Editing Photos with a Green Screen in Photoshop Elements

On this video Bob Gager, Group Product Manager for Photoshop Elements, demonstrates how to switch a green screen background for a stills image with a different background.

This video is a bit unusual. Green screen is typically used for video – the idea is simple you have a green fabric which is well (and separately) lit from the subject and in post production you replace this background with any background that you like (this is used a lot in broadcast but also in films).

In this case however the idea is to use green screen to more easily replace a background in a stills image (maybe this was shot on a set of a film or somebody wanted to have an easier time replacing the background to begin with (green is picked because it is very different than our skin and hair typically and it is a solid color (there is also a blue screen sometimes on sets).

In any case – if you are using a green (or blue) screen for stills and want to replace the background with Photoshop Elements, this video is for you.

Gager suggest using the magic eraser which can delete all of the color that you click on. Of course there might be areas (like hair) which will not be fully erased so you might need to play with the tolerance slider to get the best results for your specific level. This might work a bit better but like in the sample image Gager plays with in this video it will not necessarily do a perfect job.

By adding a hue-saturation adjustment layer and reducing the saturation of the green you can improve the effect. Finally you can add any background either by adding something which is pre built into Photoshop Elements or better yet bring your own background image.

We have covered green screens many times in the past (mostly for video) and you can find a few articles we published on this topic – here.

You can find more Photoshop Elements guides on our dedicated photo editing section on LensVid.

Iddo Genuth
Iddo Genuth is the founder and chief editor of LensVid.com. He has been a technology reporter working for international publications since the late 1990's and covering photography since 2009. Iddo is also a co-founder of a production company specializing in commercial food and product visual content.

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