Setting up the Studio to Shoot with a Green Screen
Lesson 8 from: Using Composite Photography to Create a Fantasy WorldKaren Alsop
Setting up the Studio to Shoot with a Green Screen
Lesson 8 from: Using Composite Photography to Create a Fantasy WorldKaren Alsop
Lesson Info
8. Setting up the Studio to Shoot with a Green Screen
Lessons
Class Introduction
03:01 2Adding Fine Art Compositing to Your Business
24:28 3Background Plate Workflow
22:54 4Setting Up Studio for Shoot
09:04 5Photograph the Rabbit
05:09 6Mock Up of Rabbit in Photoshop™
08:56 7Photograph The Rabbit Costume
34:34 8Setting up the Studio to Shoot with a Green Screen
03:41Photographing the Child in Segments
27:22 10Photographing Hair in Motion
29:46 11Getting a Great Costume Shot
11:21 12Use Lightroom to Choose the Best Images
13:07 13Make Selections in Photoshop™
15:08 14How to Use Photoshop™ Brushes to Mask Out Images
22:36 15Crop Out & Add Costume to Rabbit
27:41 16Warp Techniques to Fit Costume to Rabbit
20:31 17Shading & Shadows on & Under Rabbit
31:50 18Change color of Rabbit Costume
12:00 19Remove Green Screen from Child Image
08:22 20Background Plate Workflow
21:40 21How to Create a Brush
11:25 22Add Layers to Create Full Looking Hair
27:49 23Add Shadows to Image
05:57 24Workflow: Group Rabbit & Child Images
10:47 25Match the Scene with Color
05:31 26Spill Light: Painting with Light to Blend
09:46 27Levels Adjustment Layers: Shading & Rim Lighting
04:59 28Finalize Image Workflow in Lightroom™
08:36 29Export Image in Different Formats
15:44 30Marketing Composite Photography to Clients
17:13 31Presenting Image to Client
23:06Lesson Info
Setting up the Studio to Shoot with a Green Screen
Now I'm very excited because we have our beautiful Alice model that has come into the studio and we will be photographing her running after our white rabbit. So before we start though, the studio setup has changed, and we need to make sure that all of our lighting is going to work for our next scene. So you can see I've got a green screen here, or a green backdrop, and a lot of the time, I find that people are scared of green. I talk to people online about compositing, and a lot of people use gray, or black, or white, and are worried that green is going to cause a spill, it's going to cause all these problems with green spill around the edges, and they've probably experimented with it and found that that's the case, but I have some tricks up my sleeve which take all of that away, and if we do all of the steps correctly, you won't have that issue of green spill. But the benefit of using green is it makes it very easy to cut out our subjects, particularly around the hair. Now our model, ...
our Alice model, she's got very beautiful, long hair that we're going to have blowing back in the wind, and I want all of that detail. I don't want to lose that in any way, so by shooting with her against the green, it means that we can keep all of that. So the setup here is slightly different to the black, very much the same with the rim lights pointing back at our subject. So the modifiers are the strip modifiers, pointing back to give that rim light around the edge, but we've got some strobes pointed at the green screen itself, and that is to light it so that it's got an even light. If I don't light that, it's still possible to actually use the green screen, but it does mean it's harder to extract the green out. So by lighting the green, it makes it easier in Photoshop to get rid of it later on. We've still got the same fill light, the big octabox there, and that's the same. So we want to match the rabbit in regards to the light that's around the rabbit, and the light that's on the front of the rabbit, but we want to shoot so that we can cut our subject out, hence the extra lighting equipment here. So we're using five lights, now it's possible to do this with two lights, or it's possible to do this outdoors. I was talking to some of the students here over the break about lighting and sometimes it can be a little bit daunting if you haven't used strobes before, and I will go through some of the techniques, and how we can freeze motion with the strobes, but you can remember that you can do this outside. I've got a big flip out green screen, it goes from green to blue, and I can flip it out, open it up, and I can use that on location in natural light. I also use LED, they're daylight balanced continuous lights, so I can put the same modifiers on them, but they stay on. So basically they're not flashing, they just stay on, so what you see is what you get. It's like putting suns in your studio, and you can light that way as well. So if the strobes are a bit too overwhelming for you, you're not too sure how to use them, keep in mind you can do the same technique with natural light too. So consider that when we're working with the lighting.
Class Materials
Bonus Materials
Bonus Materials with Purchase
Ratings and Reviews
Judy Mitschelen
I've found many great instructors at CreativeLive and Karen ranks right up there at the top! With her relaxed, thoughtful manner of presenting, I was immediately hooked. Her organization, clear explanations and demonstration, and on target response to questions are superb. This course covers an amazing range of skills and tricks of the trade. Whether you're interested in getting better shots to work with, better workflow at the computer, or better output at the end, Karen covers it all.
Kim
Karen is very talented and a great teacher and I enjoyed every minute of the course. But what I found to be the best part was seeing what an amazing person she is. The video of compositing the disabled children to make their dreams come true had me in tears. It has inspired me to use my talents to help others and not learn photo manipulation for self enjoyment. God bless you Karen.
Endigo Rae
This was such an amazing class! Karen is so talented, inspiring, and such an amazing teacher. Very forthcoming and open about all of her techniques. I'm so looking forward to jumping into compositing, I feel like this is definitely something my soul desires to explore and Karen has made it so easy and accesible through her beautiful course! Thanks so much Karen and CreativeLive!
Student Work
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