Have you always wanted to try shooting with a green screen, but you balk at amateur attempts that leave realism and immersion by the wayside? If you wish to avoid the “so bad it’s funny” effect, make your green screen shots look more realistic with these professional tips.

Prioritize Soft, Uniform Lighting

Harsh shadows are the enemy of a realistic green screen shot. Your green screen should be adequately and evenly lit to ensure crisp footage. Set up your lights on the sides of the screen and incorporate diffusers for a soft wash of light, and avoid bright overhead lighting at all costs.

Don’t Dress Your Talent in Green

Green screens use that bright green hue for a reason—it never occurs naturally in human skin. If your onscreen talent wears a green jacket or shirt, that clothing will blend into the background and cause distracting clipping as the actor moves. Be sure to costume your actors in any color but green for these scenes.

Use a Wide Aperture

Before you shoot a scene with your green screen, adjust your camera’s settings for a wider aperture and a shallower field of depth. This will make your editor’s job easier in post-production, as your subjects will blend more naturally into the background they edit in.

Pro Tip:

If you shoot with a wider aperture, you’ll need to blur the background slightly in post-production. Otherwise, the disconnect between the character and the background will look unnatural.

Increase Your Shutter Speed

Is your green-screen scene packed with action and movement? Turn up the shutter speed of your camera to capture that movement crisply and accurately. Otherwise, the more your actors move, the more visual noise you’ll notice where the edges of their bodies meet the green screen.

Stretch Out Your Green Screen

Before you shoot a scene against that green backdrop, stretch it out on an 8x8 backdrop stand and make sure there are no puckers or wrinkles. The screen needs to be as flat and crisp as possible to preserve the integrity of the background you edit in during post-production.

Have you dreamed of incorporating a green screen into your next movie, but don’t know how to make the shots look realistic? There are several ways to combat slipshod or low-quality footage. Make sure your green screen is taut and that your actors aren’t wearing green. Remember to use camera settings that will capture more movement without adding visual noise, and your green screen shots will have that professional touch.