Photo editing, Photoshop?

AsSiMiLaTeD

I've got a photo with 4 people in it. What I want to do is remove the background and replace it with another image. It's not a solid background color, so I know that makes this more difficult.

I have a copy of Photoshop laying around, it's either CS2 or CS3, think it's the latter.

Is there an easier way to do this than just maticulously going around all the edges with the eraser tool. I've done that before, and it's tedius and doesn't yeild great results.

Any tips you guys have will be great.

Demiurge

AsSiMiLaTeD wrote: »

I've got a photo with 4 people in it. What I want to do is remove the background and replace it with another image. It's not a solid background color, so I know that makes this more difficult.

I have a copy of Photoshop laying around, it's either CS2 or CS3, think it's the latter.

Is there an easier way to do this than just maticulously going around all the edges with the eraser tool. I've done that before, and it's tedius and doesn't yeild great results.

Any tips you guys have will be great.

PM me the picture and I'll do it for you.

everpress

You can drag your image layer to the new layer symbol on the layers palette (this gives you an exact copy in case you jack up the image, you have a backup) Click the eyeball beside that copy to hide it... Then:
1. make a new layer
2. used the pen tool to trace whatever it is you are removing
3. right click the shape you make from tracing on your new layer and you'll see moving dotted lines (called a 'marquee').
4. Hide your shape layer; select your image layer. You'll notice the marquee is still there.
5. Hit "delete" on your keyboard.

If you need some softer edges, before you hit delete, go up to "Select" at the top of your window -> "Modify" -> "Feather" and type in a low number like "3px" or "5px". Then hit delete and you'll have softer, slightly transparent edges to the area you selected.

Also, you can use Command+Z or Windows+Z to step back or undo a step if you mess up.

AsSiMiLaTeD

Demi, I appreciate the offer and may take you up on it tonight, but would like to learn how to do it myself if possible.

everpress, I know the basic procedure, your step 2 is what I was hoping to find a better way of doing, using that pen tool is tedious...

Demiurge

The free hand pen tool is the only option if you want a good looking end product. The Magic Wand Tool isn't usually an option. Depends on what you're clipping. I've clipped thousands and thousands of high res images before this way, and trust me it gets easier after you've done them for a while.

Here's a picture of one of my AR-15s where I take out the background.

Start with the pen tool and clip around the image:



Go to the paths tab and right click on the work path and click make selection:



Chose the number of pixels you want to feather the image by. I chose 1 and hit OK:



Go to the select drop down menu and choose inverse:



Then on your keyboard hit CTRL + X (PC). You should get something like this:



Then you can create a new layer and do whatever you want to it. I just picked a solid color, but you could put anything:

Osarion

This is why I want to get a Wacom. It would make all the outlining much easier. I've just never messed with pictures enough to justify the money for the tablet but I still want one.

tcrossma

There's a lot of ways to go about it, and some of it depends on the image. You could try using the magic wand tool to get it close, then go into Quick Mask mode and clean up the selection. Using Quick Mask mode you can apply different brushes and opacity to different parts of the image (i.e. hair) to get better results. Note that I'm still using PS7 so I don't know if the same functions still apply in the newer versions (although I would assume they do).