Green / Blue Screen Manipulation

[nosdude]

Can I do green or blue screen manipulation with Canon Digital Rebel EOS? And what software do I need?

Thanks all.

[Zilly]

you can how ever you idealy need adobe after effects to key out properly.

im going to wright a short tutorial on how to chroma-key high res images

its not the easyest thing in the world to do well.

[nosdude]

you can how ever you idealy need adobe after effects to key out properly.

im going to wright a short tutorial on how to chroma-key high res images

its not the easyest thing in the world to do well.

Thanks. looking forward to the tutorial

[DwightMcCann]

I am waiting on this, too!

[SlowBlink]

You can buy chroma key paint or backdrops which is a start.

[DwightMcCann]

Well, I went out and did some Googling ... took me to Adobe which took me to http://www.digitalanarchy.com/section/section_psd.html#pr3 as the only ChromaKey plug-in they list ... but it is pricey at $299 for just electronically delivered software ... you still have to manage the background yourself which I am sure one can purchase from somewhere else. I have an application that might make this worthwhile at one of my ongoing clients.

[PhotosGuy]

More ways if you have the time to use them - see the video tutorial in post #8:
Tough Exposure question (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=421009)

[Alexajlex]

I'll start by saying that using NLEs and compositing programs such as After Effects may be overkill if you are just doing pictures. If they are nicely lit I'd start looking at PS and using the lasso tool and if that does not work then move on to NLEs.
I've used PS for pictures using a greenscreen and it worked well.

I'll give you my view from someone who does video editing daily (Vegas and a bit of Premiere).

Most NLEs (non liner editors - basically the name for a modern video editing programs) have a chroma key plugin. Premiere Pro and Vegas have this. Event the entry level versions such as Premiere Elements 4 and Sony Vegas Movie studios 8 which sell for around $100 include this feature. Trust me when I tell you these chroma keys are very good.

I've done video chroma key with Vegas and it was flawless.
There are a couple of issues that people have when doing this that cause problems.
All of these issues are not software related but related to the staging process:

1)You need a reasonable degree of even lighting across your green screen.

2)You need to place your subject at a distance of a few feet away from the screen. It will work with the subject's back against the green screen but it won't be stellar. You'll have green spill on the subject from the green screen.

3)You need to light your subject and background with separate light sources. It does not have to be fancy. I once used a 100 watt fluorescent bulb and an aluminum dome from home depot and it worked fine.

You can test this on the cheap.
At home I put together a make shift greenscreen using a 4 $1 green table cloths from the party supply store. I used the 100 watt cfl bulb and chrome dome from home depot as the key for the subject. I lit the screen with 2 500 watt bulbs (diffused and far away from the screen).

Make sure you keep the lights away from the screen if you are using hot lights (or anything that is putting out massive power, I know people use the Autozone 1000 watt lights and those put out a lot of heat).

[DwightMcCann]

Alexajlex, in my instance the value of using a chromakey plugin would be speed and complexity of subject. If you can just throw a lasso on your subject and get the details that's great, but if you have hair, plants, or other complex patterns where the background must "show through" to get the correct feel, it becomes a somewhat complex "extraction". Since I may need to process 50 such images in an hour for my application I don't think just the default PS tools would be adequate.

As for the backdrop itself, I would be looking for speed and ease of use, not cheap. If my client decides to go with this I will try to post an explanatory thread, but it will be a month or so.

[Alexajlex]

Alexajlex, in my instance the value of using a chromakey plugin would be speed and complexity of subject. If you can just throw a lasso on your subject and get the details that's great, but if you have hair, plants, or other complex patterns where the background must "show through" to get the correct feel, it becomes a somewhat complex "extraction". Since I may need to process 50 such images in an hour for my application I don't think just the default PS tools would be adequate.

As for the backdrop itself, I would be looking for speed and ease of use, not cheap. If my client decides to go with this I will try to post an explanatory thread, but it will be a month or so.

I'm simply giving ideas to try on the cheap before you spend a lot of $$$ (lord knows that this happens a billion times per day).
You can do the party table cloth or get one of those Amvona greenscreen kits that I see floating around for cheap.

My angle is more from the video editing task. Partly this was driven by the fact that the OP mentioned AE which is a video effect compositing program. You can use it for whatever else but the main purpose is video compositing and mixed media design.

Plugins are great for sure. When you have issues with hair and fine details that is where the things I mentioned come into play (separate lighting, put the subject far away from the greenscreen, etc.). While they won't solve all the issues they will give you a big boost in the right direction.
Again I can speak from the live video greensreen point of view on this but the concept is identical to taking pictures using a greenscreen.

I've done live greenscreen video work and we get all the fine details out even when shooting DV.

I got the impression that the OP was just starting out and trying to experiment.
I see you are coming from the point of view of paid work but I think the OP is just trying to learn. That is a big difference IMO.
Wouldn't you agree that it is best to get a cheap table cloth and some home depot lights and practice with that?
I'm confident to say that having a more professional greenscreen will never give you a performance increase proportional with the price of the greenscreen.

[DwightMcCann]

Yes, absolutely I agree that going on the cheap to stick your toe in or just to see what it's like is the way to go if you have the time and flexibility. Didn't mean to suggest otherwise at all. Yes, I am in a much different situation.

[Roach711]

I like the green plastic tablecloth idea!

In a nutshell green screen (chroma key) photography uses a background color that is quite different from your expected subject's colors so you can use your photo editor to easily select the background color and erase it or mask it out. You then copy a new background image into the green screen image as a new background layer and the new background appears behind the green screen image.

The main problem with green screen is getting the backdrop evenly lit. You want the backdrop as uniformly lit as possible. That said, a bright green tablecloth hung from a clothesline on a sunny day would probably work pretty well if you take care to blur the background when shooting.

I know that photoshop CS will work for you but couldn't say whether PS Elements will work.