It's tough to troubleshoot without seeing the elements and the final image.

But in general, your problems COULD be:

A) your camera was not focused on you in the foreground
B) the bluescreen was not lit evenly
C) there was not enough separation between the foreground (you) and the bluescreen, meaning that your own chroma level too closely matched the bluescreen.
D) your computer software isn't of high enough quality to pull a key.

Brian Dzyak
Cameraman/Author
IATSE Local 600, SOC
http://www.whatireallywanttodo.com
http://www.realfilmcareer.com

If the key doesn't pull any color from your clothes or skin, then the color is fine.

Check the source (before you key) Are you blurry then? If so, it was a shooting problem. Otherwise there could be any number of keying problems and it would be tough to advise without knowing what you're using and how you're using it.

I put a sample of it on www.youtube.com/capecodworld if you could check it out.

Basically its a light blue bedsheet I pinned to the wall. I used a big white light in the back of the room...two desk lights (100w) on each side facing the sheet and a 250w worklight facing me. I stood about two feet in front of the sheet.

Its not terrible but if you check it out on youtube you can see its missing something...something is not quite right.

If anyone gets a chance to look at it here are somethings I am aware of: The sheet doesn't actually cover the whole background. The lens I was using for the background shot was a wide angle so you can see the black rings which is beyond control.

Thanks.

Can't tell much from that YouTube clip, since it has been downsampled to 360p, although even so, the shot is a bit out of focus.

How does the actual shot (before any keying) look? Could you post two of them separately?

Okay. I just posted the part without the background...because I think its me that is out of focus...or is lighting? Maybe the bedsheet is too pale?
I cannot put the camera that far back because the room is small...so the camera is fairly close to me (3 or 4 feet away). If I were to do this in the basement where I would have a lot more room to move the camera back a way AND spread the bedsheet out to its fullest giving a lot more space...I comprimise lighting because the basement is way too dark and I don't have the $$ to invest in the lights needed.

thanks

www.youtube.com/capecodworld

I keep looking at it and its seems I am out of focus...I think.
Here is the thing, as I wrote, the camera is only a few feet away from me. I am using a wide angle lens (a cheap one) because I wont fit into the frame otherwise. If I take this cheap wide angle lens off I am already too big for the picture.
Anyway, sometimes if I keep looking nothing makes sense which is why I wanted other eyes to check it out.

again thanks.

One thing jumps at me, looking at that second (unprocessed) clip. First, the focus problems. Second, and more important; you said that you were using a blue sheet for the "greenscreen" ("bluescreen"?) chroma key background. Well, apparently, your video camera (consumer camcorder?) tried to do its own white balance and has seriously shifted it towards orange (i.e. away from blue), so much so the background no longer looks blue; it looks silver.

If you have a chance to do this again, I'd suggest two changes:

1. Try working without that wide lens adapter, if it is possible to move the tripod further back (in order to fit in the frame the same way). That will likely resolve those focus issues;

2. If your camera has manual white balance, try adjusting it by putting a piece of white paper in front of the camera and setting the white balance against that.

One last thought. Most consumer (and "prosumer") camcorders sample more data in the green channel than the red or blue. This may be one of the reasons why these days we tend to see much more green screens than blue screens. If you possibly can, try using a green background for keying and see what happens.

Okay. Thanks a lot for checking it out. When I was doing the chroma keying in vegas and highlighted it..it came out grey.

I have another one I shot in the basement...last night as well. It was with green material I taped to the wall. Its got better space but so much darker. I thought the lighting was dismal. I couldn't get rid of all the green and am assuming it was because of poor lighting (two desk lamps with 100w and a 250w worklight combined with the lightbulb up above). So I had to move myself all the way over to the left of the screen to cover the green...you can still see some green behind me.
I am pretty sure I like the green over the blue...at the least the blue bedsheet I was using.

www.youtube.com/capecodworld

The way I understand it you need:

(1) Standard three point lighting on your subject. That is Key and fill lights in front and a back light lighting up your subject from behind. The back light will remove a lot of the chromakey issues by removing green or blue bounced light. There is a lot of info on the internet on this but I suspect the back light is even more important when you are doing greenscreen work.

(2) Greenscreen or bluescreen should be evenly lit with its own light(s) to even out the appearance and remove any shadows cast by the key and fill lights. This should hopefully be far enough back that the screen can be out of focus and the subject in focus and so that the green doesn't bounce onto the subject much.

RJSchwarz

I'd say I agree. The primary source of all problem is light (or lack thereof). Another problem is the background itself. Easiest way to properly light a background is when it is even and smooth (i.e. a flat board, sheetrock, plywood or similar, painted neon or apple green). When it is not exactly that even (i.e. a cloth), every single wrinkle or fold will present problems for keying. If the greenscreen background cannot be hard and smooth (wall or wall-like surface), felt or velvet is probably the best choice, as it doesn't wrinkle all that much, and absorbs the light most evenly.

When you have a bedsheet or similar as background, I would think lighting it from greater distance would make it more uniform. A few more worklights would likely help a lot, as I'm not sure how it would work with what you already have.

Okay. I am going to fool around with the lighting. I did buy a worklite at HD this evening...one on tripods at 300w. I will have to fool around with it. Lighting is something I am unfamiliar with...I don't know what works and what doesn't. So fooling around is the best I can do. So I will try it more and keep asking for your feedback on it.
thanks!

One other thing; your camcorder seems to be focusing on the background, and not on your talent (yourself?). If there is a way to turn of autofocus and focus manually, you may want to try this. On the other hand, bringing more light might expand the depth-of-field, bringing more things in focus. Still, it is worth exploring manual focus.

I am actually still trying to figure this camera out...as I don't have any of the original books that came with it...I do think I looked out of focus...
I tried it again...this time adding more lights...I placed another gooseneck light on the side away up so it is over my head. Two lights facing the green sheet. Another gooseneck light facing my face..I was friggen blinded with all the light.
I then went to the dollar store and bought clothes pegs. I used them to try to straighten out the green material so all the wrinkles don't show. Anyway, I am experimenting with this myself so I couldn't manual focus anyway.

But this is the latest tryout: www.youtube.com/capecodworld