tony cooper <tony_cooper213@earthlink.net> wrote:

<snip>
> These steps are easily researchable on the web. It's recommended to
> place the subject about 4' in front of the chroma green background and
> to light the background from the sides to eliminate color spill and
> shadows.

What you both say is just part of the very BASIC of photography, or it has
nothing to do with green-screen specific but Photoshopy (Video as well)
technique. BTW, I do not against what you two saying, but just add some

> My question is about the software. Many companies offer software to
> use in conjunction with a green screen. I can't figure out if they do
> anything different than what Photoshop does.

YES, there are plug-in for photoshop which get the idea from VIDEO, or
green-screen is original designed for Video. And the problem that some of
you guys (not you specific but in general) don't want to hear thing you
don't want to hear. So I will try to give a little more detail

- YES, there are several and they cost $400-800+ a pop.

- NO, you do not need to spend any extra $$$ on any of them because they
ain't any more special than Select Color with few extra tool to deselect
some area with similar color (green).

- It's much wiser to use regular Masking plug-in, or learning to use
Photoshop's built-in tool which is capable of doing the hundreds of $$$ can.
YES, the regular Masking plug-in has more advance than Green-Screen plug-in

> Some will remove the green (or blue) and replace it with a background
> image, but that seems the same to me as popping in a background image
> as a layer.

GREEN (a special green not normal green) because we won't see that kind of
green in our daily life, making thing much easier to separate. That's it!

> I have the impression that the software is for those who don't have
> Photoshop, but I'm trying to verify this.

.. and if the foreground is GREEN then you may find WHITE background is a
much better choice than Green-Screen background. Or I am trying to make the
WHITE more special than GREEN-SCREEN.