Green Screen

One way to travel without leaving home…

Start with capturing an image against a green screen…the shadows DO matter so lighting well (not like I’ve done here) does matter…

What will your background be? I have been longing to go back to the isle of Capri off the coast of Italy…

Resize your images, both the foreground and background MUST match in resolution and dimension.

I chose a resolution of 180 and not larger than 10 inches wide.

Before you begin, Command J to make a duplicate of your image.

Select the eyedropper from the toolbar. Note the selection default is black and white.

Using the eyedropper, click on an area of the green screen that you feel is the most consistent. The selection is now displayed as that color.

From the select drop down menu, choose color range.

The color range display allows you to isolate the figure with a mask. You can manipulate the opacity using the “fuzziness” slider. Notice the shadows (my poor lighting job) in the background.

By selecting invert, you can see a smaller version and how the background is affected.

Click ok. A moving crawl line appears around both the figure and the outside edge of the image. This is the area your new background will replace.

Click delete and the green screen is removed from the image on the layer to the right.

Find your new background image and resize so it will be compatible with the foreground image. Make sure “constrain proportions” has been deselected to insure the images match exactly.

Voila! Off to Capri!

There is a second, fast and easy way of deleting the green screen if there are fine details in the foreground image (hair, etc.) that gets rid of that “cut and paste” look. Once you’ve sized both images, place the background behind the foreground image - no need to use any of the selection tools…

Select the Background Eraser Tool (hidden behind the eraser tool).

Make sure you’ve selected the color range with the Eyedropper Tool.

Select your desired brush size, Sampling Once, and Discontiguous…

…making sure you are on the correct layer, place the crosshair on the area to erase and click and drag.

Done!

What if I were suddenly very, very small?

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