Need a suggestion

[victry1]

Hi all,

I took this picture last week of my niece and her family. I happen to really like the part with her and the 2 kids. I know I can 'select' her out or mask her out, but, then what kind of background could I put them into that would be natural? Or should I just try and mask the woman in pink out?

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1w3oiZopcsqnrgyAWEla4qqx1WAbW1_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1w3oiZopcsqnrgyAWEla4qqx1WAbW1)

Thanks!!

[Wendy]

Hi Eleanor

I think that I would just remove the woman in pink ... it should be fairly simple to replace her with the background :)

Wendy

[frank abramonte]

Eleanor, here's a quick suggestion for your photo.
It's probably easier to isolate the mom and kids and put them on another background.



http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/15jOtqzvZomMmO6UYiY3jHcKGb4f0_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=15jOtqzvZomMmO6UYiY3jHcKGb4f0)

[Jeff Perry]

A close crop of the image, eliminating most of the unwanted features, and clone out the rest of the woman in pink.

Jeff

[victry1]

Thanks everyone! BTW, nice job Frank. :D I'm leaning towards lifting my niece and children out of the photo and putting them on a new background. However, I've really not done much cloning at all so it might be good practice if I were to do that. Let you know what I decide. Pooped right now. Have my 21 month old grandson with me since last week so it'll probably be a while before I get around to it. (there's a reason you have kids when you're young)

Thanks again!

[frank abramonte]

Eleanor, I wouldn't use the clone tool for this, you would be better off silhouetting the people and painting away the background with white. This will allow you to select the people with the magic wand tool.

You can do this basically 2 ways.
My two favorite methods are the polygonal lasso or a soft white paint brush.
The paint brush, which I prefer, requires some amount of control of the mouse.
The polygonal lasso MUST end the selection at the starting point.

1. Polygonal lasso allows you to set points around the subject in small increments. You can make them close enough to give you a smooth curve.
On an enlarged image you can place the points exactly where you wish.

Once the background is painted white, you can select the people by clicking (use a tolerance of no greater than 10) the magic wand on the white background and doing a Select>Inverse.
The Select>Inverse feature will allow you to move the people without the background.

Now create a new document the same size and resolution as the people, and paste in the background you wish.
Select the people and drag or paste them onto the background using a new layer.

2. Soft white paint brush. Allows you to paint away the background a little at a time around the people.
You can go back to refine any spots that may not be to your liking.
You can change the brush size to accommodate small detail areas.
To preserve the silhouetted version save with a new name.
When done you can select the image with the magic wand, same as in step one.

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1jfSV11qvAScVmrR4H5DRr1YxzAg40_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1jfSV11qvAScVmrR4H5DRr1YxzAg40)

[Newtome]

I used the clone tool to remove the woman in pink.

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1i1RHFwvJPYDWsaZ7j5WNMIMfPbNyr_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1i1RHFwvJPYDWsaZ7j5WNMIMfPbNyr)

On this one cropped to include only niece and children
http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1IG4wCqpxtTbZY6Dl2rFzE8lC3POpG1_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1IG4wCqpxtTbZY6Dl2rFzE8lC3POpG1)

[ken1]

Backgound is created with Filter>render>clouds. 2 different shades of blue.

[victry1]

Hi everyone,

I am SO impressed with everyone's work and suggestions. Since I have had time constraints the last couple weeks I kind of did a hybrid of everyone's suggestions. It certainly didn't turn out as well as what you all did, but I know people wanted to see the pictures from the BBQ. What I found most impressive was how anyone could clone the siding so the lines were straight!! That seems to be tricky. When I have some more time I will try to do a better job and will definitely post back.

Thanks all for all your help! You're great!

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1b2l1d3z01cMLOgKNz669TbEFHeEQ1_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1b2l1d3z01cMLOgKNz669TbEFHeEQ1)

[Newtome]

This should help with your cloning when you are trying to be precise with a straight line.

1, Hold down your alt key. Move your mouse around until you line up your crosshair on the straight line. Then click your mouse to hold that place in memory.

2. Move to where you want to start the clone and just hold down the alt key. You will see the crosshair and then you can move the mouse without holding it down until you see the crosshair lined up. Then you can hold down the mouse key and start cloning.

This is much easier to do than try to explain. You can also put on your caps lock on to be more precise. But, don't forget to take it off when you are done or it canl mess you up for your next moves.
Elaine

[ladybug]

Newtome, thanks for the great hint.

[Benny Pedersen]

Here is my quick attempt:

http://www.fineraw.com/elementsvillage/lowkey1.jpg

Benny

[PSE7newbie]

Newtome, I think you did a fantastic job with the photo. I really liked the close up of the 3. I am very new to this & I am amazed at what one can do using the PS programs. I am very impressed with how helpful everyone is here in EV especially when they share their favorite method of doing these type of things. :)

[victry1]

Very, very nice Benny. Looks like it was done in a portrait studio. So many great ideas-thanks everybody! :)