A popular feature of the videoconferencing platform Zoom is virtual backgrounds. This allows you to show a picture or video behind you, transforming whatever bland background you have into a scenic vista. If you have a newer Webcam, either built-in to your computer or standalone, it will easily isolate you from whatever is behind you. However not all Webcams can do this. But with Zoom there is another way to achieve this, by using a green screen.

A green screen, or chroma key screen, is a solid green background behind you that, in simple terms, will isolate you in the picture and put an image or video behind you. This technology is common on TV and in movies, as this is how weather reporters present the map behind them and in movies it is used instead of building robust set backdrops. As my own Webcam didn’t work with virtual backgrounds, I sought out a green screen. What I found, however, was more expensive than I wanted to pay; I am simply trying to leverage this feature while I am in this current work situation. Then is dawned on me, there could be another option – green poster board.

A visit to a local dollar store found options for poster board – light and dark green, and only 69 cents per sheet. As I wasn’t sure which shade would work, I picked 4 sheets of each, all for under 6 dollars. With some masking tape, I was able to hang them on the wall, as shown in the opening photo. Where the sight of this in itself doesn’t look professional, in its use it’s quite the contrary.

Below, without turning on the virtual backgrounds in Zoom, the camera image looks like this.

When I turn on virtual backgrounds, there is a sunrise over Cocoa Beach, Florida behind me.

You may have noticed I used both shades of green, as I tried this when I realized I needed a larger area, and they both worked together. A bonus of this solution is the poster board is made by a local company here in Appleton Wisconsin, Pacon Corporation.

Deconstructing a Low-Budget Green Screen

When a situation changes, it is easy to pivot to another solution and spend to accommodate it without thinking of the short-term vs. long-term cost implications. When I put thought into it, ingenuity found an alternative solution that completely solved the need.

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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Business • Technology • Thrive • (3) Comments • Permalink

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