I'm such a noob! Need help with cutting out picture, fitting image, etc

[Aesthete18]

So I managed to get hold of Photoshop CS3 since I'm trying to do basic stuff I don't really need the latest one. This is my second time using Photoshop so try to go easy on the terms and such.

1st problem I'm having, trying to cut out an S4 picture and paste it onto a different background. I found a tutorial that seemed simple enough which said press Q for masking or something and color the whole picture, delete the background, and then use background eraser tool to clear out the remaining whites. Now in the video tutorial, the person could go over the picture but only the extra white part was removed, when I do it this is what happens (see pic)
What I want to do is cut the phone out, put it onto another background and fit a picture to the screen of the phone. I hope I've given enough information.

 

[dv8_fx]

From what I see, you dragged the eraser across the phone.....

Without seeing the actual video tute, it's hard to say what he may have done (beforehand if any) to delete the white as you described.....

 

[dv8_fx]

If it's any help... just undo the erasure mistake, save the file as psd, close and reopen .

Then go ahead with the normal procedure of erasing the white.

Cheers, lah!!!

 

[Aesthete18]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVhFMO5c6jE This is the video. She used the eraser but went over the image it did not erase the image, only the whites by the sides. I tried the same thing but it erased the phone.

 

[IamSam]

At 1:51 of the video she selects the Background Eraser Tool.

Try that!

(I had to close my eyes on this video)

 

[Aesthete18]

At 1:51 of the video she selects the Background Eraser Tool.

Try that!

(I had to close my eyes on this video)

That's what I did. That's why I don't understand why mine turns out different. I followed it exactly.

Why close your eyes?

 

[IamSam]

Ok.... Open your image.
Duplicate the image by pressing Command/Control + J.
Turn off the original layer.

Select/Highlight your duplicated layer by clicking.
Hit Q on your keyboard to enter Quick Mask Mode. Mask out the phone...


Once done, hit Q again and you should have a selection like this....


Now hit delete. Most of the white BG should now be gone.
Hit Command/Control + D to deselect.


The marching ants will disappear.

Now select the Background Eraser Tool.


Set your tolerance to about 20% to 22%. If it erases the the phone, lower your tolerance.


Use the bracket keys ( [ or ] ) to increase or decrease the size of the brush.
Work carefully around the edges of the phone.

Done

 

[IamSam]

Hold on, I'm fixing my mistake in the tut....

edit: OK done.

 

[IamSam]

Another thing I will do is add a dark layer below the duplicated phone layer so I can see what I missed!

 

[dv8_fx]

Like Sam, here's what I'd do (with a twist) on an image with straight edges and uniform round corners....

In Mask Mode, I'd paint in the selection.

For the rounded corners I'd use a large , hard brush like in my image. For the straights - click first brush point, SHIFT+click second point and so on. Fill the inner parts.

Use small size brush for smaller details.

Exit the Mode, the brushed areas convert to marching ants. Invert the selection and delete the background.....

To clean up slight remnants of background, I'd use DEFRINGE with a setting of 2pxls or more depending on the resolution and size of object.




but that's just me... lol .

 

[Aesthete18]

Okay first of all, thank you for taking the trouble to show me how to do it with pictures, it was easy to follow. But I still can't get it right, I've been doing this for about 2 hours now and I'm about to lose my mind. I can't differentiate some of the whites and the phone since the some parts of the phone edge is grey/white. There's gotta be an easier way to just cut the picture of the phone out without it's white background. What I'm really trying to understand though is how come in the video tutorial I posted, when she's using the background eraser tool, she's rubbing off the whites but while she's erasing she's like going into the Bieber picture but the picture is not affected. The moment I go a little into my picture it gets erased, I'm like what the hell. It's like her picture is protected or something.

Sorry if I'm going off a bit I'm just a little frustrated.

 

[Aesthete18]

Okay, I think I found a way. It's the closest I'm going to get anyway. I tried holding W and it snaps to the edges of the phone, still not perfect but it's quite clean, cleaner than zooming in 700% and erasing it manually anyways but that's probably cause I suck. Still, if there's another way please suggest it. I'd really like to get it right

 

[m.knight]

Another option is the pen tool, I couldn't use it before I saw this tutorial:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANcO0l9I5p0

 

[IamSam]

Aesthate18 - Don't be frustrated. This is one of those situations where when one technique does not work, try another.

I was trying to help you with the technique you were already using from the video tutorial so I did not suggest another technique. There are many others that will work if your interested. The Pen Tool, as suggested by m.knight, is an excellent choice.

Post an image or link us to the actual image you are using.

 

[Aesthete18]

Aesthate18 - Don't be frustrated. This is one of those situations where when one technique does not work, try another.

I was trying to help you with the technique you were already using from the video tutorial so I did not suggest another technique. There are many others that will work if your interested. The Pen Tool, as suggested by m.knight, is an excellent choice.

Post an image or link us to the actual image you are using.

This is the image I'm using. I'll try the pen tool later today and get back to ya'll.

 

[dv8_fx]

Practice makes perfect. It takes a bit of perseverance and concentration in doing manual tasks like these in PS. As well as instinct and intuition gained from constantly doing these things to know what to include in your selection or not.


One trick in order to see details in an image is to do adjustments using any of the brightness/contrast, levels and exposure adjustments.



In the above, I duplicated the image layer and brought out a bit more detail with brightness and contrast. The way I see it, you have to include even the faint grey edge details. You can use DEFRINGE later to cure unwanted white edges.

Using any of the above suggested techniques, use this layer as your guide The tricky part is the top corners... you may have to include at least one or 2 pixels of white in your selection to complete that curve like in the bottom corners. These indicate hilights reflecting and obscuring the detail/shape of the top corners.

And zoom up close to the image so you can clearly see the image edges up close.

Once done, hide/delete the copy and use the original layer to delete the background.

 

[IamSam]

Well........... for this particular image there's two simple solutions for removing the white background.

Always make a duplicate of the original. Turn the original layer off and work on the duplicate.

The first is UGLY...... Select the Magic Eraser Tool, set the tolerance to 30, click one time on the white BG.

The second is the Blend if option. Double click the layer to open a layer style. On the layer style and under blending options and the Blend if section located at the bottom, on this layer, hold the Option key and click the slider to make a separation, using the separated slider, move it to the left, this removes the white background from the selected layer.

 

[Aesthete18]

Well........... for this particular image there's two simple solutions for removing the white background.

Always make a duplicate of the original. Turn the original layer off and work on the duplicate.

The first is UGLY...... Select the Magic Eraser Tool, set the tolerance to 30, click one time on the white BG.

The second is the Blend if option. Double click the layer to open a layer style. On the layer style and under blending options and the Blend if section located at the bottom, on this layer, hold the Option key and click the slider to make a separation, using the separated slider, move it to the left, this removes the white background from the selected layer.
View attachment 42430

Sorry for the late reply, I've only just had time to sit and try this again. Gave the pen tool a shot, it's okay but needs some training.

I then tried the Magic Eraser Tool. It's so clean! I don't think I can make it that clean by doing manually. It's very nice. I haven't even tried the Blend if method but it's good to have it as an option in the future.

Thank you all so much for teaching me and providing pictures as well. I really appreciate it, good to know I can find good help here if I'm in need.