Best background colour

[mondeoman]

Hopefully a simple question: if I want to edit out a background of aphoto in Photoshop, so that I only have the subject left, whats the best colour backdrop to use?

[LongQ]

One that is nowhere near any of the foreground colours you wish to keep.

The most common approach, for people shots, is a green screen.

Sometimes, iirc, blue is preferred.

It depends on the subject matter.

Edited by LongQ on Wednesday 28th November 22:11

[mondeoman]

Subject is mostly black and chrome: I tried white but that was a bugger to work with in Photoshop. I'll have to try a few experiments

[LongQ]

Green and blue screens are somewhat specialist applications especially in large scale work.

Here's another approach. Same sort of idea, slightly different way to get there.

http://www.reflecmedia.com/photography/products/de...

I have not sound an indication of costs on this site (so far).

I did see the kit being demonstrated at Focus on Imaging. Seemed to work well enough in a portrait studio sort of setup. How much lighting would be required for a large backdrop I don't know.

I would, however, guess that for your purposes it's not so much of a lighting issues as getting a suitably delineated background to enable an accurate cut and replacement edit. That might be something in the realms of PP alone rather than chromakey lighting.

[Simpo Two]

Chrome is a pig - it will reflect whatever's around it, including the lighting, so you have to light not only the subject but the room in front of it. And then get out of the way before the shutter fires