---
title: 'Setup A Green Screen in OBS Studio for Streaming'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=CXbW6Aa2G34'
video_id: 'CXbW6Aa2G34'
date: 2026-06-14
duration_sec: 606
---

# Setup A Green Screen in OBS Studio for Streaming

> Source: [Setup A Green Screen in OBS Studio for Streaming](https://youtube.com/watch?v=CXbW6Aa2G34)

## Summary

This video teaches streamers how to properly set up and light a green screen for OBS or Streamlabs, covering equipment choices, lighting techniques, and chroma key settings. It also provides creative ideas for using custom backgrounds to enhance viewer engagement.

### Key Points

- **Common Green Screen Mistakes** [00:00] — Most streamers use green screens incorrectly; the video aims to fix setup, lighting, and chroma key issues.
- **Required Equipment** [00:21] — You need a webcam (e.g., Logitech C922), a green screen (e.g., Elgato, but not recommended due to cost and durability), and proper lighting.
- **Lighting Importance** [01:00] — Lighting makes or breaks green screen quality. Even lighting without shadows or bright spots reduces shades of green, making removal easier.
- **Number One Mistake** [01:43] — Using weak USB lights (e.g., Neewer USB lights) that force digital brightness increase, resulting in poor quality.
- **Recommended Lights** [02:42] — A two-pack of Neewer 9Ws (around $100-200 AUD) outputs 2100 lumens each, has high CRI (95%+), and adjustable color temperature (3200K-5600K).
- **Webcam Setup in OBS** [03:29] — Add video source, set resolution (1920x1080 or 720p), FPS to 30, color space to 709, color range to full, and turn off auto settings. Set exposure to -5 to avoid lag.
- **Lighting Setup** [05:25] — Key light at 45° angle, 10 cm above eyes; fill light on opposite side. Raise brightness slowly. Set lights to 4700K and match webcam white balance.
- **Green Screen Placement** [07:04] — Place green screen not too close (to avoid shadows) and not too far (to cover frame). Ensure even lighting.
- **Chroma Key in OBS** [08:07] — Add chroma key filter to webcam source. Adjust similarity and smoothness. Use Alt+drag to crop edges if needed.
- **Creative Backgrounds** [08:46] — Use free-to-use photos to create interesting backgrounds (e.g., grocery store, doctor's office). Add depth by layering images.

### Conclusion

Proper green screen setup involves good lighting, correct webcam settings, and chroma key adjustments. Creative backgrounds can significantly boost viewer engagement.

