3 Tips for a Professional Green Screen Look

I would consider this a MUST WATCH video! The easy to learn, hard to master art of green screen is used for everything from setting the background for a scene to that amazing space battle in the most recent superhero movie. But how good it looks depends on the skill of who’s using it. Luckily for us, we have Fletch Murray to show us how it’s done. In his most recent video, Fletch gives us some of his pro tips for making sure your green screen looks great.

Pretty much, it comes down to this: pay attention to details! He recommends picking your background first, before you shoot. If your background is set first, you know how to properly set up and light your scene, so it looks more natural. If you’re using your own footage for the green screen, keep the camera height, focal length, and distance exactly the same when shooting the background and the scene. You want your foreground to match the background, right? And remember, pay attention to background lights. If a car drives by on the green screen, you better recreate those headlights in your scene!

Simple Tips for Off-Camera Flash

If you’re like many fledgling photographers, you may have never used an off-camera flash before, or are just getting into them. As Jessica Sterling has discussed before, flash can be intimidating. Off-camera? Even more so! At least Jess has a few tips to help you get more comfortable. She recommends using radio transmitters for her flash. They’re very reliable, and some even come with another hot shoe for the camera. This allows you to use an off-camera flash and a regular one at the same time, for multiple angles of light! Another tip? Get good at eyeballing distances. You need to know how bright the flash will be, and how much it’ll light up your shot.