If you don't have a green screen will a black or white backdrop work?

Why green screen? If you want to cut people from a shot, why green screen? Why not white or black backdrop?

I don't do much green screen work but I believe cutting out the person with a green background will be much easier than white or black.

The basic concept is that you want your background color to be the farthest color from you subject as possible, and that particular shade of green and blue are not commonly found in nature, so a wide array of subjects works in front of it.

Technically you can use any color as long as it is not close to your subject. Black and white are not used often because shadows turn black and highlights go white - something that is going to ruin your key. Black would be okay if your subject was all white with no shadows, or black when your subject is all black with no highlights. But for different subjects the blue and green just works best.

Tamgerine wrote: The basic concept is that you want your background color to be the farthest color from you subject as possible, and that particular shade of green and blue are not commonly found in nature, so a wide array of subjects works in front of it.

Technically you can use any color as long as it is not close to your subject. Black and white are not used often because shadows turn black and highlights go white - something that is going to ruin your key. Black would be okay if your subject was all white with no shadows, or black when your subject is all black with no highlights. But for different subjects the blue and green just works best.

Excellent explanation, Tammy. I recently saw some sample of blue screen and green screen where the subject was wearing a close shade. The software deleted that area and the person looked like the partially invisible man. The meteorologists and traffic reporters at our TV station are very careful on their clothing selection.

You can make your own portable green screen using PVC pipe and green material from a fabric store. You do not want draped fabric since the shadows would show as a different color.

Here is a how-to video.

Baydream wrote: Excellent explanation, Tammy. I recently saw some sample of blue screen and green screen where the subject was wearing a close shade. The software deleted that area and the person looked like the partially invisible man. The meteorologists and traffic reporters at our TV station are very careful on their clothing selection.

You can make your own portable green screen using PVC pipe and green material from a fabric store. You do not want draped fabric since the shadows would show as a different color.

Here is a how-to video.

That is close to how I build my reflectors. Except for those I put two tees in between the main frame and the cross, that way you can make the reflector tilt.

Tamgerine wrote: The basic concept is that you want your background color to be the farthest color from you subject as possible, and that particular shade of green and blue are not commonly found in nature, so a wide array of subjects works in front of it.

Technically you can use any color as long as it is not close to your subject. Black and white are not used often because shadows turn black and highlights go white - something that is going to ruin your key. Black would be okay if your subject was all white with no shadows, or black when your subject is all black with no highlights. But for different subjects the blue and green just works best.

Actually that particular shade of green/blue isn't found in human skin. That's why it's used.

It's found in nature plenty.

If you're talking photography, you can use a white background and cut it out fairly easily (hair can be tricky, but I know a way around that). The problem comes when the background colour comes through, particularly in areas like hair. So if you do a white background (for example) it might be easy to cut it out, but when you put it on a darker background you might see white around those areas (for example).

With chromakey (blue/green screen) you have to be careful of green light (bounced off the rear) hitting the subject (so don't put them too close) also the lighting on the background needs to be as even as possible.

Shooting against black/white is usually luma-key not chromakey. If you do chromakey all the black/white in your subject will be taken away. So goodbye highlights and shadows. Luma-key is a bit easy as you can blow out whites or crush the blacks on the background and make sure your subject is lit above pure black or under pure white.... chromakey is easier to get right in post honestly... though you have to be more careful in production.

Tamgerine wrote: The basic concept is that you want your background color to be the farthest color from you subject as possible, and that particular shade of green and blue are not commonly found in nature, so a wide array of subjects works in front of it.

Technically you can use any color as long as it is not close to your subject. Black and white are not used often because shadows turn black and highlights go white - something that is going to ruin your key. Black would be okay if your subject was all white with no shadows, or black when your subject is all black with no highlights. But for different subjects the blue and green just works best.

you got that right!

Removing people or things from backgrounds these days is pretty easy on against almost any background but your background lighting must be even as another poster pointed out. Trying to remove blue or green spill is no fun after the fact so watch for your background color reflecting onto your subject. With chroma there is software that does a decent job of autodetecting backgrounds and removing. That said it only takes a few minutes to do it by hand these days and the results are often better.

Sandy Smith Photos wrote:

Tamgerine wrote: The basic concept is that you want your background color to be the farthest color from you subject as possible, and that particular shade of green and blue are not commonly found in nature, so a wide array of subjects works in front of it.

Technically you can use any color as long as it is not close to your subject. Black and white are not used often because shadows turn black and highlights go white - something that is going to ruin your key. Black would be okay if your subject was all white with no shadows, or black when your subject is all black with no highlights. But for different subjects the blue and green just works best.

you got that right!

Mostly right.