Green vs Blue Backdrops for Photography

Green or blue screen backdrops are used during photography so as to remove these colors in the post-production phase at the time of chroma keying and overlay the subject on a different scene or background. In this blog post, you will read as to why and when you should choose one over the other.

There are many things which need to be kept in consideration at the time of deciding which chroma key backdrops to use. These are as follows: -

• Don't use same color for screen which the subject is wearing. If he/she is wearing green clothes, you can use blue screen and vice-versa. For example, if you use blue screen with superman as subject, it won't work out as superman wears a blue costume. Hence it would be recommended to use green screen in this case.

• Consider the time of shooting. If the shooting is to be done at daytime, consider using green screen. On the other hand, if it is a night shot, use blue screen.

• Consider how much space is there behind the subject. Green is a bright color and is likely to spill on the subject if the distance between subject and backdrop is less. So, if enough space is there between the screen and the talent, use green screen and if distance is less, it is better to use blue screen.

Why Use Blue/Green Backdrops?

Blue backdrops are used because:

• Blue is complimentary to tone of the skin.
• Blue-spill does not notice much as green-spill.

Green backdrops are used because:

• Digital cameras and video cameras are very much sensitive to green and make less noise. This makes it easy to generate cleaner mask.

• The green color needs lesser light as compared to blue.

• Green backdrop is used where there are mainly blue objects.

So, choose green or blue backdrops as per your requirement and get clicking !

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