Children's Birthday Party

[brian_l.]

<p>My daughter is turning 5 in a couple of weeks and we are hosting a pool party for her and her daycare classmates. I want to make this a memorable day for all. Aside from the standard cake and candle pics, I'm considering pool level pics of the kids. I also have a green screen setup that I have played around with in the past. Its a basic program (GSW Lite) with a 5x7 screen. I thing it would be cool to take portrait type shots of each child and place the somewhere exotic or fun, and include the pic along in the thank you card. I would also like to do a group shot of the children with a green screen ( I'm not against investing in a larger screen or lighting) or just posed on the lawn. Any thoughts or suggestions? Equipment: Nikon D40, 18-55 kit, 35/1.8, 70-300, SB-400 and SB-700 speedlights. Thanks! Brian</p>

[vancouver_wedding_portrait]

<p>Light them even use a light meter and careful with the green spill over onto hairs. If your Green Screen is thin light might pass through it therefore causing issue for removing the green. Hope your program works well because I can't search for the software. Most people use After Effect to do the job but again I would test it out first before taking on the task because it can be harder than you think base on your photoshop skills. Let us know how well it turned out. </p>

[aura_jane]

<p>I actually did this exact thing a couple of months ago. Turned out well. I used FX Photokey 3, which keys very well. I used a beach scene from a digital backdrop cd. It was very difficult to fit everyone on my 5x7 scene for the group shot. Required some photoshop to remove some of the walls that showed at the edge of the frame. All you have to do is make them the same shade of green and it will key in photokey though, so it's much easier than removing walls in a traditional shot. If you can, I would suggest a large green cloth backdrop. I have a 10x12 (I believe are the dimensions) and so long as you do not have huge wrinkles, it will key perfectly. You may want to set up a backdround light to reduce the spill. I used a speedlight as mine without any issues. Children with really light hair will get more spill on them, which you can fix in PS with the color replacement tool pretty easily. Here is a sample from the day. I actually turned the screen to the blue side because most of the props and swim suits were green.</p><div></div>

[brian_l.]

<p>Great information. Thanks. The software I'm using is Green Screen Wizard (www.greenscreenwizard.com). I picked it up prior to hearing of Photokey. Good idea about using the blue side, as the grass skirts and such lean more towards the green. My setup will more than likely be outside in the shade, With luck, the lighting will be fairly even.</p>

[brian_l.]

<p>Aura, your pic is exactly what I'm looking to do. Looks great! Here is what I did with GSW over Christmas.</p><div></div>