ChromaKey

fredjclaus

Been talking with some of my event groups since this is the market I have the most experience in. One of the new upgrades I was asked to do this year was the addition of more background choices. I was going to do this via Chromakey.

What Chromakey program do you all use? Is there one "best" program? Seems like the only one I could find so far was GreenScreen Wizard.

Art Scott

any really good masking program will work......gotta make sure that it will remove the background that shows thru holes in the hair and other places easily........I just watched a vid a couple of days ago on this but wasn't real interested so I did not retain any of the info.....if I should run across it again I will mark and post for you to see.

I now remember.....it was FLUID MASK 3......it was a sidebar ad and it showed a very bushy haired guy and they removed the background in like 3 brush strokes........it looked fast simple and very good.......if you are into doing that.......

I FOUND THE VIDEO............ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aTOf3gcXpU

fredjclaus

Thanks Art, I'll take a look at it. Do you currently do any Chromakey?

fredjclaus

Art, I looked at that one you mentioned and it seems like a PHotoshop plug in. I'm also looking at PhotoKey 3 and GreenScreen Wizard. Does anyone have experience with these programs?

fredjclaus

My Chromakey research has brought up many questions for me. One of the things I've noticed is all the differnt companies that produce digital backgrounds. Has anyone had any luck selling such images for this purpose? I know I might be getting off track here, but that's been something that has come up. I'm thinking about putting a collection together and offering it to a company for sale.

Art Scott

fredjclaus wrote:

Thanks Art, I'll take a look at it. Do you currently do any Chromakey?

Not currently but since I have only used at most 3 backdrops (blk, wht and thunder grey) + the colored gels for changing backdrop colors.....I could be on my way to becoming a totally digital studio in short order if I wanted to.......as a good masking program will knock out any solid color background easily.......I seen some pretty impressive collections offered on ebay....at Owens Originals, Pro studio supply and others on the 'net.......these places will also have various types of masking software and also the screens......but a good software will knock out any solid background the key is just to not have clothing and background the same or very close to the same color.....

Good Luck and keep us appraised of your adventure........

wmm

I have and use PhotoKey3 Pro, and I really love it. It has a ton of features for after the green screen extraction. I works on Green and Blue backgrounds and can produce great shadow casts. You can use it in a Photoshop workflow. there is a plugin, but it is not the "pro" version.

The way I work it is to do the extraction, save it as a .png file, move it into PS and then I have my extracted subject on a trasparentlayer all ready to do as I wish.

-wmm

fredjclaus

Ive tested many programs and even some plug ins. I could not get the plug ins to work easily so I opted to purchased Green Screen Wizard, as it was the program I seem to mesh with best. As soon as it comes in the mail I'm going to play around with it, and maybe get some nice portraits of my kids for once. I'll keep you all posted.

fredjclaus

Well, I'm waiting for the Chromakey program to come in the mail but in the mean time I'm playing around with Photoshop. Not so good with the whole background removal tool in Photoshop, but here is what I was able to do so far. Still playing.

Art Scott

They look good to me......Which PS are you using??? It threw me when you said background removal tool......Are you talkingthe eraser?? One of the tutes I have uses the magnetic lasso to remove the background is why I was asking.

fredjclaus

I'm using PS CS3. I'm not sure if that's what they call the tool, I just do because I'm normally using it to remove backgrounds. Thanks for the vote of comfidence Art, but I messed up on the hair on my daughters. the group shot, I removed too much background and there is a loop at my daughters head. On the single one, a few of those waves in the hair are mistakes, not the way the hair was laying.

I've got Green Screen Wizard on order just waiting for it to come in the mail. Someone told me you could do it with Photoshop as well, so I figured I'd try. I'm sure I could once I get used to using the tool around bodies and hair.

Art Scott

You put the bug in me DUUUUUUDE.....rofl
So I ordered a set of digital backgrounds off ebay and it comes with tutes on background removal and addition with no other software than PS.......but fluid mask looks real tempting if I decide to go totally digital......I watch the first part of the tute and it runs a whole 2 or 3 minutes and the background is gone....not a studio shot....but a snap inside, I presume the photogs house and wife or girlfriend or maybe she was just a model.......any way it was dirty quick using the magnetic lasso.......I have too much going on this week but next week it will be back to school on the digital backgrounds.......

fredjclaus

wow, that is a tute I'd like to see too. Art, if you want to practice some more, I found these two sites on another message board. The owner has posted these digital backgrounds he created for people to practice with. Some of them are actually nice.

Muslin style backdrops:
http://www.box.net/shared/rsf2ufx95i/1/5362656

cloud backdrops:
http://www.box.net/public/ux2zj1mdle

fredjclaus

Wouldn't you know it. I've been bidding on these on Ebay but keep getting out bid. I started another auction that I actually did win. Trouble is, my wife was bidding on one as well, and she won. Now I have two of them coming in the mail within the next week.

