Randi’s topic is really about greenscreening for video and film (with specs like HDCAM and 35mm/24fps) since Post is a broadcast media publication. However, her sage advice is completely applicable to working with photographs and other still images.

In fact, the subtitle of the article is exactly the mantra that we tell our Primatte Photoshop customers: “Give yourself enough time, light it right and plan ahead.”

An interesting topic in the article is when to break the rules. For instance, posing your models against white (almost never) or red (if the subjects are wearing green and blue) versus the standard chroma-blue or chroma-green back screen. Another compelling subject is the variation in location, preparation and conditions under which film/TV studios shoot their subjects. Sometimes the situation is planned and optimal and other times — as many photographers have surely experienced — the chromakey shoot is unexpected and requires imaginative resources.

Randi quotes from an interview with editor Tom Fulks of Detroit’s post-production studio Grace & Wild. “[He] says the basic rules of working with greenscreen have always been the same: it’s all about lighting and separation…”What’s changed is the technical prowess,” he says. “The Flames, the Nukes, the plug-ins… those are the things that have evolved.”"

This statement is totally in line with our development of Primatte as an Adobe Photoshop CS5 plugin. When we took over the product in 2004, its core algorithm for recognizing color separation was good but the interface was clunky. Over the years, the algorithm has gotten exponentially better AND our interface wrapper has become more sophisticated and easier to use.

We are very proud of this latest Primatte release. As our president Jim Tierney said, “We’ve improved the speed and further enhanced the workflow, but Primatte 3.5 is just the beginning. Look for additional big changes in the coming months.”

regards -debbie

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Recently, Joe showed me a photo composite that he created while writing one of his upcoming books. The image was masked with Primatte Chromakey, our blue / green screen Adobe Photoshop plugin.

Joe wrote, “My first try with Primatte. The on-line tutorial really helped and the photo was shot blue screen. Same pic, one in color, the other black and white to match the original Godzilla movie. I need to find something to add scratches and dirt!”

The upcoming book is titled ‘Joe Farace’s Studio Lighting Anywhere’. This image is from a chapter about backgrounds, specifically using green or blue screen backgrounds, and Joe’s wife is the model. The book will be published in 2011 by Amherst Media. You can read about Joe Farace’s books and photography on his website, joefarace.com.

Joe’s original photo, before using Primatte to remove the blue screen:

The color version of his composite:

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Image by Deverie FX, www.deveriefx.com

Let’s define the classic portrait. It’s a portrait of a person at a place and time, exactly as they are. Sitting in their car, standing with a violin with a regular muslin background behind them, walking on a beach, etc.

However, there’s more to portraits than just the classic look.  Putting someone in front of the effiel tower so that they can tell all their friends they went to France is cheesy. But sometimes portraits are more about creating a story, a fantasy, or something else that provokes an emotional response. Creating an image that not so much captures that person at that moment, but captures their dreams, goals, desires, and how they veiw themselves at that moment.

It’s not about deceiving the viewer. It’s about letting the viewer see more of them than a classic portrait would show. Green screen (or scene swapping however you do it) can give you flexibility in creating that story for them.

Image by Steven Gotts

Are the portraits created this way going to be their favorite image of themselves 15 years down the line? Maybe, maybe not. But I would argue that to many seniors these types of images resonate more strongly in the short term than a classic photo. It allows them to really express themselves and reveal how they view themselves. Of course, much as the fashions we wore when we were 18 change, so too these types of images may end up looking dated. So shooting a classic portrait, as well as an ‘enhanced’ portrait, is worthwhile.

I’m certainly not arguing against classic portraits. They can be timeless, and because of that are potentially more valuable long term. Just don’t overlook non-traditional portraits. They can provide a great deal of emotional impact for seniors (or anyone) that are wrestling with new identities, dreams, and much more.

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Well… apparently not all paper backgrounds are made equal!

I don’t remember who made the paper background we initially tested. But it was awful. Very reflective and prone to hot spots. We figured all paper would have the same problems. After listening to a talk by another company that does greenscreen software, I decided to revisit this and give Savage Paper’s ‘tech green #46′ a try.

So how’d it fare vs. the foam materail we’ve been recommending since day 1?

Excellent! I was very impressed with how evenly it lit. The paper has a very flat finish on it, meaning very little reflection and easy lighting. Of course, we lit everything with two big softboxes, so that helped I’m sure.

