Digital Backdrops?

[Photocrazy]

Are Digital Backdrops as good as Muslin backdrops using a chromakey screen, and an editor like Photoshop?

I am fairly well versed in Photoshop, and have come up with great looking pictures w/ digi backdrops but have never gotten them printed to large sizes so I am unsure how well they will look. ( did take the backdrop pics at the highest resolution my camera has, Canon G2...).

I am hoping to get the Drebel after christmas.

I have seen online some Digimuslin sites that have some killer looking backdrops, but am unsure if they are worth the money.

Anyone with experience, either good or bad, fill me in please.

Thank you.

[Photocrazy]

**Bump**

Anyone, anyone...?

Bueller, Bueller...?

[Longwatcher]

I will try since you have not gotten any form of answer.
My expertise that is related is 20 years as an Imagery Analyst.

Short form, real is better, but digi can work with a bit of skill.

- If the digital background is at the same (or higher) resolution as the foreground and if (big if here) the boundary is merged correctly, then you will be unable to tell the difference. However if the background is a lower resolution, different scale or significantly different lighting (direction, intensity, color), then there will be a noticeable (if subconscious) distinction between foreground and background.

There fore it is far easier to use a real background to get a real look. However, digi backgrounds if properly chosen can give you many options if the foreground shot is taken correctly to match the background.

Remember the key to making digi backgrounds good is the interface border between the subject and the background. Zoom it to a scale appropriate for the print you will be making to see if it matches. Photoshop has a pretty good ability to extract the subject from a plain background and then place it into a digibackground, but each background used may have different challenges.

I have done a few cut and paste jobs (as I call them) with mixed results, my favorites (unfortunately I don't have a model release for) are very good and hard to tell were not shot in real life that way. It would blow up to the 16x24 size with little problem if I needed to print them.

Lastly as to purchasing digi backgrounds, the key would be the native resolution of the background image.

All of mine I took myself with the same camera.

Hope that helped a bit.