Need recommendations for green screen/background editing

Photo_guy · Post by **Photo_guy** » Thu Mar 24, 2022 3:41 pm

I have been overwhelmed with options that aren't quite what I need via google so am asking here in hopes that someone can point me to a simpler solution.
I have a green screen, can take a decent photo, and have plenty of my own photos for new backgrounds. I'm looking for a simple way to put them all together.
And this is going to sound strange in this day & age especially for someone who's screen name is; Photo_guy, but I do not or have ever had photoshop, I've always just tried to take a good photo to begin with. So probably one of my biggest stumbling blocks is not fully understanding all the terminology used with software and various programs that so many of you are used to using.

There were a couple suggested to me, Shotcut and kdenlive which look great but they are complicated video editing programs- I just want to work with jpegs. An online platform is fine or I can d/l a program as long as it's not incredibly large and complicated. Free is good but I'm certainly not against paying a few bucks for something that works.

Do any of you guys have any platforms/programs that you like and may fit my needs? What do you think?
TIA-

*I probably should add that I am using an apple desk and laptop computers.

ZombieWinter · Post by **ZombieWinter** » Thu Mar 24, 2022 3:45 pm

You can find a free (hacked) copy of photoshop online. It's an easy program to use. SNOW is a good app for your phone if you don't care for FaceApp.

Mr Franz · Post by **Mr Franz** » Thu Mar 24, 2022 4:26 pm

I do my green screening manually with Windows Paint.

Urdor Izajar · Post by **Urdor Izajar** » Thu Mar 24, 2022 6:27 pm

Maybe take a look at GIMP. It's free, works with mac and YouTube has plenty of videos about its use. The only drawback is that you have to export as a jpeg every time you save.

ChaXen · Post by **ChaXen** » Thu Mar 24, 2022 6:46 pm

I thought I would add my photography experience here with no digital enhancements perspective.

With all that I have done, I have never, ever done any kind of digital enhancements of any kind in my nearly 8,000 pic portfolio unless I announce that I have done so to any viewer of a pic that has been digitally enhanced.

This pic I did last Thanksgiving. One who saw it admitted to spending a half-hour thinking for sure it was photo-shopped.

At the end of our pleasant discussion over this, I said to him:

"I slept with a wad of cash over me for at least five days".

I used fishing line, and a bunch of clear scotch tape.

Just sharing here is all!

Photo_guy · Post by **Photo_guy** » Fri Mar 25, 2022 12:53 am

ChaXen wrote:
I used fishing line, and a bunch of clear scotch tape.

I like it!

All of my photography up to this point in my life has been mostly outdoor, adventure/travel type shooting for which I've never had a need to manipulate the photos much at all. My desire to use green screen is solely for the dolls, mainly for the Five Card Draw story line, to put them in real world places and situations. I've no desire to go through the learning curve of photoshop or anything else that big and entailed.

I will look into Gimp and a few others and try to find one that works for me.
Thanks to all-

cryptid85 · Post by **cryptid85** » Tue Jun 20, 2023 4:44 pm

I've been looking for a real-time Chromakey / Green screen app that that will do real-time Chromakey replacement / green screen photography. Mainly want to be able to preview the replacement without having to transfer and post-process my photo with photoshop to determine if the setup is viable. So far everything I’ve come across is for replacement in videos.

Photo_guy · Post by **Photo_guy** » Wed Jun 21, 2023 2:36 pm

Honestly here over a year later I am still in the dark about much of this stuff, the terminology of it alone confuses me.
I ended up buying a scaled down version of PhotoShop- Photoshop Elements, and although I suck at it, the software does do what I wanted to do with my photos, and much, much more.

Cryptid85 I am not sure if it will do what your asking but it does have a whole lot of features, might look into it. I remember from my early searches for software I also couldn't find anything but video applications, it was frustrating to say the least. Good luck-

Socratus · Post by **Socratus** » Wed Jun 21, 2023 3:51 pm

Photo_guy wrote: ↑Thu Mar 24, 2022 3:41 pm I have been overwhelmed with options that aren't quite what I need via google so am asking here in hopes that someone can point me to a simpler solution.
I have a green screen, can take a decent photo, and have plenty of my own photos for new backgrounds. I'm looking for a simple way to put them all together.
And this is going to sound strange in this day & age especially for someone who's screen name is; Photo_guy, but I do not or have ever had photoshop, I've always just tried to take a good photo to begin with. So probably one of my biggest stumbling blocks is not fully understanding all the terminology used with software and various programs that so many of you are used to using.

There were a couple suggested to me, Shotcut and kdenlive which look great but they are complicated video editing programs- I just want to work with jpegs. An online platform is fine or I can d/l a program as long as it's not incredibly large and complicated. Free is good but I'm certainly not against paying a few bucks for something that works.

Do any of you guys have any platforms/programs that you like and may fit my needs? What do you think?
TIA-

*I probably should add that I am using an apple desk and laptop computers.

I finally decided to start doing work thru the pc, a bit late really, as I'm not the youngest. I got Corel Paint and Photoshop. I bought a book off Amazon and followed You-tube instructions on how to use them. Believe me, as a traditional pen and paper comic guy it was kinda hard. Everything was SO unintuitive. You can't just pick up a pencil and go.

However the youtube vids and the book really helped and in a year I was making some decent stuff. Even learned how to transpose photographic backgrounds into my artwork. It really isn't so hard.

Photoshop is really good for more formal illustrative draught work, I find, while Corel paint feels more like it's for an artist. I use both.

Ooops, almost forget, it really helps if you can get an art tablet and pen that you would attach to your pc. Costs range from cheap to expensive.

I reckon with your photoskills you would learn these art programs faster than me and make some good work. A good photo improved with one of these utilities and no one will even know you used anything and it'll look amazing!

Photo_guy · Post by **Photo_guy** » Wed Jun 21, 2023 6:05 pm

Socratus wrote: ↑Wed Jun 21, 2023 3:51 pm
I reckon with your photoskills you would learn these art programs faster than me and make some good work. A good photo improved with one of these utilities and no one will even know you used anything and it'll look amazing!

Thanks for the encouragement sir, looking into some tutorials on youtube sounds like a very good idea. I need to, I've kind of hit a plateau and can't seem to get any better. Thanks.