Halos around heads when new background

[Emco]

Using a Mac G5 and Elements 6
I have very carefully selected heads in a picture and then have copied and "Paste into Selection" a new background, which is successful except that some heads have glowing halos around them.
I was very careful in the selection-using both selection and mask features.
What did I do, or not do? How to avoid in future and more important, how to correct?
Thanks for any help
Emco

[frank abramonte]

Did you apply a feather to the selection, that could be be cause.

[Wendy]

Hi ...

I never make a selection with a feather set ... its much better to make the selection and then do Select>Feather.

That way if the feather is too high or low you can simply undo the Feather and choose a new one.

If you didn;t use a feather then experiment with Select>Refine edge ... contracting slightly may help :)

Wendy

[TonyW]

If you didn;t use a feather then experiment with Select>Refine edge ... contracting slightly may help :)

Wendy

Refine edge works very well for avoiding that problem but start with a non-feathered selection. Using the mask preview you can see what it will look like against a colored background of your choice and see what different combinations of contraction, feather and smoothness actually will look like. It's a PSE6 feature I use a lot as it makes realistic pasting into another image a lot simpler - and I use a lot less feather now than I used to when I couldn't see what the result would look like. Also a good idea to save the initial non-feathered selection in case you want to reuse it (or touch up a bit of it that isn't quite right)

Tony

[Emco]

Thanks- I did not and will now experiment

[Emco]

Wendy and Tony W
Thanks for the very helpful suggestions. I will try to refine my techniques.

[Wendy]

Do let us know how you go on with it :)

Wendy