Problem with chroma key background showing through

[cinedan]

I am having a problem with my chroma key overlay not being 100% opaque. I see some of the background showing through my overlay. I'm using a green screen kit that has the green screen and some soft-box lights to evenly light the screen. In my test video, I am seated wearing a black suit and tie about six feet away from the green screen. My background is a still image of the oval office. I shot the video of myself with my Canon Vixia HF S20 camcorder in the highest quality setting (1080p). In addition to the background showing through a bit, the overlay of myself is not great quality, kinda grainy. I have tried adjusting the color similarity slider and find no improvement. The transparency setting is set on zero. I'm at a loss of what to do to fix this. Please let me know of any settings to change? I am beginning to wonder if VideoStudio 3X is just not that good at doing chroma key. I would be happy to put a link to my video if needed.

Dan

[BrianCee]

Can I just clarify what you are saying - only in your post you say "my background is a still image of the oval office" - then you complain that the background is showing through - surely what you want is the background showing through - that's what chroma key is all about isn't it ??

Or do you mean you can still see green patches when you put your video on top of the oval office image - often caused by uneven lighting, not just shadows but could be highlights as well - also check how much green is in the oval office image, often green on green will cause show through, which is why blue is often used as a background colour for chroma keying. It is not essential to use green as a background for your overlay , in fact I think blue is much more common - but you can in fact use almost any colour to ensure that the chroma colour does not appear in the background image which causes problems.

[cinedan]

The oval office picture is fine. All areas of the office that I am not in front of are perfect. The problem is myself is a little transparent. I can see most of the office background that is not green through me which should not happen. My screen is evenly lit and there are no green spots showing through. Also, as said, the video of me is not sharp as it should be because it was shot in 1080p.

[aljimenez]

I think there is a setting for transparency somewhere that must not be set in the right direction... Al

[skier-hughes]

How did you light yourself?
You need lighting to ensure you are well lit, with some 3 point lights, so that you form a very good outline against the green background.

[cinedan]

Thanks, I think my lighting was not correct. I have two softbox lights, one on each side of the green screen and only ONE smaller softbox light pointed at me. The smaller (one CFL bulb) softbox light is supposed to be used as a top or back light to highlight my hair and shoulders. I used this light as my KEY light. The chroma key kit I bought from Ebay did not include a key light or a fill light. I will purchase these lights to light me up better.

[skier-hughes]

Let us know how you get on.