Remove your background with green screen

Green screen is a process used to seamlessly mesh two images or videos together. A specific color element, typically green, is removed and replaced, or keyed, with a different image or video.

An example of this can be viewed every night on your local news. Meteorologists deliver weather alerts and forecasts in front of a green screen. To the audience, the screen shows a weather map.  

Whether you need to create an office backdrop while recording in your messy kitchen or want to engage students with a more visually attractive lesson plan, using a green screen is a simple and affordable process anyone can use.

To get started, watch our complete list of Green Screen tutorials. 

There are other colors to use besides green.  

You can use either a red or blue screen for background removal, however, this may cause problems in editing. 

Using red is difficult because of how close it matches the skin tone. Blue may not work because of how prominent the color is in clothes, specifically jeans, which can make keying tedious.

A green background is a primary choice because of its lack of prominence in clothes and it is far removed from matching skin tones.

You don’t necessarily need to use a fabric background for the green screen effect. We’ve broken down the types of backgrounds you can use and also provided recommendations.

Fabric: The most common type of green screen backdrop is made from muslin, which is a plain cotton weave. In general, fabric is an inexpensive and simple material to build a green screen with. One great advantage is its portability. Wrinkles in the fabric can result in shadows on your green screen. 

Paint: For a set-it-and-forget-it approach, try green paint. You’ll need to have a spot in your home or office that can be dedicated toward recording videos with enough space and light. Portability won’t be an option but you’ll never have to worry about set-up time or wrinkles.

Paper: Oversized sheets of green paper are another simple and inexpensive material to choose from. One setback is that portability can be difficult, especially without causing wrinkles (and they can’t be ironed out). But buying a roll of paper can provide you with plenty of material for your shoots.

Pop-up kit: A quick online search will pull up several green screen pop-up kit options. They’re affordable, completely portable, and rarely wrinkle. However, if you’re planning on recording large groups or detailed action scenes, you may be limited by the smaller size of a kit’s screen.