Faculty Media Services

Green Screen

In the CSI, we have two portable green screens. If you wish to learn how to use the green screens and set up optimal lighting for photos and videos, please register for the following 101 Workshop: CSI Equipment Workshops: Center for Student Innovation at Booth Library (eiu.edu)

Adobe Photoshop (Photos) 

1. Take a photo with the camera (use tablet’s photo mode if on tablet) of a person in front of the green screen. Make sure the green screen takes up all the viewfinder.  

2. Insert camera's SD card into SD card slot in the computer if you are not using the software on a tablet. 

3. Open Adobe Photoshop from the Adobe Creative Cloud. You will need to sign in using your EIU credentials.  

4. I would first create your background. This way you have a saved background and use it with each photo of a person.  

5. Select New File and the default photoshop size. Then press create. 

6. In a browser, select a stock image you want to use as a background. Be sure to select one that is large so the definition is not lost (definition can be lost if you try to expand a smaller photo). You can also take your own background photo.

7. Click on the Import tab on the bottom of your photo space. Looks like this 

8.  Select the image. It will pop up with the image on the white background and allow you to expand the image. Press the commit button when finished with expanding the image.  

9. Take a photo of your logo. Click on Place Embedded under the File tab. This will insert your selected logo over the previous image. You will be able to expand the size of your logo. Click on the commit button when finished. This will be its own layer so you can manipulate if necessary. Save the background as its own project, so you can use it for more than one photo. To save, click on the File Tab and highlight Save As. 

Remove the Green Screen

    10. Now that the background is completed. Click on the File tab and go down to Place Embedded. Select your photo and                           expand/contract it if necessary. Click on Commit when finished. Your photo will be its own layer for you to                                             manipulate. 

     11. Go to the task bar underneath your photo. Should look like this: 

Click on Remove Background and the AI will remove the green screen. 

Fix the Green Glow and Complete

  12. Go into Adjustments for photo layer on the right side of the screen. This is where you will adjust the brightness and color of your photo.  It will look like this:  

Click on Hue/Saturation to fix the coloring and green glow. 

  13. This part can be tricky to determine how much green to eliminate. The Hue and Saturation looks like this: 

  14. Click on the far-left dropper and click on the area you want to eliminate the green glow. This will set a gauge on the bottom two color lines for the colors to eliminate. Play around with the gauges to eliminate the glow. If you want it to affect the lower layers/background, click on the box with an arrow pointing down.  

  15. Once the green glow has been eliminated, save the project as its own file. You now have two files-Background file and the finished photo. 

  16. Once it has saved, click on the file tab again and highlight Export. You either want to export it as a JPEG or PNG.  

Here are tutorials on getting started with Photoshop:

100 Great Photoshop Tutorials

Adobe After Effects Program (Video) 

Film using the SLRs camera from a short distance away. You want the green screen to take up all of the background of the display. Lighting is also important as you want even lighting for the objects and the green screen itself. 

Either transfer from the SD card into the program or save it to a computer the footage. 

Open After Effects from the Adobe Creative Cloud (You will need to sign in using your Net ID and password). After Effects is a lot like how Audacity works where you place images on the bar below the footage. For instructions on green screens use the following link: How to use a green screen | How does a green screen work | Adobe 

1. Click on New Project (Ignore the Popup about how 3D is not supported) 

2. Import the footage under the File tab at the top 

3. Click on the Effects and go down to Keying. Highlight it and go over to Keylight 1.2 

4. Once that is open, click on the dropper icon and then click on the footage where the green is. You may have to hold control while you click in order to get the right color. This will make the green screen transparent so you can easily place an image over it. 

5. Import an image you want to use. Place it on the bar below the footage. 

6. For more in depth information, please consult the following website:    

How to Key Green Screen Footage in After Effects (premiumbeat.com) 

Once the project is finished, you will need to use the Encoder app. 

1. In the After Effects App and under file, highlight export. Go over to Add to Adobe Media Encoder Que. This will export the project to the Encoder App. 

2. In the Encoder App, click on the format of the video and alter it to whatever the desired format is and click the play button on the top right corner of the screen. We use the Windows Media format, which seemed to work.