Help with CS2 Background replacement

GraphyFotoz

Like to know the easiest was to change a BG in a photo with CS2.:scratch
Say a flower pic with just the flower and a solid black BG.

Or cut out a flower and add it to another photo.

Still learning tricks with CS2 so for give some of my crazy questions.

GraphyFotoz

Knock knock....anyone in there?
......bump

Mike Lane

Karz wrote:

......bump

Lots of ways to skin a cat. You could duplicate the layer, hide the previous layer, add a layer mask, and paint away the unwanted area. You could use various selection methods (magic wand, magnetic lasso, quick mask, etc) to select the appropriate area and create a new layer or copy it into another document (or select inverse and delete the unwanted area). You could go through sometimes ghastly sometimes very handy ways of masking the images. There are some tutorials about this last one on the adobe tutorials site. There are also several books on masking most of which have been mentioned in here and can be found with a search of the forums.

photobug

Also try Filter>Extract

Karz wrote:

Like to know the easiest was to change a BG in a photo with CS2.
Say a flower pic with just the flower and a solid black BG.

Another (powerful) tool to use is Filter>Extract , to extract the foreground and leave the rest of the layer as transparent pixels. Then you can fill in whatever background you like in a lower layer.

(I use this often to extract the foreground and add some blur to the existing background.)

Dee

Russell Brown
http://russellbrown.com/tips_tech.html

Masking out background/hair etc.

The link goes to a Quicktime movie (broadband or DSL recommended). I've been meaning to try this.

It doesn't look any QUICKER than other methods.

digismile

Karz,

As Mike said, there are lots of ways to skin a cat. Replacing backgrounds can be one of the hardest things you can do (to do well) in Photoshop IMO. There really isn't one easiest method, because the easy ones don't work in all situations (or work well!).

Essentially what you want to do involves either masking or extracting. Photoshop has many methods. Which works best really depends on the item being extracted and its contrast to the background. The better the edge contrast, generally the easier the mask or extraction. Hair is tough. Leaves on trees can be challenging. Any busy background can be a nightmare.

This isn't meant in any way to be discouraging:D . This will be one of those Photoshop skills that will take a little time to learn and a lifetime to master! So try them all ... the extraction tool, color range, the magic wand to create a selection, etc. Often, "the best" extraction or mask can be a combination of several methods for different parts of the photo. It's learning the strengths and weaknesses of each that will work best for you.

In the end, just like Photoshop itself, the harder/hardest method can ultimately give you the best results. Learning the pen tool to create paths is one of those skills you only learn by trying. A path can then be used to create a selection, and a selection can be modified in Quick Mask mode with a brush, etc.

You can even buy Photoshop plug ins (such as Mask Pro 3.0) that have special tools for difficult extractions. I have this program, but in the end, the job isn't always easy.

Probably not the response you were looking for ...

Good luck,
Brad

Francois

Brad,

it doesn't 'solve' the problem, but it IS a good answer : It confirms (at least to me, another budding CS2 user) that I AM using the right tools and methods, but that it is NOT always easy. (I have a training course on DVD from Total Training.... it shows how to do it.... but often on 'easy' objects ).

So, back to the drawing board and lasso-ing away !!!!

Francois

pathfinder

Karz - Like Mike and digismile said - there ARE lots of ways involving the selection tools or the extraction filter. If the flowers are highly colored and distinct from the rest of the image and you want the rest of the image to be black, I would suggest you try the color selection tool - Select > Color Range and then use the sample eye dropper to pick the color of the flower. Adjust the slider to taste and then click Invert in the same box. Now you have a selection of everything but the flower, enlarge this are by one or two pixels with Select > Modify > Expand > a couple pixels . Then type the d key to make black the foreground color, and paint your selected area black with the paintbrush tool. It is very easy to do this way and yields results like this. Is this what you are wanting?




To do this well, requires a modest understanding of the various selection tools offered in Photoshop - Color selection, magic wand, the lasso etc.

GraphyFotoz

Eureka!!

pathfinder wrote:

Karz - Is this what you are wanting?

Yup yup exactly!! I guess I have a tad of experimenting to do.

Least now I have some better ideas of how to go about it!

Thanx EVERYONE for your pointers!