But if you have some camera movement, hot spots, wrinkles, or shadows in your green screen, or maybe fly-away hair or other parts of your subject that show green reflection (spill), you may need some more advanced luma and chroma features to clean it up. What is the quality of your footage? Do you have a clean, evenly lit green background with a clear subject in the foreground? If so, you can probably use a simple key without much tweaking of your image. In what resolution did you shoot: 720p, 1080p, 4K? Not every chroma key tool supports 4K footage, especially free or trial versions, so you may need to down-convert your footage or upgrade to software that supports 4K. You can either use the app that comes with your camera or download another editing app with chroma key tools to make sure you’ve got your lighting right while still on set, or maybe just to share a quick clip with a remote producer. If you are using an iOS or Android smartphone, you can preview your footage before post-production. In what media format did you shoot? Was it compressed, MOV or MP4, AVI or MPG? Your operating system may determine what software you can use, depending on the format. Photograph from FXHOME PhotoKey 8 Pro Post-Production software Should you use a stand-alone tool, a professional NLE (Non-Linear Editor), or a plug-in for your existing editor? There are several factors to consider. It's important first to evaluate the state of your footage to determine whether you can do some basic keying or if you require a more advanced level of complexity.

If green or blue screen didn't quite work for your subject, you may have used a white background, like those classic white screen commercials-using a luma key (brightness) might be your best bet for a clean composite. If you had blue and green elements in your subject, maybe you even used a bright pink background.

Your subject may have had blonde hair or wore green pants like when Brick's legs disappeared in Anchorman 2, so you used a blue background. One of the great things about chroma key is that you don't have to use a green background-the majority of chroma key software uses the full color spectrum so you can remove any color you'd like. Top shot courtesy of FXHOME PhotoKey 8 Pro Software The basic process is to import your green screen footage into software with chroma key tools, to apply a key (remove the green) to the background, leaving your subject completely free of the green color, and then to replace that background with the footage of your choice, creating a final composite by placing your subject into a new scene. Or did you use blue screen? Or maybe even a white background? Your next challenge is finding the right software tools to edit your footage in post-production so your final scene doesn't look like the weatherperson on public access TV.

Congratulations! Your project includes a scene using chroma key and you've just recorded your green screen footage.

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