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Irregular Halo


margyparker

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I have a shop and use photoshop to sort out my photos. I have curved various coloured items in a block and after removing the background in various ways I am left with a jagged halo.

I have tried to remove it by various means. I don't want to remove a similar amount of pixels from around the central photo as the black halo is different depths and also in some cases is not all the way around the circumference. Defringeing is the latest one and that didn't do anything. I am using the magic eraser to remove the background initially.

I tried the darken and lighten tools but as the area contains several colours it didn't work well in all areas. What i need is a brush that will just remove black pixels from the edges of the image without affecting the rest of the image!

Been trying to do this for two weeks so getting a tad frustrated and irritated by it. :banghead:
 
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I think it's a question about selection and removing backgrounds. Google selection tutorials and look for ones that include adjusting the channels.

It is an imperfect science.
 

IamSam

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I have curved various coloured items in a block and after removing the background in various ways I am left with a jagged halo.

Ok, just to make matters more clear, are you adding a Curves Adjustment or a Curves Adjustment layer?

Are you adding the Curves Adjustment to several layers at a time or are you adding the Curves Adjustment to a "Group" containing several layers?
 

margyparker

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This is how the photo starts
blackbunniesnadtoadstools.jpg

Then i remove the black background with the magic eraser and i am left with a thick wavy line around the image like this - hope you can see it. It is very irregular as you can possible see. will try to get a better one if not.

black edge.jpg
I have tried lots of ways to get rid of it including enlarging and going round deleting the lines individually it's driving me nuts. Theres got to be an easier way. I can do it with the modify and smooth and the modify and expand but the black edge is thicker in some places than others so this even reduction all round the image doesn't work.
 

IamSam

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I don't see a halo. Are you referring to the leftover or remnant black background?

If so, you just need to use a different method for removing the original background.
 

margyparker

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yes i am talking about residual black background I thought it was called a halo. I have tried the magic wand and the quick selection tool and I get the same result. Any suggestions most welcome.
 

IamSam

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Here I used the Quick selection tool.

I then added a layer mask witch I did have to clean up only two places on the blue thing (???) in the middle using the Brush Tool.

I then duplicated the layer, applied the layer mask on the dupe.

Then I used LAYER > MATTING > DEFRINGE > 2 pixel setting, hit OK

Screen Shot 2017-02-22 at 10.35.10 AM.png
 

margyparker

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Thanks I will try this - once i have my head round the instructions - there should be a total newb section too.
 
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I have this problem with wanting to hurry up and get something done, instead of quick selection or wand, use the pen tool to get your points to be exact. The pen tool takes up more time but you will be able to cut out exactly what you want out, rather than using photoshops UI to figure out most of the work and ultimately not getting everything. The pen tool is the perfect selection tool when removing backgrounds.
 

IamSam

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Thanks I will try this - once i have my head round the instructions - there should be a total newb section too.
Sorry, it's very hard to tell the experience level of a first time poster.

I can certainly explain it better for you if needed.
 

margyparker

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Ah I thought halos could be dark or light. Me bad. I don't know about layers masks yet. I just watched a video about them and now i get them the problem is what happened in the video isn't happening for me.
I make a copy of the original - I use the quick selection tool and the background disappears from the thumbnail but not from the screen I am working on. When i use the brush and pain I can see the paint lines in the mask thumbnail but again the background is still black whether i paint with the white or black. On the video i watched when the black or white was used the image became transparent or the image re emerged. Pity I actually thought I had it for a moment there!
 

IamSam

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Ah I thought halos could be dark or light. Me bad.
They can be either light or dark, but their edges are soft and gradated and not a hard border.

margyparke said:
I don't know about layers masks yet. I just watched a video about them and now i get them the problem is what happened in the video isn't happening for me.
What problems are you having?

margyparke said:
I make a copy of the original - I use the quick selection tool and the background disappears from the thumbnail but not from the screen I am working on.
After you duplicated the original, did you turn off or deactivate the layer? It's the little eye icon to the left of the layer.

margyparke said:
When i use the brush and paint, I can see the paint lines in the mask thumbnail but again the background is still black whether i paint with the white or black.
Again, try deactivating the original layer.

margyparke said:
On the video i watched when the black or white was used the image became transparent or the image re emerged. Pity I actually thought I had it for a moment there!
I really think your problem is that you did not turn off the original layer.
 

margyparker

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Ooooooooo! i turned off the original layer and the black background disappeared but when I need to tidy up some of the edges the the brush isn't working!
 

IamSam

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Ooooooooo! i turned off the original layer and the black background disappeared but when I need to tidy up some of the edges the the brush isn't working!
Make sure you have the layer with the layer mask selected/highlighted. Also make sure your working on the mask. Click once on the layer mask to select........white brackets will appear around the layer mask in the layers panel.
 

margyparker

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done that the eye is showing on the bit where the layer and the mask are - poop I will try again from scratch and see what happens. Thank you so much you have been amazing!
 

margyparker

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I think I have sussed it - the black is deleting the pixels but the white is not bringing them back again - I think I must have deleted certain parts with the background erase and thats why they are not coming back. I just got rid of a bit with the black brush and it re-painted back fine. Whew! Feeling much more positive now than I was a couple of hours ago!!!
 

IamSam

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When you use a layer mask and the Brush Tool, pixels are never deleted. It what we call non-destructive editing. Glad you figured it out!
 

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