Recognising A Green Screen Composite
Launch library · evergreen read
Composite images combine a foreground subject with a separately sourced background, and even well made composites often leave subtle clues behind for a careful viewer to notice. A slightly mismatched colour temperature between subject and background, or lighting on the subject that does not match the direction implied by the scene sitting behind them, are both worth a closer look.
Edges are worth close attention too in these situations. Hair, in particular, is notoriously difficult to composite cleanly and convincingly, and a faint fringe or halo around the subject's outline can indicate that two separately captured elements have simply been layered together rather than photographed as one continuous, genuine scene from the start.
None of these signs are conclusive entirely on their own, since genuine photos can occasionally show unusual lighting for perfectly ordinary reasons that have nothing to do with editing at all. Weighing several small inconsistencies together carefully gives a far more reliable read than fixating narrowly on any single detail alone.