Trying to superimpose, failing miserably.

[Rozita89]

I have Premiere Elements 15 for Mac. I have been trying to superimpose a video of someone singing against  over another video. I have tried Videomerge but only bits of the background come through. I have also tried making mattes in Photoshop, but even though I have been following directions to the letter, the mattes don't work. Nothing works, except for a 4 point garbage matte. Even with adjustments, it looks awful. I wanted to superimpose the singer, not put him in a black box. I have been at it for hours and have searched the manual and these forums for ideas. I still cannot do this. I've tried using Difference Matte, Track Matte, and Non Red Key as well. I've tried so many things that I can't remember them all, and my head is spinning.

Will I have to re-shoot my footage against a green or blue screen? I used black because that was my friend's setup.

I hope someone can help me.

[Steve Grisetti]

Keying effects are only as effective as your original green screen shot.

Can you post a screen capture of what your original green screen/blue screen shot looks like?

As I show you in my books and in my tutorials, you can't really key a shot that doesn't have a smooth, even, well-lit background.

Chroma Key and Videomerge in Premiere Elements 15 - YouTube

[Rozita89]

Hi, Steve! Thanks for responding so promptly. I'm sorry I didn't get back to you sooner. Here are the screen grabs. My friend has his own studio, and painted a wall flat black. My subject was not wearing black.

I will definitely use a green screen next time, especially now that I see how inexpensive they are.

I was able to use the footage anyway by varying the opacity and using other special effects. That is something I love about Premiere Elements--it is straightforward and intuitive. I can work around problems, and come up with interesting combinations of effects.

I enjoy your videos very much.

[Steve Grisetti]

Sorry, but that black background is definitely not going to work as a key shot. Especially with so many shadows and black spots in the video of the person.

The background needs to be significantly different from the person or the effect won't work.