Photobooth background replacement technology

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Level 1

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Photobooth background replacement technology

So Photobooth has this kind of makeshift green screen technology that involves stepping out of the frame, getting back in, and then Photobooth works out the difference.

I was wondering if it were possible to use that technology in anyway with a prerecorded video. Basically I have a video shot against a plain white background, and I wanna play around with changing it. I do have a shot of just the white background by itself. If it were shot against green or blue I could use iMovie, but unfortunately that's not the case.

I don't think either Photobooth or iMovie can do this on its own, but since the technology basically already exists in Photobooth I'm thinking there must be a way to do this (with maybe another app?)

note: I know you can do stuff like this in Final Cut Pro, but I'm looking for a free or at least relatively cheap solution.

2.53GHz MacBook Pro (MB991LL/A), Mac OS X (10.6.1)

Posted on Jul 29, 2012 6:40 PM

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Answer 1

Tuttle

Level 7

29,565 points

Jul 29, 2012 6:55 PM in response to crescent33

In Photo Booth, click on the film strip icon (right-most of the three icons in the bottom left of the Photo Booth window). Click the Effects button, then click the right pointing arrow until you get to a grid of numbered, gray User Backdrops. Drag your video clip into one of those boxes, and you're good to go.

This definitely works with .mov files. Can't tell you what other formats you can use (.avi, etc.).

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Answer 2

crescent33 Author

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Jul 29, 2012 7:10 PM in response to Tuttle

Thanks for the quick response. I'm going to mess around with that when I get home, but which .mov file do I drag into the box - the blank white background or me against the white background? I imagine I would have to let the computer compare the two videos so it can work out the difference, and then I would add in my own background somehow in that space. Unfortunately I don't really have time to reshoot this.

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Answer 3

Tuttle

Level 7

29,565 points

Jul 29, 2012 7:15 PM in response to crescent33

You have spots for 8 or so different user backgrounds, so why don't you try both and see which works better.

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Answer 4

crescent33 Author

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Jul 29, 2012 7:28 PM in response to Tuttle

Sorry if I am not understanding you correctly, but I'm still not sure what you mean by this process. I've done the "add user backdrop" thing before in order to add my own background to a movie that I then filmed in photobooth. So I had to choose the background, then film. If I add my video to the user backdrops, it basically acts as a background for something that I'm filming in the future.

What I want is to change the backround of my pre-recorded files. Basically I want to chroma key on a white background, but if that's not possible the Photobooth "delete everything thats the same and keep the difference" technology it uses would work too since I have a shot of the plain white wall to compare it with.

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