perfect selections

[Eain]

Has anyone developed a method of making perfect selection around a person's hair when trying to lose the background from a shot grabbed against a cluttered background? No matter how careful I am I can see a halo effect when I blur the background layer. When I try to clean up I usually make even more mess. Eain

[ken1]

Eain,
1. Please state which version of PE you are working with.
2. Which tool have you employed to make the selection? What is your work-flow?
3. Why do you blur the background layer?
You can post the picture free here:
www.pixentral.com (http://www.pixentral.com)
That would help in order to outline suggestions.
Ken

[Tina_B]

I had so much trouble with that also. I finally got Essentials 2 for elements and that does the trick for me. It has a cut it our feature that works really good for hair and leaves etc. You can check it out on their web site . on One software.com.
Tina B

[msbrad]

Thanks for that information Tina. Shall check into it.
m

[cats4jan]

This seems to be the first thing everyone wants to do when they get Photoshop. I wish it were an easier thing to do.

Making a perfect selection is a tricky and time consuming thing. It can be done with a little practice and lots and lots of patience.

This is why I never do it. I don't have the patience to fool long enough to make it good. :eek:

[Eain]

Thanks to all who replied.


In answer I am using Elements 4. I use the non magnetic lasso tool. I need to blur the background on many occasions as I take portrait shots often in the street and my personal taste (and it may be a bit bizarre to others) is to have the face very prominent against a very obscured background. I am sending an example (not my worst!) to web address kindly suggested Eain.

http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=19myThETzg3gp3j4N43tqC0TCssnP (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=19myThETzg3gp3j4N43tqC0TCssnP)htt p://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=19myThETzg3gp3j4N43tqC0TCssnP (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=19myThETzg3gp3j4N43tqC0TCssnP)

[Wendy]

Hi ...

In these sort of images I actually would do things slightly different ... what I would do is duplicate the layer and blur the duplicate.

Then on the top layer (the blurred one) I would either erase the parts I didn't want the blur to appear on.

Or ... a better solution.

Using a Layer Mask (from one of the add on tool sets) paint away the area I wanted to stay sharp. Using a mask means that you can correct things if you paint away too much)

Wendy :)

[ken1]

http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1euR5MGk0IBHkVMJO5iGAUy3aLQVL

Above is a screen shot. There are several ways to do this, but here is one option.

1. I used the magnetic lasso tool to make the selection of the beard. Note the beard came out quite well. You may want to use a mask, but in this instance the magnetic lasso tool was effective in view of the edge contast.
2. Next I put the head on its own layer - Layer>new>layer>layer via copy. I shut off the visibility of the background layer by clicking on its eye icon. Then one can visualize the newly created layer against transparency (checker-board patten).
3. I touched up 2 imperfections with the eraser tool on this layer
4. I put a color background in place for the purpose of this drill. You can put any background in place. Certainly a blurred background to simulate depth of field is a time honored technique, but the point is that one does not want to make a sharp foreground selection from a blurred, global background.
5. Selection of hair or leaves is difficult at times, and requires work under magnification. Yes, it requires patience. If the background is relatively homogeneous, use of the magic wand tool to select the background can be employed, and then one can delete it. This is especially effective when one wants to change the color of the sky in a picture with trees, then replace same with a "new" sky.
HTH.

[lsweeney]

Eain, I occasionally paint wispy fly-away hair back in on a separate layer when I've done difficult selections. Sample a color from the subject's hair and use a very small brush. Re-sample the color often as haircolor can change dramatically across a portrait
I'm not on my usual computer so I can't open Elements to check for certain if it has a Smudge tool in the toolbox. However, in CS2 I've also had some success with pulling little bits of hair (or sometimes fluffy sweaters) back out with this tool with a very fine line and a light hand.

[jo]

One of the things I like to do to keep from getting an obvious/sharp edge is -- after making the selection, in the pull-down select menu choose modify>expand by maybe 2 or 3 pixels. Then modify>feather for the same number of pixels. Ctl>j to put the feathered selection on its own layer. Then work on the original layer below it.

I'm not very good at wispy hair, but that works for a lot of selections.

[jojo99]

I use the eraser, I have done since I began using Paint Shop Pro at least 7 years ago. It may be boring to hear but practice makes perfect, if you do something often enough and try something different and go back and try again, often enough it will come!
I don't sweat the wispy hair. You are the only one who knows what the original photo looks like. You can lose some of the hair without anyone noticing, the rest you use your selection brush or what-ever and then come in with the eraser to clean up.
Zoom right in and make your brush or eraser really small, with each picture you work on it gets easier and the results are better :)
Also I have just recently started to use the Burn & Dodge tools, they can be magic at cleaning obvious parts that stand out too much.
Jo

[Wendy]

Hi ..

A way I use to add wispy hair back in after having done a selection is to use the smudge tool ... just pull out a few wisps that way :)

Wendy

[Eain]

Many thanks to all who made suggestions. I will try all these approaches over next weeks! Eain