Chroma key blue was the first colour used in chroma keying as it is the complimentary colour to flesh tones, so take advantage of this fantastic offer.

We now have these on offer

BUY ONE GET ONE FREE  Chroma Key Blue

The most important thing in chroma key is that it is lit well and evenly lit go to our website for studio flash lighting or continuous lighting and video lighting. We have a video tutorial showing the use and technique of chroma key.

The software you need for still digital photography is something like Adobe Photoshop or a more economical version Photoshop Elements, with video there many different software packages such as imovie but I have found a video on Youtube explaining how it works with their software

You can find our cotton muslin chroma key backdrops and studio lighting including studio flash lighting and video lighting as well as the backdrop you will also need a background support.

Care of your cotton muslin backdrop first of all because it is cotton it creases and the first task is to get the worst of the creases out, there are several ways of doing this first off ironing is not advised as this can give a shine to the material that you don’t want. A hand steamer can be picked relatively cheaply and this is by far the best way to tackle the creases, once the backdrop is hanging from the background support gravity is helping, the other method is to use a spray bottle and mist it with water to ease the creases out. Being cotton it can be machine washed but should be given a fairly cool wash so that any dye will not run and tumble dry to help keep the creases out and as soon as you remove from the tumble dryer get onto the background support to minimise the creases. It really is a better idea to minimise the backdrop getting dirty in the first place as washing and getting the creases becomes a bit of a task.

Large studio Lighting Case / Bag

To start our special offers this month we have our superb premium studio case, this bag is real quality with rigid sides and reinforced corners this will take a lot of wear. It has a spacious interior with movable dividers that are secured by Velcro it also has two pockets on the outside ideal to fit the laptop into. It has a handle on the top, wheels on the bottom for easy handling.

This has 45% off the normal price we only have 10 at this price.

Large studio lighting case

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Telescopic Background Support

Next up is the telescopic background support, a great support for muslin or paper rolls and has the advantage that the cross pole is telescopic and can be set to any length from 1.2 metres up to its maximum of 3.1 metres this has 10% off and will last up until the end of February.

Softboxes

For mini studio flash heads like portaflash that have a diameter of between 75mm and 95mm there are two softboxes 40 x 40cm softbox and 60 x 40cm softbox both have internal diffusers as well as the outer diffuser to spread the light evenly to stop any hot spots and they are very easy to erect.

Checkout the Special Offer category as there are some other things on specials such as the strobist flash bracket, chroma key blue muslin and the  95 cm octagonal universal fit softbox.

First of all any of the lights in our video lighting category you will be able to use for video and it really depends on your budget which you go for. The entry level systems  either the softbox kits with a single bulb or the umbrella continuous lighting kit will be good for talking heads and also full length shooting.

If your budget allows go for a more robust system and one with more light output as this gives you much more versatility, the quad lights are very compact and take up little room. The super softbox kits with 4 x 50w bulbs either the 2 head kit or the 3 head kit which is our most popular video lighting kit. We also stock the more traditional redhead lighting kits and we still sell a lot of these, going up from there is the Lightbank series, the Lightbank 350 or the Lighbank softbox which have 7 x 50w bulbs giving a lot more light and offer incredible value for money.

If you want to do Chroma key green or Chroma key Blue screen work then you need to consider that the Chroma key screen does need to be lit evenly, this is achievable with just 2 lights and will depend on the software you use. Have a look at our green screen video.

Three point lighting is a classic setup especially if you are shooting on a dark background checkout our 3 point lighting video.

We stock some basic colour’s in three sizes 8 ft x 12ft, 8ft x 16ft and 10ft x 20ft, these are made from high quality 100% cotton muslin starting with our White Backdrop this is probably our most popular. If your looking for pure white backgrounds to your pictures then this needs to be lit evenly with more light than is falling on your subject, with studio flash this relates to about a stop more light.

