If you have been following my latest YouTube videos, you know that I have been experimenting with some really awesome green-screen equipment furnished by http://www.backdropexpress.com
This video is all about the Chroma Green/Blue Collapsible Backdrop that they offer. If you saw the my earlier unboxing video, you saw how compact and truly portable this item is. Also, it was very easy to set up and shoot with. It comes with its own stand, which I did not expect! It comes with a very nice bag, too, which keeps it safe on the go. If you have seen many of my past videos, you know that I LOVE when gear comes with a proper bag. This backdrop DEFINITELY falls in that category!
The first time that I tried the backdrop and imported the results into iMovie, the green-removal process did not go perfectly. Some quick research told me that I did not have the backdrop illuminated well enough for the effect to work at its best. In fact, I did not have the backdrop illuminated at all! I took a trip to the hardware store to buy some 1,000 watt halogen work lights. This helped me greatly in achieving even illumination across the backdrop when doing video. For still photography, my SB-800’s in SU-4 mode with some homemade reflectors work terrific in illuminating this backdrop.
I actually used the Help feature in iMovie ’09 to learn how to use the built-in green-screen function and it worked on the first try. There are also several great YouTube videos on this topic. With still images, the magic wand tool in Photoshop had me “knocking out” the green background in no time! I still have much to learn, but in the first few days, I have been producing far better results than I expected this early on!
Now, I can’t claim to be the premier authority on green-screen, since I am just getting my feet wet – and many of you have sent GREAT suggestions. BUT, if you do have questions, please let me know and I will either give you an answer or get you an answer! So far, I have been talking in my videos and blog posts about gear and techniques that I have a lot of experience with… this is my first venture into something completely new in quite awhile.
Thanks again to the folks at Backdrop Express for helping to make this possible.
I still have much ground to cover and I’ll make new videos every step of the way!