GaZoomIn Loc: Albany GA

I have been working with a friend and she offers green screen as one of her services along side regular studio and on location shots.

I like green screen but I'm not totally sold on it. So, I'm looking for some opinions and / or examples of good or bad. General feedback about Green Screen please.

rmbanas Loc: Michigan

I too have thought of green screen especially for winter time use. You have to light the heck out of a green screen so there are no shadows and I am limited on space so that has been my hold back.

photophly Loc: Old Bridge NJ

I have just started playing with Green screen....so far so good.Lighting has not been a problem for me,nothing I could not correct in photoshop.

GaZoomIn Loc: Albany GA

Space is an issue. Also, I have found that sizing the subject withing the scene can be tricky. As for lighting I can say that has not been an issue. However, I did find out that you must have the green screen smooth for it to work best. Of course one can always photoshop images. But I feel that the less processing one has to do the better.

gizzy.whicker Loc: Cumberland Co., Illinois

I use the green screen extensively for video(Adobe Premiere) as well as photos. When working with photos in Photoshop, the green of the green screen can easily be converted into a transparent background layer, and then that layer substituted with anything you desire. The trick is the lighting of the green screen to make it uniform. Shadow-canceling lighting is esential, and should be bounced off a low (8 foot is okay), white ceiling at a 45 degree angle onto the screen that's behind the subject(s). Three light sources are best--one to each side, and one dead center. Keep the subject(s) about 36 inches away from the screen. It's a lot of fun being able to substitute every imaginable background at will. More information is available if you desire it. Hope this helps

GaZoomIn Loc: Albany GA

Yes that did help a lot. My friend's green screen is cloth and it is HUGE. It does allow one to cover things too. For example, she put a posing block under the cloth and had a girl lay down and prop herself against the block. When it was finished the girl was propped against a rock. But still, I wonder how cost effective this is. By that I mean the time it takes to process each shot. How much time do you take to work on the image processing?

gizzy.whicker Loc: Cumberland Co., Illinois

Hi, GaZoomIn (by the way, that GaZoomIn name cracks me up) With the green screen, shadows, wrinkles and such do effect the way PhotoShop and/or Premiere recognize and switch the solid color to a transparent background. There are come good controls, though, which help make allowances for such things. But it's really quite simple and requires only a few clicks of the mouse. It's richly rewarding being able to put almost any background you want in behind a subject, limited only to your imagination and the availability of background photos. I bought a disk a few years ago with with 300,000 background photos on it, free for the using. I think it only cost something like $9.99 at an office supply store like Staples. I'd be happy to discus the matter further if you're interested.

Yes that did help a lot. My friend's green screen is cloth and it is HUGE. It does allow one to cover things too. For example, she put a posing block under the cloth and had a girl lay down and prop herself against the block. When it was finished the girl was propped against a rock. But still, I wonder how cost effective this is. By that I mean the time it takes to process each shot. How much time do you take to work on the image processing?[/quote]

GaZoomIn Loc: Albany GA

First of all it is interesting that you find my screen name funny. That was the actual intent. You see, I have an online store at Zazzle.com where I sell my photography and artwork on all sorts of products. (www.Zazzle.com/GaZoomIn) I chose that name because it is memorable and has some meaning too. I live in Georgia and as a photographer I do zoom in a lot.

As for the green screen I will just have to play around with it some more. My friend bought the setup that came with like 10 disks. The company that sells it also offers more disks for a small fee ($1.99 plus shipping, so around $5) for the latest and greatest background and effects. The possibilities are endless. Thanks for your feedback on this matter.

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:lol: :lol:

johnnyg67 Loc: Northwest Georgia

Hi GaZoomIn! I've used Green Screen for portraits and for corporate photography. The main thing (as mentioned before) is the even lighting of the background along with good subject lighting. By trial and error I've found out how important that is. If you get shadows on the screen you will have spotty patches when you add a background. I have used the Majic Wand in Corel Paint Shop Pro to paint the backdrop (the same color as the green screen) after having too many shadows. Time consuming but it saved the shoot by allowing me to add the backgrounds uniformly.( Better to have good lighting to start and save time.) But I like that I can add any backdrop I want and I can shoot a portrait session even on a bad rainy day and add the outside backdrop later! Here are a few shots done on Green Screen. Have fun and good luck!

Man portrait on Green Screen Warehouse Added Later


Girl on Green Screen then Backdrop added


Girl on Green Screen Bike Shot added

gizzy.whicker Loc: Cumberland Co., Illinois

Very good examples of the versatility of using a green screen. That's nice work, johnnyg67. I'll tell you something funny about a time when I first began using green screen with video; I was filming an interview of a military veteran for our local historical museum. It didn't occur to me that the lady conducting the interview was wearing a sweater, large parts of which were far too close to the green of the green screen. When I pulled up the video file in Adobe Premiere and activated green screen feature, most of the lady's upper body disappeared. I totally freaked out! We had to re-film the interview. Lesson learned.

johnnyg67 Loc: Northwest Georgia

Ha! Gizzy Whacker (did I spell that right?? :roll: ) I did the same thing photographing a Karate tournament and completely had forgotten about the "Green Belts" Yikes! Lesson learned there too. Everyone be warned...be sure to ask your subjects to NOT WEAR GREEN! Unless you just love reshoots or added post production. Whoops now I see it gizzy.whicker sorry

Stone Angel

I too use the green screen a lot. I've never had a problem with lighting, but sometimes when there was green in the main subject, I would just switch over to white. Of course with the white, shadows can be a problem without the right lighting.

gizzy.whicker Loc: Cumberland Co., Illinois

Not to worry. I've been called a lot worse on here. One dude kept calling me Gizzard Whacker. That would have (Avatar) Mr. Frank Bruce. I wonder what happened to Mr. Frank Bruce? I haven't seen him on UHH for quite a spell now.

gizzy.whicker Loc: Cumberland Co., Illinois

You're absolutely correct, Stone Angel. Any solid color will work. but the developers of the technique had it correctly figured out that that particular shade of green would likely be the least likely to conflict with foreground colors. But every once in a while... WHOA! be careful!

johnnyg67 Loc: Northwest Georgia

Stone Angel I gotta admit that I've never heard of using white or any other colors beside Green or Blue screens. Interesting I'll have to try that! Thx