Now you can begin to focus on compositing your subject into the background. Because After Effects renders the effects in order, you can still apply color correction adjustments to your subject without the affecting your key. Once your subject is solid white with no grey noise, change the View Menu from Combine Matte to Final Result.

If you want to learn more about color keying, I recommend checking out Keying Fundamentals in Adobe After Effects over at PremiumBeat. We could get really deep into what each of these settings do, but for the purposes of this quick tip, we’ll skip an explanation for now.

Bring ‘Screen Despot White’ up just a little, 0 – 5 should be great.

Adjust ‘Screen Shrink/Grow’ only if necessary.

Decrease ‘Clip White’, by a few points, not much less than 85.

Bump up ‘Clip Black’ to help get rid of shadow noise, but don’t push it much further than 15.

In the dropdown menu titled Screen Matte, you will see a few adjustable settings. Now it’s time to start refining your color key. This will allow you to better see your color key. In the dropdown menu next to the word View in the Keylight effect, change the setting from Final Result to Combine Matte. Change the Dropdown Menu to Combine Matte Select the eyedropper button in the Keylight effect and select a green portion of your green screen. Simply drag the effect to your footage in the composition timeline. In the effects browser, search for the Keylight effect. Apply the Keylight Effect to Your Footage Simply draw a shape around your subject and close the mask by selecting the first mask point. With your footage selected, select the pen tool (G) and cut out any extra areas that aren’t keyable in your footage. For the purposes of our tutorial, we’re just going to place the footage directly on top of the background. Some people prefer to use a bright background, as it’s easier to spot key imperfections on a solid background like red, but it all depends on your own preference. Place your green screen footage over your background footage in an After Effects composition. Place Your Green Screen Footage Over Your Background This post is meant to be just a quick tip… there’s a lot more that goes into get great color keys, but if you need a quick color key, this technique will work. Let’s take a look at how to quickly color key footage in After Effects. While you may have the world’s best keying software at your disposal, if your footage was sloppily shot, there’s only so much that After Effects can do. Great green screen work is more about lighting than anything else.

Need to quickly key out your green screen work? Just follow these easy steps.

Keylight 1.2 on green after effects