Will photographers do green screen photos with fictional backgrounds?

August 21, 2013 6:48 AM

My fiancée and I want to have our engagement photos done. Rather than pose in front of scenic backdrops, we'd like to have photos taken in front of a green screen, then have vistas from video games that are special to us inserted behind us. For instance, in the finished product, we're in front of the castle from Super Mario 64 or a Paris nightclub from Sly Cooper. Is this something that professional photographers can/will do? I know there's green screen photo places, but will they add the game backgrounds that we provide? Are there licensing/copyright issues in play that will get in the way of this?
posted by Servo5678 to Grab Bag (7 answers total)

Most professional photographers will have Photoshop, if you describe what you want they can make it happen.

This is a trend for wedding photography now, so it's no big deal.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 6:50 AM on August 21, 2013

Seconding RBunny -- I came in here to mention that it's a current trend... so consider some traditional photos, too. I know you have seen wedding photos that were so a ce moment that they're a little embarrassing to see now (I'm looking at you, 1970s!). There might come a decade in which you want to hide them when they're no longer cool and while they're still embarassing and before they're campy.
posted by janey47 at 7:04 AM on August 21, 2013

so consider some traditional photos, too

Oh, definitely! The wedding photos will be "normal" and classy and what-not. This is just something fun for us to set the two apart.
posted by Servo5678 at 7:23 AM on August 21, 2013

I don't think there's any need to get traditional photos, as long as you get the photographer to give you the green-screen versions too-- you can insert (or have a Photoshop-whiz friend) insert whatever you want behind them! That would certainly get around any copyright issues (for the photographer, anyway).

I have seen this more commonly used for wedding/event photo booths, though. I don't know if any photographer will already have a green screen large enough for an entire wedding party.
posted by supercres at 7:23 AM on August 21, 2013

I think a reputable professional photographer would indeed have concerns about copyright violation doing this. I am an amateur photographer with Photoshop skills, and I would not even do this for someone unless I had proof that the owner of the background image was allowing it.
posted by Silverdreams at 7:28 AM on August 21, 2013

Yeah, ask them for a PSD/PNG/TIFF with the background removed. They might charge extra but they'll probably be willing to work something out. Then you can use free image editors like Paint.NET or Gimp to place the images over whatever background you want.
posted by scose at 7:39 AM on August 21, 2013

I'm sure it can be done, but it probably won't be the person you have doing your traditional wedding photos. I would make sure you can see some of their work first to be sure they look decent.

As far as copyright, I would think this would be fair use as arguably satire, but I'm sure as hell not a lawyer.
posted by AppleTurnover at 10:28 AM on August 21, 2013