Greenscreen Software – add a “gadget” to your bag
Chromakey technology is not new. It is a term that means mixing two images together. Chroma key technology has usually been used in video rather than photography. The camera would record the heroes in action against a blue or green background screen, then through the magic of technology, they could put the actors anywhere in the universe. It has been used extensively on TV weather reports for years so that it looks as if the weather guy is standing in front of the weather map, when, in reality, he is in front of a green background.
You can accomplish this using Photoshop or some other image editing software. All you need is a blue or green background. Take the photo of the model, then inside Photoshop, extract the image from the background and place it into your photo of choice. It does take some extra knowledge, but it can be done by advanced amateurs.
However, Green Screen Wizard has made the process so simple even a caveman could do it (sorry, I couldn’t resist) by producing a very affordable software program to accomplish this same technique with your digital photos. Once again, you photograph your model in any pose against a green background, then use the green screen wizard software to extract the model and put her into any photo you have. The software comes in a stand-alone application, or you can get it as a Photoshop plugin (you will need to already have Photoshop, of course).
Check out this photo from Jakob Montrasio’s photostream on Flickr.com
Dancers taken with green screen background
If you are looking for a way to add some pizazz to your portfolio, you might want to consider Green Screen Wizard. There are all kinds of green screen special effects, plus you could put your subjects on magazine covers and market those pictures to kids’ soccer or other sports teams. The ideas for using green screen software are practically limitless. Check out this page about Green Screen Wizard for more information and ideas.
Here’s a quick example of what you can do. I went to a craft store and bought some green fabric – cost me $6 for 2 yards. Took a picture of Colby, my pup, sitting on the fabric.
Next I downloaded a demo of the Greenscreen Wizard Software as a plugin to Photoshop.
I used one of their backgrounds for this experiment, but I also did it with one of my own and it was just as good.
I dragged Colby’s photo on top of the background, resized him and placed him where I wanted him to end up, went to Filters -> Green Screen Wizard, and merely accepted their settings. Below is the finished product.
I did have to clone out a bit of the dark green under Colby where there was a dark shadow, but I think this is an awesome piece of software.
