What's new
By:
Filters
Photoshop Gurus Forum

Welcome to Photoshop Gurus forum. Register a free account today to become a member! It's completely free. Once signed in, you'll enjoy an ad-free experience and be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Trick to extract image from background?


R

regulator

Member
Messages
13
Likes
3
I know this is a simple task if you understand masks better than I do but I normally slave away with max zoom and an eraser until I get the image extracted the way it looks good. Unfortunately for this image its going to be blown up and when I look at it the girl appears like she has been eaten around on all edges by termites.

Any thoughts?
 
LOL... I'd consider that a legal way to trick the system. But would have been made easier if you uploaded the image directly in your first post.

Anyways, welcome to PSG.

The image is allready large so I don't think there'll be a problem in blowing it up furthr.

In isolating the girl, use a brush with soft edhges or lasso/selection tools with a slight feather setting. This will eliminate or minimize the jaggedness.

After isolating the image on a layer, use defringe or remove white/black matte to clean up or soften edges...... MENU>LAYER>MATTE....

The only hard part will be the flyaway hairs,,,, which you can try painting in later if you prefer to have it.
 
Last edited:
Welcome to PSG regulator. As dv8_fx mentioned, you could have used the image link on your first post, lol. But that was then ...

So back to the extraction question. Another way is to use the pen tool. It is the cleanest way to extract many images. This makes a clean selection you can use to create a mask. Then if necessary, the refine mask option (also available as refine edge for selections) works pretty well as you can smooth and/or feather an edge as well as contract it and a few other options.

The method dv8 outlines is certainly a good one, especially if you haven't mastered the pen tool yet. For quick job, I'll use the quick select tool in conjunction with some of the other cleanup techniques. The problem with an eraser is it's just so final. Using masks allows you to redo things, fix errors, etc., because they are non-destructive.

I couldn't help myself! :mrgreen:

Here is Nastia extracted using the pen tool and applying a mask. I then fuzzed around her hair with soft brushes of differing opacities and painted the hair on and off till I got a slightly feathery look (I hope), I would complete the hair look by using just a small application of the smudge tool (after applying a mask). Always keep a copy of the original by the way. I have the psd if you want it with the path of course.

nastia_medals.jpg
 
Last edited:
This is a difficult photo for extraction because of all the flyaway blonde hairs which are pretty hard to isolate from their background. So like dv8 said you may have to remove them and paint them back in later. I think the easiest method for replacing hairs is to use the smudge tool and draw them out. I would opt to do something like that and use a feathery edge around the hair so it doesn't have a hard cut-out looking edge.
 
AWESOME WORK!!! Just curious how long did that take you? I'm actually an analyst by trade and somehow get myself into little projects like this that I spend way to much time on. That really is a great edge.




ibclare said:
Welcome to PSG regulator. As dv8_fx mentioned, you could have used the image link on your first post, lol. But that was then ...

So back to the extraction question. Another way is to use the pen tool. It is the cleanest way to extract many images. This makes a clean selection you can use to create a mask. Then if necessary, the refine mask option (also available as refine edge for selections) works pretty well as you can smooth and/or feather an edge as well as contract it and a few other options.

The method dv8 outlines is certainly a good one, especially if you haven't mastered the pen tool yet. For quick job, I'll use the quick select tool in conjunction with some of the other cleanup techniques. The problem with an eraser is it's just so final. Using masks allows you to redo things, fix errors, etc., because they are non-destructive.

I couldn't help myself! :mrgreen:

Here is Nastia extracted using the pen tool and applying a mask. I then fuzzed around her hair with soft brushes of differing opacities and painted the hair on and off till I got a slightly feathery look (I hope), I would complete the hair look by using just a small application of the smudge tool (after applying a mask). Always keep a copy of the original by the way. I have the psd if you want it with the path of course.

View attachment 16412
Click to expand...
 
The other one I was going to do was Usain Bolt but luckily his has a blurry background which should make the lasso much easier. I started on Nastia's first but after way too much time wasted I decided it was out of my league. Usain having a shaved head also helps ! ;) Usain-Bolt-7.jpg
 
ibclare said:
Welcome to PSG regulator. As dv8_fx mentioned, you could have used the image link on your first post, lol. But that was then ...

