Removing Backround Via Photoshop

[mdipi]

hey guys...i am making a new splash page for my site and ineed this pic of this guy (me but i hate my hair) to no longer have the backround. i suck with the lasso tool, so is there another way?

plz help,
mike:cyclops:

[lostinbeta]

2 words...

Quick Mask

[lostinbeta]

How to use QuicK Masks....

Select the layer with your image.....

Underneith the Foreground and Background colors in the Tools Toolbar there will be two rectangles, one on the left that is a white rectangle with a white circle inside... this is to stop using quick mask... on the right there is a dark rectangle with a white circle inside, this is to entery quick mask mode.

Click the one to enter quick mask mode.

Use the paint brush tool (best at a small size and used with the softer brushes), With the brush, fill in the area that you DO NOT want to be selected (in this case, your body)

Now hit the button to exit the quick mask and the area surrounding the spot you colored it will be selected. Now you can just delete this and be left with your head :)

I hope that helps.

[calaway42]

I was just about to post that question.. once again.. i learn one more thing from lostinbeta! :D let me go try it now

BTW.. due on first week of march.. is my huge project from school.. my project is related to web designing.. woah.. if i learn one thing each day from beta... I will get A+ fosho!

[lostinbeta]

:beam:

I love helping people. It gives me that warm fuzzy feeling inside :)

[calaway42]

hmm it's still kinda hard.. any other ways?

[lostinbeta]

Except for the magnetic lasso (or any other lasso) tool in Photoshop.

Quick Masking is the easiest way, but it takes a lot of time to get around the edges.

You just have to fill in the center with a big brush.... then zoom way far in (CTRL + +) and do the edges with a small brush.

Long and sometimes tedious... yes.... but worth it.

[mdipi]

you REALLY need a steady hand still though. but i like it WAY more than the lasso. (sp?)

thanks again (or is this the first time?)



-mike:cyclops:

[mdipi]

shane one more thing, i think that warm fuzzy feeling was you pissing on your self again! lol jk.

[lostinbeta]

No, I think it was the kitten I ate earlier actually :beam:

[eilsoe]

*warm fuzzy feeling*...mmmmm... :P :P


When I have to delete something around something else, I use a brush-eraser, and just remove whatever i want around the edges...


Requires a REALLY steady hand though...

[lostinbeta]

So many methods!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

lol

:beam:

[eilsoe]

Works wonders for me :P

Btw Lost, I started school yesterday, and they went just nuts over a simple water effect using clouds/gaussian blur/chrome/hue-sat layer...

SO funny to impress others with simple methods :P

[eilsoe]

Didn't mean to sound so egocentrical... :(

whooooooops...... sorry...

[lostinbeta]

Lol, Yeah I know what you mean.

When I was in school I already had knowledge and well had photoshop. So I took an image and just applied a gaussian blur and everyone was like WOW, THATS AMAZING...

I was just like .... "I'm not done yet!"

[eilsoe]

Yeah! :P

Precisely! :)


In my class we make "old school" websites for other small businesses... and we use PS for designs and layouts...

After 2 days there, my teacher (today) made me write up a list of sites having the most useful tutes on PS to share with the other 3 guys in my class :)

I'm popular!! Just because I know a little about PS...

[lostinbeta]

W00t!

I was kind of popular for Photoshop myself. But I was mostly popular for knowing as much about web design as I did.

My school made me do their website. It is actually finally up again... http://www.nehs.phila.k12.pa.us/

Now keep in mind that isn't my best work. For free, for school, i got to work on it from 8am to 9am, and I had to start from scratch and I had to go around get all the info on my own (well one other person helped gather info), leaving me little time to worry about design and such.

The school loved it (and compared to their last one, which was last updated in 1999, I did too) and that is all that mattered to me.

Oh yeah I was also editor, photographer, and well everything else. So that is why it looks so bad. I had about 5-10 minutes a day to work on the actual look, the rest was inputting info and getting info.

[eilsoe]

This is how the site I'm currently working on now lookes:

www.hundested-genbrugsbutik.dk


Keep in mind, I have yet to touch it, I'm just working on a new design in PS...

This is their old design... not too hard to give a make-over huh? :P

[eilsoe]

Speaking of which, check out pom's new footer by me :)

www.avalon-rev.dk/pom/homer.jpg

[lostinbeta]

HAHA, that footer is awesome!!!

And that site is ugly. I can't wait for you to fix it :)

[eilsoe]

Actually, it's not gonna get so much prettier...

The owner doesn't like fancy sheiz on her website... so...

not much to do really... but, if my current idea goes through with the chool board, it's gonna look different yes.. MUCH different.. but not anything worth much...


(she even thinks gif's are too advanced for her.. she DOES not want any...)...

weak...

