Chroma-Key or Grey Backround?

If you were going to take pictures that you know you would PP out the background with something more interesting later, would you use a grey or chroma-key background for the shot?

Chroma-key is the way to go for video, but would it reflect green light on the subject in photos so that grey would be better?

I use a blue chroma key for mine. If you don't have proper lighting for the subject and background you will have color spill no matter what you do. Lighting is the key.

What is the difference between blue and green chroma-key. Whenever I see chroma key products I see both but don't really see what makes them different or why you would use one over the other.

I used to see blue and then everybody (Fox news) started using green. I think it depends on your subject.

TooManyHobbies wrote in post #2680515
I used to see blue and then everybody (Fox news) started using green. I think it depends on your subject.

So it's just based on the subject, clothing, accessories, etc.? You use whichever gives you the most contrast?

Have you ever seen the weatherman with the green jacket on who disappears?

I've seen a lot of blue screen and green screen things but never really understood exactly how it worked.

In my video software you pick the color and it replaces the color on one layer with the video on another.

In PS, it just makes it easy to select the background. Especially for hair.

TMR Design wrote in post #2680677
So it's just based on the subject, clothing, accessories, etc.? You use whichever gives you the most contrast?

When chromakey was a fairly new technique for television, blue was chosen because there is virtually no blue in (caucasian) skin tones... it's less troublesome to drop out than green, anyway. I assume movies used blue for the same reason, even though "bluescreen" was an optical film technique, vs. the electronic chromakey of TV. Walter Cronkite has blue eyes, however, so when CBS began to use chromakey as an element in the evening news, they had to use a green screen, or Uncle Walter's eyes would sparkle with the new inserted background image. As mentioned, lighting is critical for either color, as light reflecting off of the background can interfere with a clean mask around the subject. In TV, a complimentary light (e.g. amber) was often used as a backlight to better separate the subject from the background when keying was used.

As the technique advanced, a very specific green was developed for the "Ultimatte" process. That ended up working very well, and the precise color and sharp electronic filters resulted in a very crisp effect.

yeh, like RossW said, a very specific green is normally used in video chromakeying. i dont think people will agree, but i remember reading that blue is more likely to occur in human skin than green , hence why green screen is used mainly.

can i also point out that lighting of the greenscreen is crucial to a sucessful key, aswell as subject position. the screen must be evenly lit, and shadows minimized. moving the subject further away not only reduces harsh shadows, but it also reduces spill, which will help make a nice clean key.

you may already know this, if so, just disregard it. my 2 cents.

Thanks guys, but we may be straying from the question. For video I know green is needed, but how about PP in PS to remove background. Do you think I would be better off with grey or green?

Grey would probably be harder to seperate in areas like hair but would be neutral on casting light on the subject.
Green would make the easies PPing, but might cause color pollution of the subject.

TooManyHobbies wrote in post #2685415
Grey would probably be harder to seperate in areas like hair but would be neutral on casting light on the subject.
Green would make the easies PPing, but might cause color pollution of the subject.

you mean spill. spill is easier to correct than having to mess around in areas like hair. go for green.

TooManyHobbies wrote in post #2680417
If you were going to take pictures that you know you would PP out the background with something more interesting later, would you use a grey or chroma-key background for the shot?

Chroma-key is the way to go for video, but would it reflect green light on the subject in photos so that grey would be better?

If you want to remove the backdrop from your photographed scene, get one specifically designed for this (there are green and blue ones).
The reason you use them in video, is the exact same reason you use them still photographs.

The green ones are a newer design and likely are more universal, but realize that if you just happen to have something in the image that is close to the same green of the background, removing the background may be more difficult that a few clicks with the mouse.

So, if you want to be more comprehensive having both a chromakey green and blue and use the one that best fits the scene at hand.

But, practically speaking, for an photo enthusiast, just get the green one.

A gray background will be much harder to deal with in removing the background. This does not mean that it cannot be done, it is just a lot harder.

Extremely even lighting on the background is also very important to easily edit out the background, even with the green one. You want the exact same color and shade over the entire expanse of the photographed backdrop.

Tint spillover from the background is very possible, as it is with any colored backdrop, you will need to employ measures to mitigate this.

Enjoy! Lon

Ok, gray is out. Thanks.

I went for green because a blue is a popular color for people to wear.