I won it on Ebay for 2.25 plus shipping. Does anyone want to buy my extra one? I'd like to get just my 2.25 plus shipping to you.

http://www.tubetape.net/servlet/the-130/Movie-Poster-Digital-Backgrounds/Detail

Art Scott

fredjclaus wrote:

wow, that is a tute I'd like to see too. Art,

send me your email and I will try to send off my INFO at ArtScottFotografie dot com email.......the tute is 128mb ..............play well with Win media Player

The 3 disk set I got was around $50......from PHOTOBACKS ......on Ebay

BeachBill

fredjclaus wrote:

wow, that is a tute I'd like to see too. Art, if you want to practice some more, I found these two sites on another message board. The owner has posted these digital backgrounds he created for people to practice with. Some of them are actually nice.

Muslin style backdrops:
http://www.box.net/shared/rsf2ufx95i/1/5362656

cloud backdrops:
http://www.box.net/public/ux2zj1mdle

Cool! If you find any more, please be sure to post a link.

BeachBill

A few months back I purchased the Westcott Photo Basics uLite Digital Photo Lighting Kit, which is a green screen and soft boxes with hot lights. I replaced the hot lights with CF bulbs and proceeded to shoot a Cub Scout dinner for the Boy Scouts 100th Anniversary.

The kit came with an instructional DVD which included a segment by Dave Cross on how to extract the subjects via stock Photoshop CS4 (using Select/Color Range). The process ended up being quite easy and once I got the hang of it, I was cleanly extracting people from the background in under 60 seconds. I did have to "paint" back in a couple of green shirts, but that process was pretty easy to.

The results are posted at http://www.billgerrard.com/Sessions/BlueGold2010/

Keep in mind I did this for free and only printed them at 4x6. If I were to make enlargements, I would probably spend more time on making them look perfect.

Noelimages

I use FX Home Photokey for youth sports and it has really helped my business. I build my templates in Photoshop. I tend to go for the 3-D look.

Art Scott

well done with the OOF lookbowbowthumbthumbthumb

Gary752

Noelimages wrote: »

I use FX Home Photokey for youth sports and it has really helped my business. I build my templates in Photoshop. I tend to go for the 3-D look.

I have the same program, and really like it. I bought the kit (pgm, green screen backdrop, stand, and DVD with a bunch of digital backgrounds) from Tube Tape. I also did a lot of reading on their forum, and from what I read, when lighting the green screen, you want to light it a little hotter & evenly than your subject to avoid any shadows. The slightest shadow on the green screen can cause some problems. Most of the people on the forum recommends using those halogen work lights that can be purchased at almost any hardware store, to light the green/blue screen.

goldenstarphoto

Rather than starting a new thread, I thought I would bring this one back to life. I hope that's ok with you Fred.

I've been asked to shoot a pet charity event on Sept 11th. The theme is "Remembering 9/11" I have a lot of good digital backgrounds with Patriotic themes, flags, etc.........so I was thinking about shooting against a green screen and then adding the digital background. My question is, is it even possible to use a green screen outside? It will be in a park so I don't have the option of lighting to get rid of shadows. I have some experience shooting with a green screen inside in a controlled environment with two softboxes, but now that I commited myself to this event I'm starting to wonder if it will even work outside???

Art Scott

goldenstarphoto wrote: »

Rather than starting a new thread, I thought I would bring this one back to life. I hope that's ok with you Fred.

I've been asked to shoot a pet charity event on Sept 11th. The theme is "Remembering 9/11" I have a lot of good digital backgrounds with Patriotic themes, flags, etc.........so I was thinking about shooting against a green screen and then adding the digital background. My question is, is it even possible to use a green screen outside? It will be in a park so I don't have the option of lighting to get rid of shadows. I have some experience shooting with a green screen inside in a controlled environment with two softboxes, but now that I commited myself to this event I'm starting to wonder if it will even work outside???

Sure you can use any chromakey out doors......TV has done it ........I am wondering why one use a green or blue screen whe it will just reflect the light back at the subject.......if you have all those backgrounds...did you get tutes with them showing how to use them without using chroma key backgrounds???

What you really need is like a white backdrop or black or saome other solid color that you can quickly and easiley remove from the pic and then move the pic to the new digital background...........NO real need for chroma key ........

Good Luck

Icebear

I think the chromakey BGs are easier to remove because of their contrasty nature. Easier to select.

ziggy53

For chromakey or luminance key (what Art was proposing) you still need to control lighting, indoors or outdoors. If you want light control outdoors the best way to control the light is either:

Overpower the ambient light.

Shelter from the ambient light.

To overpower the ambient you need lots of flash power and/or use FP/HSS mode flash.

To shelter from the ambient use a white pop-up canopy tent and white sides. For background removal I recommend 2 of these 10' x 10' joined together to give you a 10' x 20' shooting chamber. This should allow the required separation between subject and background, as well as a fairly comfortable shooting distance.

You might also have to drape a silver-gray tarp over the canopy to gain best control over outside light, arranging the tarp to allow some light to pass at the background end, if you wish.

goldenstarphoto

Art, Icebear, Ziggy,

Thank you for taking the time to reply! I was thinking about using the white or black backgrounds that I have. However, they are giving away white t-shirts at the event and there are numberous black colored dogs that will be there. That just sounds like an editing nightmare.........that's why I came up with the chromakey idea. I purchased Photobacks backgrounds and do have the tutorials on their use, but haven't watched them yet. Now really, who gets a new toy and takes the time to read the directions? Ziggy, love your idea about the canopy, I'm going to do some searching and see where I can find a good deal on one or two... Thanks again!