[lostinbeta]

Well animated gifs are overrated :)

If not used right they are tacky.

It is quite hard to find a person who things an image is too much though.

Try creating a site out of text.

Just be glad you don't have to do that though LOL

[eilsoe]

Haha! :P


I'm just gonna whip up something easy... :)

[RenaissanceGirl]

I highly recommend the quick mask. Actually, I use a layer mask, just so I can edit the edges later on if I change my mind - but this is up to you. Try this, if you do not have a steady hand:

The round head is the bane of your unsteady hand. Other than that, it's mostly straight lines. Use the elliptical marquee tool to select a part of the head:
http://www.geocities.com/renaissancegerl/x/cal3.txt

Press "Q" to enter quick mask. Start with a fairly large brush - I'm using a 22px diameter, hardness: 100% round brush). While holding the shift key, click on points between straight lines. Holding shift while clicking creates a straight line from point to point (sparing your unsteady hand). His face has a lot of straight lines, so this isn't too hard:

http://www.geocities.com/renaissancegerl/x/cal2.txt

Here's a detail:
http://www.geocities.com/renaissancegerl/x/cal2b.txt

Above the green circles represents points where I clicked. The single black circle was the last click. Keep doing this for the edges. Don't worry if it's a little off. In the end, you'll have a bunch of clean lines and you'll only have to do a few touch-ups - here I touched up the hood a bit, since it's a little curved. Don't be afraid to use the elliptical tool again to precisely select curved areas. That's it! I accomplished this in just a couple minutes:

http://www.geocities.com/renaissancegerl/x/cal1.txt

There you have it: I pretty much just regurgitated what Lost said, tossing in some time-saving keyboard shortcuts that you may not have known about.

[lostinbeta]

Wow, thats a great explanation Ren.

You should write a tutorial on it... so we can put it on kirupas site when he gets the Photoshop section up :)

[eilsoe]

YEah :)

I've never reaally used the QM for anything.. maybe I should try experimenting with it wome more...

[lostinbeta]

You will fall instantly in love with it.... i know I did.

[RenaissanceGirl]

Oh, and a few more side notes:

You can exit quick mask and delete the background but if you wish to soften the edges (so he doesn't look totally cut out) apply a gaussian blur to the mask. I start out with hard edges and blur it altogether later, so the edges are all evenly feathered. You can make it blend more smoothly with the new background this way.

Again, this is why I use a layer mask, so that later I can adjust the softness of the edge and even edit the mask later.

[vts31]

what i do is use the pen tool to select what i want then use that as a mask and then refine it. works wonders.

http://www.edwinrosero.com/images/eddixquan.jpg

[mdipi]

ren, but that just selects my head....so when i press delete, it delets my face....maybe i am doing something wrong.

[Eberth]

Originally posted by eilsoe
Speaking of which, check out pom's new footer by me :)

www.avalon-rev.dk/pom/homer.jpg

:P :P niceeeee!!!!!


:x :x can you make one for me please ???:x :x

[eilsoe]

sure :)

[lostinbeta]

Eilsoe... Kirupaforums only professional Footer creator.

How many people did you create footer for now Eilsoe?

[eilsoe]

umm....

Pom, Kit, Phil... Eberth soon...

I really can't remember...

I've made a ton of footers for pom alone :P

[lostinbeta]

HAHA, yeah you made about 4 different footers and matching Avatars for Pom :P

Homer Simpson
Harry Potter
Hannibal
Austin Powers

I think that is all of them.

[eilsoe]

Yup, that about does it :)

[lostinbeta]

Well now here is another to add to your long list :)

[eilsoe]

Yeah :P

Nice to know someone actually likes my work :)

[RenaissanceGirl]

Originally posted by mdipi.com
ren, but that just selects my head....so when i press delete, it delets my face....maybe i am doing something wrong.

Just your face? Are you brushing out the rest of the figure as instructed? You use the Ellipse selection tool to accurately select the head. After that, you must manually brush out the rest of the body (as originally instructed by Lostinbeta). This would be time-consuming for the unsteady hand, but if you use the shift key, you will save a lot of time. While holding the shift key, click the vertices between straight lines (the vertices are noted bye the green circles in the second and third image). I use a large, round brush for this, so the angles are smooth and round. Continue to do this until you have outline the entire figure. You may have to do some touch ups. Now brush the middle section out so the entire figure is selected. Does that clarify things?

Also, this should "select" the figure." You have to inverse the selection (Select > Inverse) to select the background to delete.

[mdipi]

ok! i get it now, i just needed to invese! thanks so much!












-mike:cyclops:

[Eberth]

=) Ok

[mdipi]

i found a filter that does it too! Filter|extract.



-mike:cyclops: