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iMagine Photo Chroma Key 1.1
**Function:** Makes pixels transparent or semi-transparent based on their color. Requires [iMagine Photo](http://www.yvs.eu.com/).
**Author**: [Kevin Meaney](mailto:ktam@yvs.eu.com)
**Requires**: Image files of type JPEG 2000 (.jp2), PNG (.png), or TIFF (.tif or .tiff).
**Input**: (Image files)
**Result**: (Image files)
**Notes**: The action will make pixels transparent or semi-transparent based on their colour. The blue screen colour will always be made transparent while the transparency of colours similar to the blue screen colour depends on the tolerance. The Chroma Key action allows you to choose the blue screen colour, and the tolerance. There is also the option to invert the transparency information.
More information here: [http://www.yvs.eu.com/documentation/automator.html](http://www.yvs.eu.com/documentation/automator.html)
Update 6/6/05: Now works properly with TIFF files
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I am the author of this action. Currently there is a bug with tiff and possibly psd files so that the alpha channel is not being created. The action does appear to be working with png files. Hopefully I’ll be able to do an update this weekend.
Comment by Kevin Meaney — June 2, 2005 @ 4:32 am
I am a portrait studio photographer and I am constantly changing the backgrounds of my photos. To do that I either extract it, erase it on photoshop CS2, or, as I do most of the time, use Primatte, from Digital Anarchy. Any of these methods is a big time consuming and the result, even when my customers love it, is not the one I will feel proud of.
I even bought the Scene Machine to impose slides over the reflective background, but since my studio is so small (10’x 11′) it does not matter where I place the lights they always reflect on the screen and give me a wash out background.
Is there any program that I can connect my camera (Canon 20D) to my computer, shoot my subject against a green or blue background and automatically eliminates this blue or green background, allowing me, on the fly, to use, on a second layer perhaps, a preselected background?
The same thing that is done everyday with the weatherman on TV, but applied to photography.
Your guidance will be highly appreciated.
Jose Ortiz
josegortiz@hotmail.com
Comment by Jose Ortiz — September 20, 2006 @ 3:03 am
Ive recently opened up my own photography store. Im after chroma key software that automatically eliminates the blue or green background, allowing me to place my customers on a preselected background? Im not after the ordinary backgrounds (back drops, etc) Im after the software where my customers look as tho they are somewhere else (a photo of a family sitting in my studio on a block and transfered into a picture where they are on a boat being attacked by a shark, etc) the sort of photos you get at theme parks. As im only a very small business thats just starting out I cannot afford to spend thousands and thousands of dollars. Please help me!!
Kind Reguards
Amanda
Comment by Amanda Mac — April 22, 2007 @ 2:41 am
I have seen absolutely great photos take with the scene machine in a studio where the entire shooting area was 8×10. The trick is to use louvres on your lights in order to keep any light off the background. With hot lights or stobes you can purchase louvres for reflectors, soft boxes, etc. Try it and you will like your scene machine much better.
Comment by Craig Bybee — June 21, 2007 @ 3:57 pm