DSLR Photography Forum

Hey yall ,

Now that i am digital , i need to ask should i use Chromokey for my portrait work? I dont want to get 100s of BDs if one will do. But i dont want it to look fake either. Im so confussed .

I think it was Peto that told me that he uses Chromokey ( its been a while ) . And the next question is the digital backdrops , which ones ( brands ) do i get if i do the chromokey thing. HELP !!!!!

Oh yea did i say I LOVE SHOOTING DIGITAL .


....... Shawn

Blue or green, Drake. The beuty of the Chromakey is that you can easily knowck the background out afterwards in PhtoShop and put whatever background in that you like... (just like the Movies!)

I think there is a wide variety of digital backgrounds available - or you can make/use your own photos.

I have used chromakey. I avoid it. I'd rather spend as little time editing as possible. Do yourself a favor and forget it. It won't look fake but it is time consuming. You don't need 100's of backdrops and I'm sure you're exaggerating. Get a couple for the time being. You'll get away with 10'x12' bd's. Here is the place I order from. I also got my chromakey from them and my digital bd's.http://www.amvona.com

I dont understand why you want to use a chromakey ? (unless you want the effect to place the subject in a locatoion you werent able to get to)

Just curious.

/Paul L.

Thanks yall ,

Peto

Is it really that much work ? i wasnt looking to add more work on me . I do have a few bds right now but not " good " ones . I think i might just buy a few Muslems ( sp ) and keep on adding on to them if it is that much more added on work for me .

Paul

I think the main reason i was looking into chromokey was just being able to offer more back grounds. It seems that everyone wants a " pretty " background and all i have arent so " pretty " . I know that the portraits have very little to do with the back ground but people that are buying them want what they want ( if that makes sence ) .
BTW i really like your portraits that you have been posting , i could only hope to get the high key look that you get .

Thanks for the replies ........ Shawn

I understand Shawn i was just curious, cause to me it sounds like alot more job, add the fact it might not look all that good in all situations.

I DO belive the bg have a part to play, even though its not the primary subject. The good thing with "real" bg is that you use them to interact with the subject, i.e using kickers, colored gels, feather light across it, using hairlight to sepparate the subject from it and so on. Also you learn a great deal understanding lighting ratios and such, since you have to meter the bg.

So my tip is to build up a collection of bg's preferable muslin or similar, since paper bg isnt that great of a value, even though they are very easy to use, no wrinkels or anything.
Ebay have alot of great bg's and props.

Dont know how much space you have, but im shooting in my livingroom that aint to big, so to store and setup a muslin bg is much easier for me. But since i dont have alot of space, the distance between my subject and my bg isnt long enough to make the wrinkels blurr (dof, since i shoot around F/8-11), that means i have to iron a 2,7x4 meter muslin.. lol. So paper bg has it advantages aswell.

I recently snatched a black muslin (my first) from this ebay store
for 80 usd, including shipping. (converted to sweidsh krona, it was a pretty good price)

today i just setup it up real quick, used my sb800 and a foamcoresheet. No hairlight or feathered light to create sepparation to from the bg as this was jus a quick setup. Shallow dof was intentional to see how the 85mm/1,4 D performed in the studio.

pp: cropped, resized,curve adjustment , usm.




/Paul L.

Love the shot Paul , and thanks for the advice .

I dont have a lot of room ,as i shoot in living room too . The advantage is that its a sepperate room dedicated as a studio ( and computer room ) . But it is still a little to small .
I see what you are saying about chromokey , and im glad you talked about paper too . I was thinking about it too LOL .I just want to be able to offer a little bit more than what i have so i guess i will just have to spend more money LOL , and get more bds.


....... Shawn

Thanx
Yes one will usually end up spending more money LOL

/Paul L.