Then we have the Black Backdrop and to get a really black background to your image or video you need to try and keep the light away from it, bring your subject away from the background to try and stop the light spilling onto it. To define your subject it is important to have a hairlight lighting from the back this will give a rimlight effect stopping  your subject blending into the background, you can also get some good effects if you light the black backdrop it will go grey in varying degrees depending on how much light you shine on it, with coloured gels you can also add colour effects,

The next one up is the Grey Backdrop probably the most versatile of all, aproximately 18% grey its possible to make it grey, white or black, Gavin Hoey has produced a great video using one of our grey backdrops showing how to do this with studio flash, if you click the videos link on the right of this page this is where all our videos are. Grey Backdrop Video

Chroma keying is a great way to put any background you want onto your video or picture, extensively used in TV and film studio’s, we stock Chroma Key Blue and Chroma Key Green backdrops, the idea here is to make sure it is lit well and evenly. This can then be selected with image editing software or video editing software which allows you to replace what was there with something of your choice, you do need to make it look as convincing as you can and this is the art to have the new background match your subject.

For the 100% cotton muslin backdrops you need to support it on something and we have 4 different Background Supports to choose from.

If you are on the move then we have 2 pop up backdrops one is black one side and white the other this one we call for some reason Black and White Popup 100 x 200cm the other one we have is a chroma key green Chroma Key Green Popup 100 x 150cm.

Care of your backdrop

As they are 100% cotton they do crease, the best way to deal with this is to use a steamer to get out the wrinkles if you need to travel with your kit then they do some good low cost travel steamers., Failing that use a bottle that with a fine mist, use this to mist with water to reduce the creases. With the popup backdrops its important to do this as when they reach you they have been folded for a long time so steam or mist these and leave out and the creases will fade.

If your backdrop becomes dirty then you need to wash it, if you can just wash by hand the part that is dirty only use mild detergents failing this then they can be machine washed on a low temperature with mild washing powder used for coloureds you can also dry clean but ask your dry cleaner to do a spot test on somewhere that doesn’t notice before going ahead.

Almost forgot we have backdrop clips that can help to pull your backdrop taut.

We have just received a shipment of cotton muslin backdrops so have plenty in stock including Chromakey Blue, Chromakey Green, White, Black, Grey in 3 sizes 8 x 12 ft, 8 x 16 ft and 10 x 20 ft. Not forgetting Chromakey green popup and the black and white popup backgrounds.

We are reducing the Lightbank 350 2 head kit for 4 weeks until our new stock arrives.

Our range of Studio Lighting Equipment starts with Studio Flash heads and Studio Flash Kits from 180Ws to 600Ws this will increase when we introduce a powerful 800Ws unit based on our popular 400Ws Studio Flash back in stock in February. We will also be increasing our range in 2010 of Continuous Lighting Heads and Continuous Lighting Kits and also our Product Photography range, Video Lighting or DV Lighting we have a large range from the traditional Redhead Lighting to our very popular Softbox Lighting Kits which use cool light compact fluorescent lighting and bulbs.

Not forgetting our Studio Accessories which range from Studio Flash Softboxes and umbrellas, we have Barn Doors, Snoots, Wireless triggers, lightstands Photo Light Cubes. Every Studio photographer needs a backdrop which we have a range of 100% cotton muslin backdrops including Chroma Key Green and Chroma key Blue. We are extending our range of Popup backdrops with Chroma Key Green and also a double sided version with black one side and white the other, these will be arriving in February.

Of course if you have a backdrop you need a Background Support which we now have 4 different models to suit everyone or you can just buty the crosspoles if you already have the lightstands or want to mount directly to a wall.

Don’t forget to look in our Special Offer category for even more bargains.

Checkout

• Studio Flash
• Continuous Lighting
• Video Lighting
• Studio Accessories
  
• Backdrops
• Background Support

The items featured in the video are popup green screen, chroma key cotton muslin backdrops which we have in blue and in green and in a range of sizes, also the high power softbox continuous lighting kit and the lightbank 350 switchable cool light.

Checkout these links for all our continuous lighting kits or video lighting kits, we also have continuous lighting heads.

For still digital photographers it allows you to change the background easily using photoshop or another image editing program and dropping in any other background. For any sort of DV or video filming it also allows you using software to insert another scene in place of the background, so a scene filmed elsewhere can be inserted into your studio clips where lighting and sound can be controlled.

This is great addition to your studio kit, Blue Chroma key backdrop special

It measures 150cm x 200cm so quite big but folds down to a 60cm and fits in its own bag, when open stretches the fabric across the frame to get rid of most of the creases. This ideal if you want to add different backgrounds in your studio flash shots, daylight shots and for digital video lighting.  This would be a great additin to your studio lighting equipment. More about the chromakey green pop up…