Good Photoshop Automatic Background Remover?

jmphotocraft

I was hired to take team & individual portraits for a sports league last night. I was given a copy of last year's program book which showed pretty basic head shots and team shots. I got there and the woman who hired me pulled out an ipad and said so the shots are going to look like this, right? She showed me a high-key studio photo against a white seamless backdrop. Fortunately I had two flashes, umbrellas, and a transmitter, so I will be able to get close to what she wants, but I will have a screaming carpal tunnel by the time I delete all the backgrounds. 90 kids, headshot and full body. Can anyone recommend a good automatic background remover plugin??

Hackbone

I like Topaz ReMask. After you get the hang of it, it works great.

Sam

Since I don't know what type of background you are dealing with and or how perfect it needs to be I can't help you with the extraction, but will comment on where it all started to go wrong.

I think part of the problem is the lack of communication skills today. Everyone wants to type truncated cryptic electronic messages, or a quick message lacking any details.

You think one thing, the client has a different idea, and without a real conversation, contract, or email confirming the details both arrive at the shoot with different ideas. What could go wrong?

I am sure if you had known what the client wanted you could have set it up so extraction wouldn't be necessary, or if it was required you could have shot in a way that would have made the extraction easier and charged accordingly.

Sam

jmphotocraft

Thanks Charles, looks good. You are right Sam. We did have a phone conversation, but it was like trying to drink from a firehose. After I got the program book, I thought I knew what they wanted.

aj986s

jmphotocraft wrote: »

I was hired to take team & individual portraits for a sports league last night. I was given a copy of last year's program book which showed pretty basic head shots and team shots. I got there and the woman who hired me pulled out an ipad and said so the shots are going to look like this, right? She showed me a high-key studio photo against a white seamless backdrop. Fortunately I had two flashes, umbrellas, and a transmitter, so I will be able to get close to what she wants, but I will have a screaming carpal tunnel by the time I delete all the backgrounds. 90 kids, headshot and full body. Can anyone recommend a good automatic background remover plugin??

There's a Masking process in Photoshop (from Photoshop Cafe: http://photoshopcafe.com/tutorials/masking/masking.htm) where you can easily edit out the background if its a relatively consistent color.

Cavalier

Topaz Remask is the s/w I find easiest to use.

Gary752

PhotoKey 6 Pro is another one that is pretty easy. It will do the whole session as as you shoot it, if you shoot tethered. All you do is tell the program what directory to look to for the photos, and what background you want to use, and it will atomatically replace the background for you. Go to their website ( http://fxhome.com/photokey-6-pro ) and scroll down to "Batch Processing" and watch the short video showing it being done.

GaryB