? about digital backdrops

[teeny]

Hi, I was wondering if any of you that are familiar with this could help me understand how this works?

Do you have to have a blue or a green chromakey backdrop first? Do you have to have a pen tablet or can you just use your photoshop tools? I have seen cd for digital backdrops for seniors and christmas etc and some are very nice, but If Its too hard I will have to stay with my seamless paper etc.:)

Thanks,

Teeny

[PixelMagic]

No, you don't need a chromakey backdrop; in fact a blue or green backdrop could complicate matters if it isn't lit correctly. For Photoshop work a white or black backdrop works best because it minimizes the color bleeding that frequently occurs with green or blue backdrops.

A tablet will make your life much easier if you intend to create knockouts. The ability to vary opacity simply by changing the amount of pressure exerted makes a big difference when masking.


Hi, I was wondering if any of you that are familiar with this could help me understand how this works?

Do you have to have a blue or a green chromakey backdrop first? Do you have to have a pen tablet or can you just use your photoshop tools? I have seen cd for digital backdrops for seniors and christmas etc and some are very nice, but If Its too hard I will have to stay with my seamless paper etc.:)

Thanks,

Teeny

[waynedsargent]

If you are going to do "greenscreen" leave photoshop at home. It is just too time consuming. This is what I use and it is the BOMB! The conversions take just a couple minutes. You do have to use a blue or green backdrop though. http://store02.prostores.com/servlet/tubetape/the-53/green-screen-software-chromakey/Detail

[waynedsargent]

Here is an example as you can see hair is not a problem.
http://SargentPhotography.smugmug.com/photos/276421190_cB9bq-L.jpg

[Shooting]

If you get Fluid Mask then you can use ANY solid color background and use fluid mask to remove it so you can use any background you want.

[Shooting]

If you are going to do "greenscreen" leave photoshop at home. It is just too time consuming. This is what I use and it is the BOMB! The conversions take just a couple minutes. You do have to use a blue or green backdrop though. http://store02.prostores.com/servlet/tubetape/the-53/green-screen-software-chromakey/Detail

Hey..question, do you need to use a blue or green screen for the above software?

[waynedsargent]

Yep blue or green. Used fluid mask too! This is better for chromakey by far, fluid mask again works well on certain applications but is still more time consuming. I am telling ya I processed 57 cheerleaders in less than an hour and a half. It was worth every penny in just added productivity.

[teeny]

Thanks for all the replies! Wayne, I really appreciate the link. I am definately looking into this!

Teeny:)

[Shooting]

I just tried photokey and love it..still needs some tweaking but here are two images to show what I did last night...I suppose it would be easier with someone with dark hair and hair not so "wispy"..look at the change in dress tone from the green screen to the digital background..I used noiseware and then portrait professional..oh by the way, this is my wife. I did add color to her face with the digital background but it isn't in this one. Oh one more thing that may shock some of you, I shot this in RAW and I had a lot of noise to get rid of..another reason why I don't like raw, jpeg in camera has noise removed automatically..shooting with an XTI.

[teeny]

Hey Shooting, that looks good to me. I have not had a chance to try it yet, but I will!

Teeny:)

[PixelMagic]

I'm not trying to be rude or anything but I disagree. The subject looks like she was cut out with pinking shears (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinking_shears).


Hey Shooting, that looks good to me. I have not had a chance to try it yet, but I will!

Teeny:)

[waynedsargent]

hey shooting told you photokey works cool!

[BTBeilke]

Oh one more thing that may shock some of you, I shot this in RAW and I had a lot of noise to get rid of..another reason why I don't like raw, jpeg in camera has noise removed automatically..shooting with an XTI.


So you would rather let the camera decide how aggressively noise should be removed from a photo? You would rather have noise reduction applied universally to the entire photo as opposed to being able to selectively apply noise reduction? Certainly it is less work to just let the camera do it but IMO that is far from the best way to handle noise.

[Shooting]

Yes teeny and wayne, it works and I love it..she was right against the background too..if I moved her a few feet from it it would have turned out better..I love that program.....
BTBeilke, yes, I want the camera to remove noise from EVERY image..I find it undesireable in the work I do..if I need to remove more, if camera doesn't catch it all, then I just apply some noiseware pro,sharpen with NIK Sharpener and I'm done..the clients I shoot for want crisp, clear and noisefree images..I know some say a little noise is artistic in some fashion but it just isn't for me and my clientele....

[Shooting]

I'm not trying to be rude or anything but I disagree. The subject looks like she was cut out with pinking shears (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinking_shears).

That's fine..that is because she was maybe a little too close to the background..this was just a test of photokey..now that i see how it works and how good it works, I'll move her further away from the background and it will be perfect.
the closer to the background the more "spill" the program has to deal with.

[waynedsargent]

yes definately keep the subject well off the background, elimnate wrinkles in the backdrop, and keep even light on the backdrop.

[Shooting]

On mine I just used a demp flipit and bounce off a ceiling with some light being thrown forward..that is all I did.

[BTBeilke]

BTBeilke, yes, I want the camera to remove noise from EVERY image..I find it undesireable in the work I do..if I need to remove more, if camera doesn't catch it all, then I just apply some noiseware pro,sharpen with NIK Sharpener and I'm done..the clients I shoot for want crisp, clear and noisefree images..I know some say a little noise is artistic in some fashion but it just isn't for me and my clientele....

Nothing in my post even hinted that I would want a bunch of noise in ANY of my pictures. To begin with, if you are getting such a high level of noise in your pictures, there is something else going wrong. With a properly exposed picture, I have shot virtually noiseless RAW images with my old 300D. Also, I've read that some RAW converters actually seem to generate "noise" during the conversion process, but ACR seems to work quite well for me.

Secondly, you seemed to have missed the main point of my post. If you really want to remove noise while preserving as much fine detail as possible, I suggest you learn to use masked layers for sharpening and noise reduction. Your camera won't do that kind of processing for you. More work? Yes. Better results? Yes. To each his own I guess.

[Shooting]

Maybe...every raw file I shoot no matter what the ISO is full of noise and they aren't underexposed..however when I shoot in jpeg there is virtually no noise at all...learning masked layers, etc..is too much work when the camera does all I need automatically. Yes, to each his/her own..I don't want to go thru all that work when sorting thru over 900 images of a wedding when I can shoot jpeg and run an action to sharpen if needed and remove any noise if any..I can start that action on 900+ images and go mow the grass or something..when I come back I just have to crop and do my special effects and I'm done...masking each image, etc. would take me forever to do a wedding..not worth the effort and time.

[teeny]

Hi, back to this topic. I downloaded the photokey and used it on one of my pictures and I thought it turned out nice. The only thing is, I did not use a green or blue screen, I used my gels on a white and a gray seamless paper. I had one in green and one in blue and both worked.

I was just wondering if anyone else uses their gels for this or strictly the green/blue screen?


Teeny

[DD974]

yes definately keep the subject well off the background, elimnate wrinkles in the backdrop, and keep even light on the backdrop.

With chromakey....that's the key...if it's not lit correctly the dreaded green or blue fringe is everywhere. I'd love to try this on an 20 team sports league...especially when the weather sucks and need to be indoors.