So back to the extraction question. Another way is to use the pen tool. It is the cleanest way to extract many images. This makes a clean selection you can use to create a mask. Then if necessary, the refine mask option (also available as refine edge for selections) works pretty well as you can smooth and/or feather an edge as well as contract it and a few other options.

The method dv8 outlines is certainly a good one, especially if you haven't mastered the pen tool yet. For quick job, I'll use the quick select tool in conjunction with some of the other cleanup techniques. The problem with an eraser is it's just so final. Using masks allows you to redo things, fix errors, etc., because they are non-destructive.

I couldn't help myself! :mrgreen:

Here is Nastia extracted using the pen tool and applying a mask. I then fuzzed around her hair with soft brushes of differing opacities and painted the hair on and off till I got a slightly feathery look (I hope), I would complete the hair look by using just a small application of the smudge tool (after applying a mask). Always keep a copy of the original by the way. I have the psd if you want it with the path of course.

View attachment 16412
Click to expand...

Really nice clare, BUT you missed a bit (we all do)...love photoshop.
 
Usain-Bolt-7.jpgUsain-Bolt-8.jpgMeah mine is not so good. I find that I either start giving them lipo suction to their limbs or get this jaggedy edges.
 
Paul said:
Really nice clare, BUT you missed a bit (we all do)...love photoshop.
Click to expand...

yeah, well gee, uh, duh, yeh I guess, I mean, huh?

regulator said:
Meah mine is not so good. I find that I either start giving them lipo suction to their limbs or get this jaggedy edges.
Click to expand...

Did you use the techniques dv8_fx listed above so that you are defringing the gunk? Did you try the quick select tool? When the boundaries are really cleaar, maybe as in this case, that is when it works decently. Caveat: you will always need to zoom in and tighten up or fill out the edges. I always go around my entire perimeter. Then I apply a mask, then refine edge. Smooth a little, maybe try a feather, maybe increase contrast, then slightly shrink the selection to help get rid of the fringe.

But IMHO, the pen tool is the only thing that will give you a really clean, crisp edge (unless you're a Photoshop WiZad as the LiZad is). No matter what method you use, you cannot rush it. You'll get faster and better as you practice and churn them out, lol. It took me about 10 minutes I guess to trace her, but I didn't pay attention, so that could be off one way or the other.
 
Is the quick select tool the magic lasso? ... that may just be my name for it but somehow I remember it being called that at some point.



ibclare said:
yeah, well gee, uh, duh, yeh I guess, I mean, huh?



Did you use the techniques dv8_fx listed above so that you are defringing the gunk? Did you try the quick select tool? When the boundaries are really cleaar, maybe as in this case, that is when it works decently. Caveat: you will always need to zoom in and tighten up or fill out the edges. I always go around my entire perimeter. Then I apply a mask, then refine edge. Smooth a little, maybe try a feather, maybe increase contrast, then slightly shrink the selection to help get rid of the fringe.

But IMHO, the pen tool is the only thing that will give you a really clean, crisp edge (unless you're a Photoshop WiZad as the LiZad is). No matter what method you use, you cannot rush it. You'll get faster and better as you practice and churn them out, lol. It took me about 10 minutes I guess to trace her, but I didn't pay attention, so that could be off one way or the other.
Click to expand...
 
This took me about 8 minutes, maybe less, to use the quick select (I go to high zoom, not pixel level, but enough to see the edges closely), apply a mask, refine the mask, then take a quick sweep around with the brush (on the mask) to do a bit of clean up. As you can see, it still needs an edge swept over like the top of the arms, but it's a darn site prettier than the jaggedies!

Really though, if you intend to do this type of thing very often, learn the pen tool. It takes more time till you get the hang of it and even a bit more (till you become expert I suppose) after you know what you're doing, but the results are worth it. You can even clean up the rough edges that are left on this selection by roping them with the pen tool. The lasso does the same job but you have more control over the pen.

Runner.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top