using chroma key

[dragonspyke]

I'm a newbie using chorma key backgrounds on green screen. I know from reading that green is not really the best but its all i have at the moment, but to the point. How do I import background photos as the background. I know there is the Digital Anarchy plug-in for photoshop, but I can't afford it. Is there a way to do this without the plug-in or if someone has it or has a program for importing backgrounds can they hook me up with it?

[Daniel Bates]

Chroma key is largely a video thing. After Effects can do it pretty well, but I don't think Photoshop will without plugins.

[PeteQ]

I have a chroma green backdrop that I have used occasionally. Sort of light shooting a high-key image. Makes sure it is exposed properly and then the extract filter will do a pretty good job of pulling your image out from the green. Once you have pulled the image from the green background you can drop it onto the new backgroud. Granted that's simplistic, but that's the general idea. One thing to beware of is to not get your subject to close to the backdrop or you may end up with a green color cast around the subjects edge.