"Lunaray" wrote in message
I’m tired of fighting with the Magnetic Lasso tool to cut out a section of an image to place with another image or background, isn’t there an easier, more precise way for doing this?
Good suggestions from others re the pen tool, which is important for precise work with hard edges, and quickmask, which allows you use any of the normal paint tools to define a mask.
I generally do a rough cut with the lasso, paste to a new layer, and use the eraser tool to fine tune the edges. Or for finer work I create a layer mask for the new layer, and use the brush tool to paint black where you want it erased. Edges should generally be partially transparent to avoid a paper cut out appearance.
With the second method you can go back at any time if you erase too much: just press the X key, and paint white to get it back again.
The extract tool is important for tough jobs like extracting hair from a background. If you’re going to be doing much of this kind of work, it’s worth a few hours to practice using this tool. Press F1 and look for the keyword extract, as this command has moved around with various versions of Photoshop since it became available in version 5.
This only scratches the surface of how to composite objects. This is one of the oldest and most deeply developed functions in Photoshop. Many people have perfected techniques over the years involving using channels as masks, blurring channels to create a more natural edge (for example when replacing a sky), using a mask to make it look like one object is behind another, even though it is on a layer above. You can even have something like a picture of a car, with the windows being transparent allowing the background to show through.
What really makes all this work is the alpha channel concept, and the ability to have transparent edges, and transparent or semi transparent objects.
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Mike Russell – www.curvemeister.com