green screen photography

Mark Reed

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Jan 3, 2003, 9:05:29 AM1/3/03

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Has anyone done anything with 'green screen photography' where you use an
illuminated green backdrop to shoot a subject in order to remove all
background elements and only have the subject? Sort of like Hemera's
PhotoObjects.

Is there a 'poor man's' method of doing this short of using posterboard and
editing in photoshop?

Also - when you do use this method... how are the drop shadows maintained
or are they digitally added after the fact?

mmr

Steven Shelton

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Jan 3, 2003, 10:36:34 AM1/3/03

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"Mark Reed" <mr...@reedassociates.com> wrote in message
news:Xns92F85C45E68C6mr...@209.224.185.150...

The "green screen" is really a video thing, not a photography thing. (The
screen can be either red, green, or blue, BTW.) It's a
"reflected-light-vs.-projected-light" thing. (This is called a "chromakey,"
by the way...I knew that broadcasting degree would come in handy one day!) I
mean, there's a way to do it in photography, but it's really not necessary
these days with the advent of Photoshop-type software. It's just way more
trouble for not as good an effect.

It's actually easier to remove the background in Photoshop than it would be
to try to recreate a chromakey effect on film. Just put your object on a
plain background and use the magic wand tool to remove all of the background
colour. Some things to remember:

1. Make the background color significantly different than any of the colors
in the object so that the tool can pick up the BG without intruding into the
object.

2. If your object is silver or white, it will pick up some of the color tone
reflected off the background, so it's best to use a white or pastel
background if possible. (One of my clients is an engineering firm that
creates valves, solenoids, etc. and they sent me a photo of a silver valve
on a red background. Took me forever to get the color adjustment right to
remove the red tones.)

3. Try to light it from several different angles to get minimal shadows.
(Shadows are a pain to remove.)

4. You're still going to have to touch up around the edges. (See the comment
on shadows.) I'd use the magentic lasso tool, myself.

You can create the drop shadow by just drop-shadowing the layer or by
selected the object itself (or a portion thereof) and creating a dropshadow.
Or, if photographed it on a plain white BG and you're using a white BG on
your site, you can just preserve the natural shadow.

Hope that helps.

Steven Shelton
Twilight Media & Design
www.TwilightMD.com

-Uncle Bud

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Jan 4, 2003, 3:26:30 PM1/4/03

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I've noticed that Carnival Cruise Lines uses 'green screen' backdrops to add
their background and foreground 'stuff' to your photo. I found it very
interesting and also wanted to try it. Seems like it would be much easier
than worrying about removing the background and then needing to go back and
clean things up.

I found the ChromaKey Green Screens online, but they were not very cheap.
Let us know what you find...

-Uncle Bud :)

Christopher Smith

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Jan 5, 2003, 7:47:09 AM1/5/03

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Hi

Try this http://www.ephotozine.com/techniques/viewtechnique.cfm/recid/195

Kind regards

Chris

"Mark Reed" <mr...@reedassociates.com> wrote in message
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