What kind of green screen should I use?

There are many green screen material options available and the one that is right for you depends on how you plan to use it.

SEAMLESS PAPER

Fairly inexpensive, it lays flat, and if part of it gets dirty then all you have to do is tear it off and unroll a little more. The downside is that it tears easily — especially when taking pictures for volume sports teams and they are walking on it or during action shots. It can also take up some room if you are transporting it because it doesn’t fold.

POLY CLOTH

Durable and you can wad it up into a ball which makes it easy to pack and store. Also washable if it gets dirty from athletes’ shoes or a baby’s mess! The downside is that you have to spend a little extra time making sure that you pull the background tight so there are no wrinkles when photographing. You can see in the second image below there are a few wrinkles. Small wrinkles extract pretty easily but big wrinkles can cause a headache. Wrinkles add texture and can add more time to extracting in Photoshop.

TWIST FLEX

Lightweight and folds up into a hula hoop-like circle. Typically inexpensive and great for a quick shot or two during a multi-location shoot. When they open they stretch the background material enough so that there are not many wrinkles. They can come in a variety of sizes and some even come with a fabric floor that you can pull out. Smaller ones are meant for headshots. Larger ones allow for 3/4 body shots and possibly even whole body — but if arms are stretched out or the athlete is jumping then pop ups probably won’t be big enough. Even with one of the largest pop ups available – 8 ‘x 8’ pictured below – when the subject is standing a few feet away their body quickly fills up the screen!

VINYL

Durable, easy to clean, lasts nearly forever, lays flat and doesn’t wrinkle! The downside is that it is bulkier to transport because it doesn’t fold. Because it is such a durable, long lasting product, it is a little more costly — however over the long run not more expensive than having to replenish your seamless paper supply! We prefer this option due to all of the full body, action shots we photograph.

We found Denny Mfg to have the highest quality vinyl backdrop out there and use it for nearly all of our sessions. If you’re interested in getting one too — enter code SHIRK25 in the customer comments section when placing your order on their site to get 25% off your cart (excludes sale items)!

Check out our How To Green Screen Page!