Removing background with Photoshop

Hello,

I need some good advice on the best solution to remove or trim the background from a picture without damaging the first plan. For example, I have a photo with a singer and want to remove the backstage and get only the singer in order to put a different background.

Any help on best practices on this would be very helpful.

Thanks in advance
MP

I've always done this with the Magic Wand (2nd row, 2nd col on Tools bar). Once you select that, click the Magic Wand Options in the Options window. You can set the Tolerance of the tool, which determines how close the colors have to be for it to stop magically selecting. Play with that a little and see if you can get it working. I hope I have explained it well.

Hi,

Thanks for your reply. In fact, the magic wan is the most simple process but not a fast and accurate one when dealing with complex images with cvery near color patterns, and this is where the problem resides.

Even changing the tollerance and digging into the image, this may take hours to achieve a good result.

I've seen a tutorial about this subject but, sincerely, I can't remeber where it was neither I'm able to find it again.
I recall something about "Filter" -> "Extract" but can't figure how this is done correctly and with precision.

Sorry I can't be of more help. I'm not an artist (not even close) so I don't use PhotoShop very often at all and I know I don't use its more advanced features. I was really just happy to be able to post my little bit of knowledge in the Graphics forum.

It's me that have to thank your reply, even if it wasn't the most professional and helpful one it was indeed very much appreciated.

Thanks

I usually just use quickmask and paintbrush to create the selection I want -- it gives you a lot more control than the wand or pen tools. Hair's still a drag, though. I've only just started to play with Image->Extract, but it seems pretty neat. A little tricky, but with some practice, it seems like it can be quite a time-saver. Here's a short tutorial I found on it:

http://www.photoshopcafe.com/tutori...tout/cutout.htm

I've used the two cleanup tools instead of the history brush, so I can't comment on how that works.

Hi,

Thanks so much for your reply and for the link. This tutorial is simmilar to the one I've seen before but couldn't remember where.

I've done some experiences with this tutorial now and it worked.

Thanks for your support.

Another good tool to use is magnetic lasso.

Hi,

Thanks for your post. The magntic lasso, in complex images turns to be more difficult to select and extract with precision. Don't you think so?

Well, here's a technique that provides a good starting point:

Go into your channels pane and choose the channel with the best contrast between foreground and background.

Copy that to a new channel, then start playing with levels/curves to improve the contrast. Your goal is a solid white object with a black background.

Use the lasso tool or a solid brush (no fuzzy edges) to clean up any black areas in the foreground and any white areas in the background.

Another good variation is to build the new channel using pieces from the other channels depending on which has the best contrast for a particular area.

Once you have the channel finished, go back to your image and go to select > load selection, and choose your new channel.

This technique is especially good for hair and other fine edges, and it's overkill for simple projects. Doing it right takes a bit of effort, since it's very easy to destroy the contrast on the edge if you're not careful.

For simple jobs, I recommend creating a layer mask and just "covering" whatever you don't need. You can see your results better than with Quick Mask, and you don't need to worry about corrupting your image data if you mess up.

The last technique I've seen is to make a path-based selection. If you have the patience for it, you can get some good results, but I've always had better success with one of the other methods.

Yes, if you don't zoom in. Zoom in and it usually works much better

Hi,

Thanks again for your help. I'm now trainning the channels technique and the lasso but on my first tries it seems that I'm getting better results with the "Extract" system, maybe due to some lack of experience in the others you've mentioned.
It was of great help your tips and I have to get on with some experiences to achieve even better results.

Thanks again!

Well, the problem with extract is it doesn't make very clean edges, and then you have to zoom in to correct this, which is like 2 steps when you could only have one. Just my opinion... do whatever works best for you.

Thanks,
It seems so, but since I'm not very confortable with the masks and channels I have to work a bit harder on this to get to your conclusion. I'm doing so