Cheapo way of doing digital backdrops (chroma key)?

Question

I was thinking of buying a green shower courtain (of course one that isn't shiny or reflective) to do digital backdrops, my question is... do yall think this will work? what other cheap stuff can one buy to do chroma keying? I just want to experiment here at home! with photos!

Answer 1

I bought "chroma key" colored green material I found at my fabric store. I think I paid $1.50 a yard for it and got 3 yards. Since I do not do any large groups the 60" fabric width was plenty wide enough. I bought a $15 6' tall garment rack from Wal-Mart and sewed the material like a pillowcase to fit over the rack. I works perfectly for what I do and is portable and non-permanent. Since then I have bought some blue "Chroma Key type" material and cheap fabric in various patterns for backdrops and sewed them in the same way for quick changes. Makes what I do much easier. and it takes up very little space.

Answer 2

Try Photo Shop instead of Chroma Key.

Using a digital camera and Photo Shop can produce the same effects if you start with a simple solid colored background.

I've included a link to my web site, www.theahrensimage. Check it out, several of the images under Portfolio - Children and Seniors were created this way.

The full version of Photo Shop is expensive but very much worth it! Learning the program is time consuming but there is so much that can be done with it.

Good Luck!!

Answer 3

a green screen works good for motion picture and television because the action and motion blur makes the artifacts less noticable. however for a still portrait you will get less than desirable results. the subject will often be "green around the gills". This is because, 1 they are too close to the green screen and green light reflections spill on the sides of the subject or 2 they are too far from the green screen which is no longer in sharp focus and a fringes bleed over on the subject's image. This is ok for comic effects such as putting the subject in a rediculous setting, but for a serious portrait its not worth the effort to fix.

Answer 4

A green shower curtain will most certainly NOT be good enough. There is a special green for green screen called chroma key. It is a very vivid green - almost flurescent - and is the furthest from almost all colours in the natural world that you would be photographing. You can buy green screens off ebay for a pretty decent price.

Answer 5

About 10 years ago me and my friend painted his wall chroma-key green. It worked absolutely fine once we put up the appropriate lumination. This place sells chroma key spray paint. http://www.filmtools.com/chromkeyfab.html