Digital Backdrops & Croma screens

[sean_underhill]

<p>I have started to use digital backdrops for portraits and I'm looking for some ideas/advise.  I've considered buying a croma screen backdrop for the simple reason of editing.  That green color would be easy to do a selective color selection in CS3 to extract only that. <br>

Is there any advantage to using a true croma screen vs. just a green color?  My thought is that I want the background to be a color like that bright green that you know your subject isn't going to wear so it makes the color selection much easier.<br>

Thanks</p>

[richsimmons]

<p>I went to party city and bought a bright green tablecloth for $1.64 and used that. The most probelmatic part is making sure your lighting is correct and that you have enough space between the screen and your subject because the tablecloth had a shine to it as a dedicated screen is matte. If it's lit well, you shouldn't have too many problems. using a garbage mask around the subject helps too. Photoflex sells a portable green/blue screen.</p>

[charlesheckel]

<p>Rich is correct, but it isn't just green.  Any color you can select for in Photoshop will work, and you have to consider the effect light reflected from your screen will have on your subject.  Hair fringed with green can have a Goth effect that gets dated quickly.  Any evenly lighted background will do the trick, and gray is the least likely to have an undesirable effect.  You can learn to do very accurate selections in Photoshop, and there are addons that make it quick and easy.</p>

[sean_underhill]

<p>Thanks.<br>

Any suggestions for the add ons? I've looked at EZmask but it's $$$$</p>