## Transcript

everyone I see on Twitch is using green
screens wrong every tutorial I see is
telling you how to set them up wrong
today we are fixing that you will learn
where to get one how to set it up and
light it properly for OBS or streamlabs
and most importantly I'm going to give
you dozens of backgrounds to perfectly
trick your viewers into thinking you
have the coolest or at least funniest
stream room in existence straight out of
the gate let's talk about what you will
need first a webcam I I don't think I
need to say more today we're going to
use a Logitech c922 for this tutorial
second you will need a green screen way
you might think I don't need to say this
but I do get asked every day how to turn
on the green screen effect inside
OBS anyway I will link in the
description several different options
for green screens from different brands
that I personally trust at different
budgets for everyone today I am going to
be using the Elgato green screen it's
expensive and I don't recommend it both
because of that and because mine broke 2
weeks after getting it but I'll link it
anyway because people love Elgato you
will also need lighting the reality is
this will make or break not just the
green screen but also your webcam
quality you see a green screen works by
telling your software to remove all of a
specific shade of green so the better we
light our green screen evenly without
Shadows or bright spots the less Shades
there are and that means the easier it
will be to remove and obviously it
removes all green things not just green
screens so don't wear a green shirt is
he going to hit the
corner personally I prefer running a
cheap two light set up I currently have
one on either side of me at different
intensities to light myself properly but
if you have a green screen sometimes you
might need a third light that we call a
green screen fill which will help remove
har Shadows that you might be casting
from the lights that are on you see look
there are Shadows on it I haven't lit
this yet with lighting the number one
and I really mean the number one mistake
every streamer makes is wa you'll hear
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the video no seriously the number one
reason your webcams and green screens
tend to look like crap is because you
buy these little newer USB lights for
$65 du that's Australian dollars these
things are incredibly weak they're cheap
and it will mean that you usually end up
having to digitally increase the
brightness of your webcam which makes it
look like personally I recommend if
you're a beginner getting a two pack of
newer 9ws because of three major reasons
reason one usually they're around 100 to
200 AUD for a two pack which is very
cheap for America and Europe reason two
they output 2100 lumens each essentially
they're nice and bright those little
newer ones only output 1,000 ,000 each
so you're getting double the brightness
per light for not double the price
reason three they are high CRI of 95% or
more and they by color between 3200
Kelvin and 5600 Kelvin so the light
essentially can produce a really
accurate color but you can also change
their temperature to be warmer or cooler
to suit your skin tones and your camera
I will link a few different lighting
options down below but it's really
important to remember these will change
a lot throughout the year so if they're
out of stock or unavailable try to look
for lights that have those three rules I
just mentioned once you have your lights
let's get the set up first you need to
set up your webcam or camera today as I
said I'm using this cheap $1100 e do
Logitech c922 which means inside OBS or
streamlabs we'll go to sources click add
new source add a video source and we'll
click our webcam for a specific webcam
setup I'm going to do this quite surface
level and focus more on the green screen
today as I have a full video on all of
these settings so for now though you'll
see it is just terrible or the technical
term it looks like ass to fix this first
we need to turn off all of the automatic
settings so right click the camera
Source properties change change default
to custom and now you can edit the
resolution to be 1920 x 1080P or 720p
but if you plan to crop in on your
camera or zoom in later 1080p is
probably the resolution you want but
remember it is more intensive on your PC
so that's why I actually recommend 720p
for most people next is FPS or frames
per second I noticed a lot of really
laggy issues with this when I set it to
highest so instead I set this to match
the source or set it to Simply 30 and
that solved all those problems color
range you once set to 709 and finally
the color range is set to full this just
means you're getting proper colors now
we click the configure button and we
need to turn off all of the automatic
settings in here as well and the final
step the exposure setting here this is
set to minus5 I found any other exposure
whether it's higher or lower than minus5
causes aggressive lag but you might be
using a different camera to me or a
different computer so try it out for you
but this is where I recommend starting
if you go to these settings and OBS
isn't giving you control over then then
you'll want to try and update your
webcam drivers or look for a specific
branded software such as the Logitech
Hub where you can make and save your
adjustments in there instead doing all
of this will give us our base look just
a dirty webcam shot without any
adjustments now depending on your room
and how much natural light it gets you
might get a lot more quality than me but
my stream room has no natural light
because I prefer to block it all out
turn off my ceiling and instead just use
these two lights so without my own
lights as you can see it looks like
utter garbage now again I have an entire
video on the theory of lighting Linked
In the description I do recommend that
after this but today it's green screen
Focus so let's get straight into setting
up your lights let's start by turning on
what we call our key light so for me
that is my light I have positioned to my
right about 45° and about 10 cm higher
than my eyes it is a bit dark so we're
going to slowly raise the brightness
until it starts to look nice not too
dark but not too bright I do find most
streamers end up sitting in the dark
because they're scared of overexposing
but seriously just give it a little
extra boost come on come on give it a go
instantly you can see this is beginning
to feel much better but the light is so
far to my right I've got Shadows on the
other side of my face to fix this I turn
on my other light my fill light to fill
in the other side and make myself have a
much nicer shade and again I will do the
same slowly raising the brightness until
it feels like it looks nice if you end
up not having two lights you'll just
want to move your key light to about 25°
and then ease the brightness this way
and by moving it across you'll still get
that nice shading from Bright to dark on
your face without having it look really
harsh cuz it's coming from so far to the
side instantly you can see this is so
much better that's because I'm using
directional light to light the key
subject akm myself and most importantly
I set my webcam or camera to its base
exposure and then lit myself properly
rather than trying to digitally increase
my brightness seriously follow these
rules oh but I also set my white balance
correctly this is a step most people
mess up or Miss entirely and it will
make your green screen section brutal
later let alone just making your footage
look crap earlier I talked about lights
being by color or a Kelvin range this is
essentially the temperature or white
balance the light they produce is I like
to set my lights to 4700 Kelvin and then
on my webcam I set it to the same 4700
Kelvin as well to match is really
important to match these if you if you
don't you'll end up looking washed out
maybe you'll look green red or another
technical term you'll look trash once
you lit nicely we need to set up our
green screen but I would quickly say
your eyeline is really important here I
recommend placing your webcam at eye
height or even just a little bit higher
if you have to don't go too extreme
though too high up and it ends up
looking like a really weird shot and I
really don't recommend setting the
webcam low because if it's looking up at
you it can really accentuate any double
chins you might have or in my case
quadruple chins hidden behind a very
pubic beard some people love the low
angle but they have better and don't eat
like a pig so for now I height is better
okay let's grab the green screen and get
it set up properly you see placement is
really important you don't want your
green screen too far away or you don't
want it too close to you if it's too
close you'll get these harsh Shadows
from your shoulders and back but too far
away and it won't cover enough of the
frame to remove or it could get really
dark and shadowed because you don't have
enough lights to light you and the green
screen when you're starting out because
of the lighting setup I used earlier and
the brightness of it I actually have
quite an evenly lit green screen already
it can be improved though and if you see
lots of dark or bright spots well you'll
need to adjust your lighting but not
just yet first open OBS find your webcam
Source add a filter and click chroma key
next you're going to use similarity to
change how many similar shades of green
are being removed Just slly Adjust this
don't go too extreme and then once
you're done you'll use smoothness to
smooth out and fall off the edges of the
green around you if you can't get it
nice without moving party yourself it
might be time to add another light to
remove dark spots or even adjust your
main lights to have less bright spots
essentially going to be slowly adjusting
your lights and the filter settings
until it's evenly lit and cleaned up
nicely once you do if you have little
edges where you can't get the green
screen to cover just hold alt on your
keyboard click the edge of the cam and
drag it in and Tada look at that magic
congratulations you officially have a
green screen set up but let's be real
this is boring as you're only
scratching the surface of what you can
do and in fact the truth is I got a lot
of my first 20 to 30 average viewers
because of my green screen yeah I grew
because of a piece of gear that's so
weird specifically because I took a
photo of a mil KY at a shopping center I
blurred it a little bit so it looked out
of focus and I put it behind me so
perfectly that when people saw it they
had to click the stream just to ask hey
are you actually in a f grocery store
Mille I would do event streams where I
got a picture of a doctor's office with
a desk and then I'd copy that image so I
had two but cut out the desk and then
add the background to OBS add the desk
and then place my webcam between the two
and Tada it looks like I'm in a fancy
office with actual depth and 3D to it so
I want you guys to hunt for free to use
photos to make your background so much
more interesting but I want you to think
about what you can make or do to stand
out be different be interesting and make
people laugh look at my mate reaps he
created a full CGI set to make it so he
is hosting a late night talk show and
when you do pick a great background just
add it to OBS as an image source place
it either full screen behind you or
inside your webcam frame or just use it
in just chatting and have nothing behind
you for gaming so you don't block your
game screen the uses are endless
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