Introduction
If you are in the video production industry, then this article is for you! From filmmakers to video producers and everyone in between, continue reading to benefit from these following green screen best practices. Before we get started here is a list of tools you will need, once you have gathered the items mentioned above you are ready to get started!
- Camera
- Green Screen
- Lights
- Video Editing Software
Know Your Lighting
Setting up your lighting might be one of the highest priorities on the list when it comes to using your green screen, mainly because you want your background to be a solid color. If this is not the case, your chroma-key software will have a difficult time telling apart the light greens from the darker ones. Your goal will be to have soft lighting that exposes the entire green screen evenly.
What to Wear
To avoid blending into the background we recommend not wearing clothing with the color green, since the process of chroma-keying will make anything in green disappear. Instead, try wearing colors on the opposite side of the color spectrum.
Watch the Distance
To remove the chances of hard shadows projecting onto the green screen, try setting several feet between your talent and the screen. This will give you some room to prop lights between the green screen and the subject.
Lens Work
One way to get a smooth blend of your green screen color is to open up the aperture of your camera lens. Lowering the F-stop number will create a shallow depth of field. The goal is to have a sharp focus on your talent while having the green screen appear softer in the background.
Conclusion
The opportunities are endless when using a green screen properly, you always want to leave viewers unaware of any keying involved in your productions. Now that you have learned some of the best practices when it comes to using a green screen, we hope that you will be putting them into use on your next shoot.
