Square Perfect 10 Ft X 20 Ft Chromakey Green Screen Muslin Photography / Video Square Perfect 10 Ft X 20 Ft Chromakey Green Screen Muslin Photography / Video

Pros: Consistent, even green color. Seems to be the correct hue for green screen applications.

Large size, provides a great deal of floor coverage out in front of the subject.

Fairly thick cloth, feels like it should be reasonably durable.

Reasonably lightweight.

Great price, very affordable compared to several other offerings.

Easily mounted using the stitched-in end-sleeve or clamps (we prefer clamps for quicker setup/changes.)

Cons: Just thin enough that a darker background can alter the hue slightly, but so far this has not prevented the green screen software from differentiating between subject and backdrop.

Wrinkles and creases fairly easily, but realistically, what cloth doesn't? Heavy creases can cause dark lines (shadows) to appear, depending on lighting, which can lead to artifacts when the green screen process is applied. These can be removed manually, which takes more time, so getting the most even background possible during shooting is the best way to go.

Other Thoughts: My wife has been performing professional photography for a few years now, and this has been our first foray into the green screen scene. The flexibility and range is simply amazing, now we can shoot against one background and insert pretty much anything else that can be photographed or created via CG. The possibilities are limitless! We've found it relatively easy to create our own backgrounds so far, and there are also hundreds available for purchase from various venues. Some of the pre-made ones are kind of cheesy, but many are very well done. One trick we've learned so far is to introduce just the right amount of background blur and brightness to match the position and lighting of your subject(s); if they're off by too much they won't blend nicely and the whole scene can look artificial (which, of course, it is.) With just those two variables set correctly (and they don't have to be exact, just within a good range,) the assembled scene will "snap together" well and look natural.

We considered several different brands of green screens before deciding to try this one; the (much) lower price gave us pause -- with photography, as in most other things, you generally get what you pay for -- but we decided to go for it and we've not regretted it so far.

I am not sure what more a green screen backdrop costing two or three times as much would offer that this one does not, but that could also just be an example of my relative ignorance on the subject. I have 30 years experience in photography as a whole, but green screen is more like 30 days.

NOTE: You WILL need some form of green screen software in order to use this backdrop as intended! They range from free up to ~$250, with the average seeming to be in the $100 range. We chose a Photoshop plug-in as opposed to a stand-alone application, and it's been working very well for us. There are many that will let you try them free for a trial-period, or that introduce lines or other artifacts into the rendering until you purchase them, so once you have a backdrop it's basically free to try it out and see if it's something you'd like to pursue further. We have not tried any of the truly free versions people have produced on their own, we may look into some further down the road.

I would encourage anyone who has an indoor studio and is weary of constantly having to change backdrop after backdrop (and purchase all those backdrops, as well,) to at least investigate the green screen option. This method already saves roughly 1/3 the time that photo shoots used to take now that pulling down and mounting backdrops is no longer required. For anyone who is paying models by the hour, that can add up pretty quickly. There is more back-end time required now to insert backgrounds into the shots, but the overall savings in time, money and frustration have been well worth it.