Tips for Shooting Green Screen Photographs

This article contains basic tips on how to shoot green screen photographs. Following are the tips.

• Ensure that the Scene is Evenly Lit with the help of Photographic Lights

The halogen lamps and normal lights can cast a yellow shade onto the scene. This can make the green screen backdrop difficult to drop out. So, the green backdrop must be uniform in color when photographed without any subject.

5X7 Green Muslin Backdrop - 123 Video Magic

• Be Prepared

Size and lighting of backdrop need to be planned earlier. This is important so that all taller and shorter people can be handled efficiently.

• Minimize Wrinkles in Backdrops

 If the studio is stationery, then a painted wall or a paper backdrop is good to avoid wrinkles. If the studio is not stationery and muslin green screen backgrounds are used, then wrinkles can be minimized by ironing. The wrinkles can also be minimized by stretching the screen properly on the background stand with the help of clamps.

10x12 Green Muslin Backdrop - 123 Video Magic

• Position the Subject 3 to 6 Feet Away from Backdrop

If the subject is positioned at this distance, the flash is prevented from reflecting green onto the subject’s back.

6x9 ft. Marble Pattern Muslin Backdrop - 123 Video Magic

• Make Sure that Lighting Doesn’t Cast Shadow on the Backdrop 

If the lighting casts subtle shadows on the backdrop, it can be removed easily. However, the dark shadows can cause noticeable dark spots in the photo. Thus, it is very important to adjust lights to light up the background properly.

1. Do camera settings in this way

2. Set to Manual or Flash White Balance with the help of gray card.

3. Use 100 or even lower ISO values. Higher ISO values have much noise, which can cause spotted transparency mask on extraction. The reason for this is that some of the pixels in green screen are either less green or no green at all with huge levels of noise.

4. Use medium aperture value. For studio shoots, the value 6.3 to 11 is good.

5. Shoot in raw mode.

   10x20 Green Muslin Backdrop - 123 Video Magic

   
   

Well, it is not essential to do shooting in raw mode, but it has some advantages. Firstly, there is not JPG compression. Secondly, the in-camera settings such as sharpening, color profile, white balance, toning etc. can be modified non-destructively.

• Use Quality Green Screen Software

The green screen software used for post-production phase should be of premium quality. Otherwise, the desired effects will not be achieved. The advanced software makes the photographer able to apply any digital image background to the already-existing photo.