[Dollanganger]

I recently purchased my first greenscreen for amateur photography and am having an impossible time separating thegreen screen from my model in Photoshop.



I'd always presumed this was an easymatter of using the "Magic Wand" to select the green. However, nomatter the "Tolerance" setting of the "Magic Wand" iteither over selects or under selects.



Worse yet the screen's green colorinevitably glows in on the model herself creating green colored skin and hair.Not only is this ugly but it makes the screen itself even more impossible toseparate the model from the screen.



What am I doing wrong? What is the properway to separate the subject model from the screen in Photoshop?



What camera or light settings can helpminimize the green skin and hair color?



Is the blue screen safe to wash? I askbecause I want to get out the wrinkles created when it was packaged.



Instructional videos I've seen on bluescreening don't address these issues. They merely state that the blue screencan be selected in Photoshop.



Thanks.

[slip]

I recently purchased my first greenscreen for amateur photography and am having an impossible time separating thegreen screen from my model in Photoshop.



I'd always presumed this was an easymatter of using the "Magic Wand" to select the green. However, nomatter the "Tolerance" setting of the "Magic Wand" iteither over selects or under selects.



Worse yet the screen's green colorinevitably glows in on the model herself creating green colored skin and hair.Not only is this ugly but it makes the screen itself even more impossible toseparate the model from the screen.



What am I doing wrong? What is the properway to separate the subject model from the screen in Photoshop?



What camera or light settings can helpminimize the green skin and hair color?



Is the blue screen safe to wash? I askbecause I want to get out the wrinkles created when it was packaged.



Instructional videos I've seen on bluescreening don't address these issues. They merely state that the blue screencan be selected in Photoshop.



Thanks.

I haven't played with photoshop in a while but I think the reason the screen is green is it is supposed to match the green channel in the red/green/blue channels. You need to somehow make a mask out of the green channel in order to separate the background from the subject. The green screen needs to be evenly lit in order for it to work well.

Hope this helps

Cheers

Randy

[photolady95]

Dollanganger, see you joined. Glad to hear it. You'll like it here.

[adwb]

Unfortunately working with gree/ blue screen removal is often not as simple as it appears.

First I would suggest you buy removal software either as a ps plug in or stand alone.

You need 6 foot separation from the subject and the screen

Avoid reflective surfaces white cloths shiny shoes and so on.

Avoid full length if you can and use dark clothes blond hair is the worst

Be prepared to spend time on edge repairs you will need to zoom it very tight and clone edges to remove some green tints and other odd lines that appear.

I never use LR for this but I have tried the auto background remover in elements and it worked very well.

There are loads of videos on this I suggest you watch a few they all have the same basic tips but the odd one has something extra worth noting

Don't see why you can't wash and press the screen, low heat and separate wash, ask the supplier,

You do not want any creases or shadows, use a meter check you lighting is even side to side and top to bottom.
I use 2 soft box or umbrellas and one back light on a single subject to help separate them and remove green edges and reflections.

Good luck it's not as easy as it is made out to be especially when you blend to a fake background.

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Last edited by adwb; 09-15-2013 at 11:59 PM.

[Clavius]

Have checked your layers' blending options? You can use it to make either white or black transparant. But you can also select a colour there.

[Dollanganger]

Thank you all for your advice. I tried playing around with both the blending options and with masks but without anything that would help me.

Please be specific on how what steps in Photoshop you are referring to.

What should the lighting behind the green screen look like? Do I want it as dark as possible so nothing behind the screen shows through?



I'll try darker clothing but I can't do anything about light skin and blonde hair. Is there an exposure setting you'd recommend to prevent the green from glowing on to the skin and hair?

Should the exposure be high or low? Both seem to cause the exact problems I've mentioned.

Online videos haven't been much help as they simply say to "select and remove the background" without giving an steps on how to do this.

[adwb]

Watch this while it is not for ps it should indicate what proper lighting looks like and what can be achieved with dedicated software.

GSWFull7 - YouTube

Also have good look at this Green Screen Wizard Support

Hope this helps a bit
Alistair

[Dollanganger]

Thanks.

The Green Screen Wizard seems to work like magic but is it really that good? The video makes it look easy but so do the videos on Photoshop green screening.

I finally found one great video but failed to save the link. It's tip was to 1. Use the Magic wand to select and separate the subject as much as possible. 2. On the tricky spots like green hair and green glow on skin, first lock the subject layer in Layers. Then changed the Paintbrush from "Normal" to "Color." By selecting and painting over the problem areas with like colors, the green disappears from the problem areas.

[magkelly]

I like FX Home Photokey. I have an older version than the one that is out now but I think it works very well either as a stand alone application or as a plug for Photoshop. Using a plug like this is way easier though than doing it yourself in PS. You can but this really simplifies it and makes it a lot less work. I've used the Wizard demo, but I think FX is better and easier to use. Here you go.

http://fxhome.com/photokey-6