I’m going back on my opinion that paper won’t work for greenscreen backgrounds, and give a solid recommendation to the Savage #46 paper. I DO NOT think that all paper will work as well. As in our initial test, some papers are glossy and not suitable for chromakey. Also, Savage just released vinyl backgrounds that come in green and I’m highly skeptical that it’ll work for greenscreen. It’s got a pretty glossy finish, which is usually a disaster for chromakey.

We still recommend the foam material as well. But I think the Savage paper is on par with it, except in terms of reusability. I think the foam material generally works well, it’s easy to transport, and you can easily clean and reuse it.

For full length in a studio, I would give the nod to the paper. I think you’re likely to get a little less spill around the feet, but I don’t think the difference is that significant. You can take a look at the results with the two materials:

There are other materials out there… paint, canvas, etc. The important part with any material is a very flat finish on the surface. If you have that, it should work fine as a greenscreen.

If there are any other manufacturers of greenscreen backgrounds reading this that would like our recommendation on their product, please feel free to contact us to send us a sample. However, right now, the only materials we’re recommending is the Savage #46 paper and foam-backed material made by velcro.

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Shawn is a photographer of all talents and trades. Not only does he specialize in many subjects — high school seniors, industrial product shots and sports teams, to name a few — but he also runs photography seminars. More info on his company site, www.wrightstudio.us.

The images of Shawn’s that caught my eye are customized portraits of cheerleaders. After all… who doesn’t like cheerleaders? Admittedly contributing to my interest is a recent discovery on Hulu.com of the pilot episode of Fox’s ‘Glee’, which has adorable cheerleaders plus rags-to-riches young singers. Shawn photographs his subjects in several cheerleading poses against a greenscreen, uses our Adobe Photoshop masking plugin to remove the screen, and adds in his own original backgrounds.

I love the vibrant colors and juicy patterns that Shawn Wright brings to these portraits. Doesn’t get any better than that, unless you’re lucky enough to have one of his 4 x 6 print in your hands.

regards -Debbie

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Steven is using Flickr as his gallery medium these days, though he used to show a wider expanse of his work in a gorgeous website called Imagecarnival.com. Seems like he has his creative fingers in lots of stuff including commercial portraits, musician photos, CD covers. If you click around his People set, you will see a lot of interesting and even recognizable people. Steven is quite humble about his accomplishments. One of my favorite photos in this set is the lead singer for a band called MILKSHAKE!.

The work of Steven’s that I most appreciate is his self-produced graphic novel called Medusa’s Daughter. You can see that work on Flickr in his Medusa’s Daughter set and explained further in our online Digital Anarchy gallery.

We posted Steven’s work on our Primatte gallery a few months ago, but I want to call out his work. Just yesterday, I just stumbled upon the charming email that he sent to kickstart our relationship in 2007. The title of his email was “i’m SO glad for Primatte…..” and the body was simply a stunning image that he had composited with the help of Primatte Chromakey, our easy Photoshop masking plugin.

His email signature was a quote: “The mightiest of weapons is truth. And everyone knows you’re not permitted to enter a Government building with a weapon.” Which is witty and insightful, just like Steven’s photography. Enjoy!

regards -Debbie

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I was in DC for the inauguration and in my hotel you could get a picture with President Obama pretty much any time. The trick to this was that they had a green screen set up and they’d composite you into a picture with the Prez. (or Joe Biden… but c’mon… how many people are going to go for Joe?). It was pretty entertaining to see people lined up to do this. It’s pretty cool to see how prevalent greenscreens are becoming.

Here’s some shots of the setup….

Which caused me to stumble upon one of my favorite artists in our Primatte Chromakey gallery. John Riley, Ph.D., is a physicist and associate professor who initially contacted Digital Anarchy about some graphics work for which he was using Primatte, an Adobe Photoshop plugin for blue/greenscreen masking.

John showed us the Virtual Reality work, otherwise known as VR, that he was preparing for a portion of the artifact collection of the National Museum of Costa Rica. We were wow’ed. John uses Primatte inside a Photoshop batch to pull multiple shots of the collection objects off a bluescreen. Then he composites those new images into object spin movies and panoramas

Since that time, John has expanded his already enviable talents into a VR consulting business, 4Pi-VR Media Solutions. If you want to know more about creating photographic virtual reality, he’s your guy and you can find that info here

To see John’s Costa Rica VR work, please visit the Digital Anarchy gallery.

regards -Debbie

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