Lots of love and professional gratitude to the good people over at POVWORKS, TBAGlobal & BKS Crew.

Dennis here. I just wanted to wish you all the very best 2010 has to offer and update everyone on a few developments that have taken place at The Cutting Lab…

WE’RE IN BUSINESS BABY!

That’s right folks, The Cutting Lab is no longer a portfolio site for my work but a registered business. We’ve been planning for this for most of 2009 and couldn’t be more excited to make this transition!

What does this mean for you? Well it means The Cutting Lab is poised to grow and offer more services in the future as we continue to work and expand our network of talent. Unfortunately, it also means I now have to charge GST.  However, it also means we’ll be working that much harder to improve your overall value.

We’re committed to adding more services to our lineup. I’m in the process of adding permanent, 3d based services to the mix starting with 3d text and logos for clients and will be offering OS X training as well as basic Final Cut Pro training in 2010. Please inquire within.

The website will be undergoing some additional changes in the next few months as well so stay tuned for new content!

Yee haw!

Dennis

1. Try to avoid dressing your subjects in anything green or in reflective colors like white or beige. Since the process ideally involves removing all the green from the image, you should try to minimize anything that will create a conflict in post. Entire portions of green clothing will want to come out with the background and white or beige tends to reflect the green surrounding it.

2. Try to put as much space between your subject and the greenscreen as possible. The further away you can get them, the less likelihood for green spill onto their shoulders or hair.

3. If possible, light your subject and your greenscreen separately. You want nice, even lighting on your greenscreen (even if you’re trying something different with your subject) so try to use separate lights for each. This will also help cut down on hard-to-remove shadows.

4. Try shooting with a narrow depth of field by pulling your camera further away from the subject. It’s hard to setup and light a perfect greenscreen. Green curtains often have noticeable creases in them and not every shoot will allow for dual lighting setups. A great way around some of these pitfalls is to try and blur out the background by shooting in a narrower depth of field. Pull your camera back and use the zoom to frame your shot, keeping the focus on your subject and a lot of those imperfections in your screen will disappear.

Again, these are just suggestions. Not every shoot will allow for these techniques, but being aware of them will help you create an amazing effect that’ll be sure to widen eyes!