cowanbree Posted December 27, 2008 Share Posted December 27, 2008 I have photoshop and am using it to play round with some pictures of my dogs on different backgrounds. I am using the extract function under filter and then smudging the edges to blend it into the background. I find I am losing the detail of the hair on the edges and the image looks cut out. How else can I do this? Links to tutorials would be great, I have searched but none appear to deal with my lack of clarity around the edges issue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted December 27, 2008 Share Posted December 27, 2008 Hi- I amnot very good at this - BUT I think you should be 'feathering" when you extract- not smudging.... Go to photoshop help and look up feathering....perhaps? Now I don't know whether you CAN feather with extract- or only when using the lasso ....Can't be bothered getting the portable HDD and opening PS,sorry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piper Posted December 27, 2008 Share Posted December 27, 2008 I have photoshop and am using it to play round with some pictures of my dogs on different backgrounds. I am using the extract function under filter and then smudging the edges to blend it into the background. I find I am losing the detail of the hair on the edges and the image looks cut out. How else can I do this?Links to tutorials would be great, I have searched but none appear to deal with my lack of clarity around the edges issue I used to use the same method and foind the same thing. It was okay for the smooth coat beagle but not for the border collies. I now use a layer mask and find I can get a better result that way. The pen tool and I don't get along, I find it no good for long coat dogs but that could be a user issue! LOL. Maybe try a search for tutorials on layer masking? Or someone on here may have a much better way and then we can both learn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke W Posted December 28, 2008 Share Posted December 28, 2008 I have photoshop and am using it to play round with some pictures of my dogs on different backgrounds. I am using the extract function under filter and then smudging the edges to blend it into the background. I find I am losing the detail of the hair on the edges and the image looks cut out. How else can I do this?Links to tutorials would be great, I have searched but none appear to deal with my lack of clarity around the edges issue It's soooo hard cowanbree. Time consuming and difficult. Hair, fur, smoke and fire...it doesn't get much harder than those. Some techniques are better than others but most of the time it just comes down to mega-loads of patience, working at 200% or greater and using a Wacom tablet. Each image is different and different techniques work better for different images. He's a trick you may not have considered which I've just started playing with... Rather than trying to create the perfect selection around individual hairs, paint on your own hairs after your cut out the image. You'll probably need a Wacom and some skill in creating Photoshop brushes - but it's another skill to tie to your belt. The following book comes highly recommend (haven't read it myself). Photoshop Masking and Compositing by Katrina Eismann Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piper Posted December 28, 2008 Share Posted December 28, 2008 He's a trick you may not have considered which I've just started playing with...Rather than trying to create the perfect selection around individual hairs, paint on your own hairs after your cut out the image. You'll probably need a Wacom and some skill in creating Photoshop brushes - but it's another skill to tie to your belt. The following book comes highly recommend (haven't read it myself). Photoshop Masking and Compositing by Katrina Eismann Great to see you back and sharing your skills again Luke! I am hoping that I get a wacom tablet for my birthday in March, I have heard that they are much easier to use when doing things like extracting on photoshop than a mouse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowanbree Posted December 28, 2008 Author Share Posted December 28, 2008 Thanks everyone for the ideas. Santa was very good to me and brought me a Wacom for Xmas so I am away to have a play Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke W Posted December 28, 2008 Share Posted December 28, 2008 Thanks everyone for the ideas. Santa was very good to me and brought me a Wacom for Xmas so I am away to have a play Congrats - that's a great present! Note: It might take a bit of getting used to! It took me several(!!!) hours to start to get the hang of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rugerfly Posted December 28, 2008 Share Posted December 28, 2008 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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