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Basic
Chroma Key Technique in Photoshop
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| In an ideal world, we photographers would have every background conceivable at our immediate disposal. Since we don't live in an ideal world, we sometimes have to improvise. | ||||
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Chroma Key, also known as "blue screen", is a rather simple technique used in video production to substitute a solid (usually a blue or hideous green) background with another image. Yup, it's how the TV guys do the weatherman in front of a map, then in front of a picture of some poor schmuck standing on the beach with a microphone in a hurricane, all without the weatherman actually having to get wet. |
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The whole concept relies on having an evenly lit background of a color that no one in their right mind would wear (well, at least on TV). The solid color is electronically "sliced" out and replaced with another image, such as the map or the aforementioned schmuck on the beach. If you want to get real technical (I not getting into a discussion of waveform monitors and vectorscopes here), check out this page for the video production version of Chroma Key. I'm going to concentrate on the technique for still pictures, and a method for doing it with Adobe Photoshop. |
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| DISCLAIMER: Let me state right up front, Chroma Key is NOT easy with all subjects. In fact, some are a real pain in the butt, so don't try this and think that you'll never have to use real backgrounds - you'll be setting yourself up for a big disappointment. Please, please, PLEASE!, don't try this for the first time on a paying job! This is one of those things that you should experiment with and practice before you try to use it to make money. Clients are not supposed to be laboratory animals. | ||||
| Whew! OK, I feel better now... | ||||