Lighting technique in studio using PRE 15

[mcdon47]

We do a lot of filming in a studio (deaf person presenting in sign language) using green sheet, softbox lights and a good quality camcorder (Canon XA25). I made sure the light on the green sheet is even and the presenter is midway between sheet and camcorder. However, when edited, it is quite difficult to get choma keying absolutely right. It looks fine but when one examines it carefully, one can see ‘noise’ speckles around the body, and especially strands of hair.
The questions I have are:
1. am I using the correct lights and lighting technique? In each four softbox lights near the green sheet there are five 45W 5500K bulbs – are they sufficient. And two softbox lights onto the presenter.
2. Am I using incorrect settings in the camcorder? Settings were F.2 1/50. I heard that the light on the presenter should be stronger than on the green sheet?
3. I use Adobe Premiere Elements 15. Would a better and more expensive software do a better job (chroma keying) or can Elements 15 do the job just as well?
We now begin regular filming but I need to sort it first before we do any more filming. Advice and guidance would be greatly appreciated; or perhaps guidance such as using the correct lighting technique for use in studio and where I can get the information from.
Thanks.

[Steve Grisetti]

I assume you are shooting in AVCHD at the highest quality (as the more compression your use in your video file, the less effective the key).

If youv'e got a good, well-lit key shoot, Premiere Elements can certainly do the job. Have you tried all of you key effects? Green Screen Key may work better than Chroma Key and Videomerge may work better than any of the Key effects. (You don't say if you're on a PC or a Mac, but the Mac version of the program only offers Videomerge for keying.)

Camera settings and light specs won't tell us as much as a screen shot or a link to YouTube showing us what your key actually looks like. After all, it's not the equipment but the technique that makes the effect work! Can you post or link us to something that shows what your green screen shot looks like?

[Bob]

Your setup sounds fine. You should be able to get a decent key from that. Are you using an actual green screen background or just a background colored green? Are you adjusting the properties of the green screen key effect or just accepting the defaults? I find that I almost always need to adjust the threshold and cutoff properties. Threshold controls the dropout of the green background while cutoff controls the opacity of the subject. Lower the threshold until the green drops out and increase the cutoff until the subject is solid (but don't increase cutoff past the threshold value). Check the option box for "mask only" to check the quality of the mask used for keying -- the subject should be solid white and the background should be solid black). Another tip: apply a garbage matte effect to the footage to eliminate most of the background then add the green key effect. This will minimize the effect of uneven lighting on the background and speed up processing.

[mcdon47]

Thank you.
Yes I use AVCHD and also the correct green sheet. I use Windows 10 PC and used 'green screen key. I do use the properties but never really know what threshold and cutoff properties are for. However, I will try the mask. Are you asking me to post a snapshot of the green sheet? Will try tomorrow.

[Steve Grisetti]

We need to see the actual shot of your actor in front of your green screen in order to see why you're having problems.

[Bob]

I agree with Steve. Use the Freeze frame option from the Tools panel and export a frame as a still image file. If you export as a jpg you can post it here in this thread as an attachment. I'd like to see the original footage without the green screen effect applied. It wouldn't hurt to also include a separate freeze frame of the background you intend to place the green screened footage over.

[mcdon47]

Thanks. I have now uploaded two jpg pictures, one with green background and one with chroma keyed blue background.
I look forward to receiving your comments and suggestions.

[Steve Grisetti]

Either one of those should produce a great key shot -- although the second would be my preferred. There's more contrast between the background and the actor.

I can't imagine that you're having trouble with either of these though. Have you tried Chroma Key, Bluescreen Key, Greenscreen Key and Videomerge to see which produces the best results?

Can you post a sample of your finished video to YouTube or Vimeo and then link to it here so we can see the problems you've described?

[mcdon47]

Thanks. The links are:
https://youtu.be/GWr4pH_RVnY
and
https://youtu.be/nU5Fp8rGXzk

[Steve Grisetti]

Both links lead to videos that are listed as unavailable.

[mcdon47]

Sorry, I have now made them 'public'.

[Steve Grisetti]

But can you post a clip of the green screen composite shot -- the one you say you're having problems with?

Meantime, working with the screen shots you provided above, I got an excellent green screen effect! All I did was apply Videomerge to the clip.

Is this other than what you're seeing when you apply Videomerge?

[mcdon47]

I have already done videomerge but please see this link:
https://youtu.be/XquPazQ9eig
As you can see on the left hand side at the top there are two very faint grey fuzzy areas which made me think I hadn't got the lighting done correctly?

I'm not sure what you mean by 'posting a clip of the green screen composite shot'?

[mcdon47]

The link to the video with green sheet is
https://youtu.be/GWr4pH_RVnY

[Steve Grisetti]

Am I missing something, mcdon? I'm seeing the same video of the woman in front of the green and blue screen. I'm not seeing your final composite shot.

In any event, your fix could be as simple as using a Garbage Matte or even Crop to trim off the part of the greenscreen/bluescreen that's causing you problems. But we'll need to see your composite to know for sure.

Though I'm still not sure why you'd get different results than I did.