removing backgrounds

livinginoz

i hope this is the right place for this question.....

i do a lot of photography at work, mostly taking pix of our products to go online or in our catalog. we handle cabinet hardware (yawn, i know). i will often just take a quick shot on my desk, or even in the little photo booth i made. however, i frequently need to remove the background and make a clipping path. i use the mask and touch up around the subject as needed, which sometimes can be quite time consuming.

is there another way to do this, or do i just keep on keeping on?

thanks :dunno

Nikolai

It would help
if you specify the following things:
1) OS
2) Software
3) Few (1..3) medium size samples of the pictures you're trying to cleanup that pose a problem...

HTH

Andy

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=5410&highlight=extract

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=1011&highlight=selection

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=18241&highlight=lasso

Richard

livinginoz wrote:

is there another way to do this, or do i just keep on keeping on?

thanks

Never having done this myself, I will nevertheless offer a suggestion. I would think that you could place the hardware on some solid colored material--red, say--then do a select color on the red to grab the background. That should get the edges. You might have to tweak it a bit if there are reflections of red in the metal somewhere, but that should show on the mask. Once the selection is what you want you can clear the background.

Cheers,

Art Scott

Blue screen abd green screen backgrounds are not that expensive...under $50 I do believe.....these are the same type used in ET, where the kids are flying thru the sky.....I have never shot with a blue or green screen but I understnd it is much easier than other colors....they are really bright so most clothing and such is not going to blend into them as they do most normal backgrounds.

Good luck

livinginoz

thanks, everyone. i should have mentioned my software and stuff. i'm running CS2 on a g5 imac with mac os 10.4. i read through the similar threads listed, and i have to say, i always forget about "extract." what i frequently do is select as much background as i can, make a mask and then paint in what i need to do. i saw the photo of the people with the background in one of the threads, and that's similar to what i end up with sometimes. some of our products can get a little busy. i photograph hardware and it's a yawn. the biggest problem i can see with the background in green or blue is that if it reflects on the product it adds a color that isn't there. i guess i was hoping there was an easier way to do it.....i have a little photo booth set up, but i have a hard time with the lighting sometimes.

Nikolai

OK, then
Magic wand, extract, pen - are all your friends.

Also you can try to get differently colored sheets of paper/fabric and each time use the one that contrasts with the subject but does not create unwanted shades.

Another, slightly more cumbersome, but otherwise very effective technique, is as follows (it can be your only choice if your subjects are highly reflective).
What you need is a mask/path.
What you don't need is a color shades/reflection.
Solution: Take TWO shots, one for the mask, another for the properly colored target.
Have the camera on a tripod and try not to move the subject if possible. Take one on the contrasty background and use it to generate to path/mask. Use the second one without any color side effects as your target image and apply the mask from the first one.
Even if the subject moves slightly between the shots, the mask will probably still be matching it very closely (you'd need to move it anyway from one image to another), and hopefully it will be relatively easy for you to clean a few discrepancies...

HTH

Tom K.

Get this book......learn it......game over: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0735712794/qid=1135224133/sr=2-2/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_2/102-1765199-4049754?s=books&v=glance&n=283155

Tom K.

Oh yes. This link will teach you a GREAT deal on Everything you want to know about -Selections- PHOTOSHOP.

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,7020106~root=avatar~mode=flat

livinginoz

Tom K. wrote:

Oh yes. This link will teach you a GREAT deal on Everything you want to know about -Selections- PHOTOSHOP.

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,7020106~root=avatar~mode=flat

thanks! i am printing it out and i will go over it thoroughly.

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