Green Screen for shooting waves

[AndreasOberg]

We thought we would go to Cornwall to shoot some waves. We need splashes and foam isolated from the background.
I thought we would get a green screen for this.
Does anyone have any suggestions, I haven't used any before?

So we need splashes from 0.5 to 1.5 meters big. Bigger could be useful too but I don't think we can have a big enough green screen.
We are 4 in our team so a few of us could hold the screen for example.
I'm just wondering how to deal with wind, securing the screen and so.
Our budget is more like a few hundred pounds as well.

Any ideas would be welcome!
/Andreas

 

[Med D]

You are shooting from the coast and want to capture the wave as it rolls into shore, correct? Have you tried keying out the colors of the sky and sea? For blue sky and blue/green water this has worked for me. Most foam and spray is white. Now if you are trying to capture the entire rolling wave that would be tougher. Creative keying seems easier than using a green screen to me though.

 

[AndreasOberg]

Hi Med
That is also useful but not quite what I'm looking for. I'm looking for the actual splash. When a wave hit a rock and the foam shots up in the air. So yes I think one can key it against the background maybe if one has black rocks or so. But I thought it would be good to bring down a green screen to try with since keying by hand could be time consuming.

 

[Hal Long]

Luma, selective color keying or roto will most likely be A LOT easier than rigging a green screen in for waves of that size. If you're dead set on green screen, you might consider making it a macro job.

 

[Eren Ozkural]

Luma, selective color keying or roto will most likely be A LOT easier than rigging a green screen in for waves of that size. If you're dead set on green screen, you might consider making it a macro job.

This. Luma key the water. Shoot in a controlled environment against a black cyc/backdrop. Shoot high speed. This'll save you so much trouble compared to shooting against green.

 

[AndreasOberg]

We shot the waves against dark cliffs in the background. I will let you guys know how it turns out but I think its going to work fine.
We brought a big black screen but never used it since most of the waves were far out into the water.

Thanks for all the tips!
/Andreas

 

[Björn Benckert]

Red screen would work a lot better than blue or green. Still a problem to set it up in the water but atleast you would have a relevant color channel to key on.

 

[Alberto Guglielmi]

I'd love to see the final result.

 

[AndreasOberg]

Hiya guys. This was incredibly fun. Haha, especially when the tide came and we had to scramble up the cliffs with the Epic on our back and waves following after us!

We shot lots of waves against dark cliffs. I think that will be ok to mask out. We don't mind some manual work. Also shot underwater with GoPro which was superfun except that it kept crashing all the time.
Good tip with the Red Screen Björn, I will keep it in mind!
Thanks for all the tips guys!
/Andreas