Chromakey

I just came across the whole chromakey blue/green screen thing and digital backgrounds.
I am wondering if this is a viable option for doing shoots at other peoples house for those who "expect" that whole JC Penny background thing in their pics vs natural settings?

Has anyone used this approach and how hard is it to clone your image into a background making look like it was taken there?

It's harder than you think, but once there's a good formula you can pull it off again and again. We do it at the office all the time, though with inanimate objects (computer boxes, stuff like that).

What's important is photographing your "placement sets" in nearly identical light - the dead giveaway is always that the lighting doesn't match. Then, when you've cut out your subject, use a 1-3 pixel fade on the selection before pasting to remove all evidence of a paste. I've never thought to try it with pets - though I was recently shown someone who does it regularly, and to be honest, it looked like crap.

Thank you for your honesty and help Chris. What I was considering doing was taking the dog pics in a store type setting with limited space and moving them to a digital muslin fabric background. Do you think that is remotely doable?

Ahleha
Yes it can be done but think about all the post-processing work you'll have to do simply to avoid the task of setting up a muslin backdrop for the shoot.

If you have 10' by 10' as a shooting area in the store, you have plenty of space for a backdrop and lighting whether on-camera or off.

Backdrops can either be purchased or simply made by purchasing the muslin in a 10' by 10' or 10' by 12' size and dying or tie-dying it. Tie-dying is the 60's trick of tying the muslin in knots so the dye covers the fabric unevenly.

To use the digital backdrops, you'll have to cut out all the dogs and since they have fur, that isn't as easy as it sounds even if you have software help. Ultimately, it'll take you 20 or 30 minutes per dog to cut it out accurately unless you're a PhotoShop wiz. That's a lot of time spent on the backend that you wouldn't have to invest if you had a backdrop.

Those are my thoughts. Good luck in your decisions.

Jim

Jim,

I have looking at studying a alot of portraits people do from home. Like some of your pics with the white white or black black backgrounds are they purchased backgrounds like I see on Ebay or did you buy material at a sewing store and make your own set up? Do you pull the material forward for the animals to sit on or do you buy seperate material and place it on a table for them to sit on?

Ahleha,
I'm a pet photographer in the UK. I use material that I purchased rather than specific photographic backdrops. I have white material and black material and deep blue material. I hang the material from a Lastolite background support system. I stretch the material tight by clipping it to the side poles of the support system, stretching it out onto the floor and gaffer taping it down.

The blue material gives me a lot of options. I use a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer in Photoshop and select Blue for adjusting. As, in general, dogs and cat don't have blue in them, I can just play with the sliders and only the background colour is changed. Here's an example (the bottom left hand segment shows the actual colour of the material):



More subtle colours can also be achieved easily. Hope this gives you some useable ideas.

Sally Schreiber
4 Paws Photographic

Ahleha,
I think you may have my stuff confused with that of James our moderator. I don't use high-key backgrounds in my work.

If you look at my Rowdy pic that I posted a while back, you'll see that the blue background was draped over a small riser to form both a background and covering for the riser. That background was simply a piece of white muslin purchased at a local JoAnne's fabric store, dyed blue and then crumpled up to form non-linear wrinkles.

I've also purchased some great backdrops online from places like the Backdrop Outlet and Backdrop Warehouse. You can use anything you like to create your own "look". I've even painted my own backdrops -- and they looked like I painted them . But they filled the need.

Go to a fabric store and see what they have in the bargain bins. You might find something you love.

Jim