Vignetting

AL
Posted By
Alfred_Law
Apr 13, 2004
Views
391
Replies
5
Status
Closed
Is there any way I can take a picture of, say, a horse on a blue background; trace the outline of the horse about a half-inch away from the horse’s body lines, and fade the background at that point into "nothing" so that the background picture the horse picture is subsequently superimposed on shows through? I tried putting the horse layer over a transparent layer and erasing the background around the horse; but when I collapsed the layers I had white rather than transparent where I had erased. I’m sure there’s a help item on this someplace but it doesn’t show under "vignetting" and I don’t know what else to call it. (I know I could do it if the picture the horse picture is superimposed on where also in Photoshop; it isn’t, however, because I am working in Publisher and the background "picture" is actually a continuing body of type.)
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RL
Robert_Levine
Apr 13, 2004
Make the selection and then invert it. Hit delete. Now feather the selection 10-15 pixels and hit delete again. You may need to play with the feathering or hit delete a few times to get the look you’re after.

Bob
WO
Walwin_Oglivie
Apr 14, 2004
I usually use the background eraser in such situation with a pad to get into tight areas
JM
John Mensinger
Apr 14, 2004
Alfred,

The step where you’re stumbling is, "but when I collapsed the layers I had white rather than transparent where I had erased."

If you flatten the image, yes, you’ll lose your transparency. Furthermore, to retain transparency, you’ll need to save the image in a format that supports transparency. Unfortunately, since your target page layout app is Publisher, your choices are severely limited.

Here’s a suggestion…

When you have your horse vignette on its own layer, with the background transparent, as you want it, don’t flatten. Simply delete or hide all the other layers and save a copy in PNG format, (the only format in which Publisher will recognize native transparency). Bring the image into Publisher via Insert > Picture > From File. Don’t be surprised if the ‘feather’ of your fade-to-transparency isn’t exactly graceful using this method. Again, Publisher just isn’t the best tool to achieve what you want to do.

Another option would be to use a flattened version of the image, with its white background. Once you have it on the page in Publisher, send it "behind text," then construct a text wrap in the shape needed to flow the text around the vignette. Not easy in Publisher, but doable. This also assumes that your Publisher page has a white background.

If you are a Photoshop user, and plan more attempts at such effects in the future, you should really consider changing your page layout app to InDesign. You’ll be amazed by its superiority over anything like Publisher.

I hope that helps.

John
AL
Alfred_Law
Apr 19, 2004
Many thanks for all the help! Alf
CW
Colin_Walls
Apr 19, 2004
You can have transparency with a flattened image. After flattening, just double-click on the layer’s name in the palette and accept the dialog.

I think you can transfer to Publisher by just Copy/Paste. Just CTRL-click on the thumbnail in the palette and CTRL-C. Then CTRL-V in Publisher.

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