Re: Advice for set decorations to work with lighting and green screen

Industrial look: go for it. Just make sure your table is not shiny. Or, try shiny, look closely at the set without you in it. If you see green contamination, try dulling spray. (http://www.filmtools.com/kryldulspray.html)

1) Color wheel. Do a GoogleSearch. Take a look.

2) Dulling sprays can be effective, especially with repeated layers, after the previous one drys. However, it is very easy to wipe off the spray. Not a cure-all. Just one more tool to work with.

3)The more green behind you, the more possibility of reflection on the set. Obviously if your arms may extend outside the frame, you need green fully to the left and right. Maybe not so much on top and bottom.

4)I am not a post FX editor, though I do a lot of "regular" editing. my understanding, limited as it is, is that when you garbage mat, you fill in the area with a green that matches your main green screen. When all green elements are of the same color and intensity, you can pull your key cleanly.... maybe.

5)Back light. Probably it will be easier and possibly more effective for you to have two back lights, each coming 3/4 back, with some minus green to counter green contamination. You do NOT want a hot rim -- deadly to a key. Very soft, very light, just enough. Try it and see what works best for you.

At the heart of all lighting is training your eye to really see. It takes years. You never stop learning. Try. Experiment. Fail. Learn. Succeed!

Rick Wise
director of photography
San Francisco Bay Area
and part-time instructor lighting and camera
grad school, SF Academy of Art University/Film and Video
http://www.RickWiseDP.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/rwise
email: Rick@RickWiseDP.com