Forums > Photography Talk > Green screen isolation - reflective shoes

Photographer

poiter

Posts: 577

Salt Lake City, Utah, US

Here's a screen grab from the original file.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/bhyubwmo1p469 … M.png?dl=0

Here is what photokey 8 did with the isolation.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/4m95syg414paw … M.png?dl=0

As you can see some parts of the high heels is now missing. My guess is because the black high heel is highly reflecting the green color from the floor. I've done some test shoots with just a regular white and red sneakers and those were isolated by photokey 8 fairly decently.

My "goal" is to batch through hundreds of photos with virtually no editing time on my behalf, where I just let the software do all the work and I can walk away and come back later. My guess is that this is not going to be possible unless I find non-reflective black high heels. For example, the black fabric on the model's pants aren't reflective and thus will isolate nicely.

I'm mostly posting to see if someone else has some trick that I don't know about. Remember, I don't want to spend any time editing. I'm perfectly capable of masking out that section manually by hand, that isn't something I want to do and isn't the help I'm asking for. Also I don't need advice on how I only need to pick 1 good photo out of a photo shoot.

I'm also wondering what if the model stood on some thick piece of clear plexiglass if that would solve my problem. I'd assume it would cut out some of the green reflection but still allow the green to show through, thus allowing the software to isolate. I don't have a thick piece of clear plexiglass, so I can only speculate right now.

Thanks in advance smile

Edit:
I was looking at different image, the model is wearing non reflective white pants and with no shoes. The photokey 8 is unable to isolate the bottom of the white pants properly because the white pants is reflecting back some of the green color from the ground.
Here's a screen grab of the original.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/s53nmcfk60cwa … M.png?dl=0

May 16 19 10:40 am Link

Photographer

poiter

Posts: 577

Salt Lake City, Utah, US

'Sort of' figured out a way to do this. It isn't quite as good as doing it by hand but it seems kind of close.

Steps
1. open image in photoshop first.
2. select > subject
3. subtract selection that isn't near the feet
4. duplicate layer (feet layer)
5. use select > color range
6. turn this selection into a mask
7. use this mask and create a hue/saturation layer
8. choose green channel, then deselect saturation completely.
9. create clipping mask on this layer to the feet layer.
10. duplicate the hue/saturation layer and then also clip it to the other hue/saturation layer
11. once again duplicate the hue/saturation layer and then also clip it to the other hue/saturation layer

At this point there should be hardly any green color cast left on the feet/shoes. Flatten the image and save. Then run the image through Photokey 8 knocking out the entire image off the green screen. All of the above steps can be saved as a photoshop action and used to batch across hundreds of images.

Here's the end results of the isolated feet/shoes on a new fake background. Together it looks fake, I know. It this is just for testing purposes. https://www.dropbox.com/s/12uwk7r1cn3kn … M.png?dl=0

May 16 19 03:19 pm Link

Photographer

Eye of the World

Posts: 1396

Corvallis, Oregon, US

Everything I have ever read has indicated that while green screen is good for video, it is sometimes not the best choice for photography, for precisely the problem it is creating for you. Beyond that, sharply cut out subjects can look fake, and the lack of shadow on the ground adds to the fake appearance. Here are some tips, and make particular note of the section related to matching the sharpness or blurriness of the cutout with that of the background. http://www.adobepress.com/articles/arti … ?p=2242817
Also see:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_cont … nvtS5i75bE

May 18 19 01:19 pm Link

Photographer

Zave Smith Photography

Posts: 1696

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US

Personally, I hate shooting on green screen for stills and usually convince the client to let me shoot on white when images are shot for being cut out.  Too many random issues of the green bouncing back onto the subject even when the subject is a good distance away from the green.

May 19 19 08:49 am Link

Photographer

poiter

Posts: 577

Salt Lake City, Utah, US

Thanks for the tips you two!!!

May 19 19 08:53 am Link