make it into a normal layer, then select 'Inverse' from the 'Select' menu to reverse the selection.
Now press the 'delete' button or select 'Clear' from the 'Edit' menu to remove the selection.
You will find that the edges of your object/person may have a slight 'halo'
around them. Clean up the edges by choosing 'Layer>Matting>Remove White Matte' or by choosing 'Layer>Matting>Defringe...'; usually 1-3 pixels will do the trick.
Now you can put any background you would like behind your cut-out object.
Just make sure you place the background into a layer behind your current layer. (A good way to make quick-and-dirty portrait backgrounds is to choose a couple of colors in the color-pickers and to select 'Filter>Render>Clouds'
then play around with noise, blurriness, etc.).
Tips for Improving Color KeysTry to have well and uniformly lit backgrounds.
You should try to use at least two lights for a green or blue screen background, to make sure it is evenly lit.
When taking pictures with a digital camera, make sure it is set to its highest setting; for higher-end cameras, use the RAW setting (which uses no compression and makes the green background much more uniform). For lower-quality cameras, set the JPEG compression to the maximum quality.
When filming, try to use the best quality tape and camera you can; DV compression is harder to work with when chromakeying, so try to use uncompressed footage if possible.
Experiment with the different settings—especially the 'Fuzziness'—in Photoshop; for some /sites/lifeisaprayer.com/files/articles/photography, it might be easier to have the 'Fuzziness' at '0' to select parts of the image, then raise the amount after you are satisfied with your selection.
Photoshop's amazing array of abilities make it a wonderful tool to experiment with.

[Raoul Isidro]

You can buy a cheap Green Screen from a bedsheet store. Get the biggest size like a Super King or Queen size. It's cheaper than the other rip offs on eBay.
Just remember that any folds or wrinkles will show, so keep the sheets flat and pressed.

Green screen or Blue screen? Use the colour that is not shown on your subject. If the subject has green, like plants, don't use green, use another opposite colour, or blue. Any colour of the subject having the same colour as the screen will be rendered invisible! That's the reason why the green screen colour is so common as it is rare to see a green person! ... except the HULK.

[shed301]

thanks for the help and tips guys. will put them in practice soon

cheers
grant

[rozer2014]

sir thanks for sharing it