Image Help

I want to take a picture of a person and completely delete the background and paste it ontop of something else. How do i go by doing so. Ive tried a few different ways, yet nothing is really sufficient enough. Ive tried all forms of the magic wand tool and I am not very impressed with the outcome. Or should i try using a completely white background to be successful?

I use the lasso tool a lot myself. I like the magnetic setting the best.

Does anyone know if you take a picture on a white background, then in photoshop change the background to whatever color you want or design?

Yes, this is possible - the easiest way would be to select the area around the person with the magic wand tool and then you have your selection, and you can change the colour. But this requires a 'bold' difference and clear colour difference between the person and the background.

Have an experiment with the tolerance, and just play around.

I'll just add that you can also combine several wand selections by holding down 'CTRL' or to deselect individual ones by holding down 'ALT'

If you post a copy of the photo here or make a link to it it's easier to give advice.

go to this link, and drop about 3/4 ways down the page until you see the Extract Tool tutorial. that'll show you exactly what you want...


hope this helps, the extract tool is the best for this sort of thing


anew.

http://www.planetphotoshop.com/peteback.html

Hehe - I can't believe I forgot about the extract tool - thanks anew

Another good tutorial for the use of the extract tool:

http://www.gfxschool.com/tutorials/...ngoutimages.php

thanks alot...

I like the QuickMask method:

Select a soft-edged paintbrush and hit the Q key on your keyboard. This will put you in Quick-Mask mode.

Paint your subject. They will turn pink as you paint. Be very careful around the edges and make sure you fill in everything. This may take some time and practice, so in Edit > Preferences, make sure you allow plenty of history states undo.

Anyway, after you've carefully done all this, hit the Q key again, and your subject will be selected. Then Cut and Paste onto a new layer with your new background.

When selecting a background, pay attention to the details in your subject. If there's a bright sunlight spot on her left side, don't put her in a picture where there's no sunlight. You'll later need to play with the levels and contract and HSB values to make it look natural.

Can you post the image?