Jenny, let’s start over since this has been going on for weeks. First, though, I want to know if you did any editing of the image containing the person you want to move to the second image file. If so, you haven’t been working on an Adjustment Layer have you? That’s one thing that would make it APPEAR that you’d selected the person but wouldn’t give you the "person" after you move to the new location. You’d get a blank area because your selection didn’t contain any pixels from the original image. Does this make sense?
Tell us about the first image – the one that contains the person you want to select and then move. Does it have layers? How many? What kind of layers are they? Which layer do you have active when you’re doing your selection?
Jenny,
When you tried Chuck’s last suggestion where he wanted you to create a new layer from the selection by "layer via copy", did the new layer actually get created and have the image in it? (This would be in the original document, not the new one).
If so, you could try drag and drop instead of copy/paste.
Open the new document and position it so that you can see both the original and the new at the same time. Make sure the layer palette is open. Click on the original picture to make it the active one. Then, move the cursor over the layer in the layer palette that contains the image you want to copy (the one you created by new via copy). click and drag the layer from the palette over the new document and drop it by releasing the mouse button. The layer should be copied into the new document as a new layer. Click on the new document to make it active and you can now use the move tool to position the image and go from there.
It’s not clear why the cut and paste isn’t working. From the descriptions, it sounds like it should have worked. Not sure what’s going on. Drag and drop should work.
Bob
Jenny,
Beth makes a good point. Make sure your layer palette is open and make sure the layer containing the image of the person is the active layer before doing the copy/paste.
If you make a new layer by "new via copy", you could check to make sure the person got copyed to the new layer by turning off the visibility of every layer except the layer created by "new via copy". You should see the person.
Hi, the person image only has no layers. The only edit I did on it was to lighten it with levels. I load selection, chose layer by copy & get a new layer 1. It looks transparent in the pallet but when I turn off visibility in the original, the 1st layer comes up big & I can see just the selection border in it.
If I try to drag & drop with the move tool the whole image gets moved & I see in the layers pallet that background image has the whole person image as an extra 1st layer.
I’m working through the "Create" book. I did manage to copy a selection (dandelion ) into the same image. When I tried to paste a parrot on my friends shoulder I had this same snag for a while but got it to work in the end, not sure how.
I’ll try that 1st dandelion paste again to see if it still works.
Thanks, Jenny.
Yes, the copy & paste into the same image works fine. Jenny
Try this: Open both images and arrange them so you can see part of each. Have the Layers palette open. Click on the one out of which you want to make the selection to make it active. Make sure there is only one layer showing. Double click on the background layer in the palette to make sure it’s simplified (ignore me other regulars – I’m just covering all possible bases!) Now make your selection. Choose the Move tool and click and hold on the selection and drag it into the other image in which you want the selection placed.
If you can successfully work on the dandelion image, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be able to make and move your selection with the other set of images unless there’s something about the original one containing the person that we still haven’t identified.
You did say you’d done a Levels adjustment. But I understood you to say you DID NOT use an adjustment layer when you did it. Is that correct?
Thanks Beth, the whole image got dragged again. When I double click the background in the pallet I get a box which looks like it wants me to name the layer but whether I click Cancel or OK the whole layer gets dragged.
You gave me a good idea though. I thougt to try it with 2 other stock images & it’s given some clue. I opened the Camel image & the Wave image & selected the selection brush as before. I just went with the brush that was there which was there, 13pxs. I made a selection in wave, copied & pasted it into camel & just the border was pasted , still camel inside but I can see wave in the thickness of the edge of the border. It’s something to do with me selecting the brush tool rather than the lasso tool I used with the dandelion. The brush I used must have been smaller.
I don’t know if it’s normal but when I import my person image from desktop into Elements now the person has a green border, ( my 2nd background image is green) even before the selection is loaded.
I guess I have to go back to the JPG & make the selection again with the lasso which will take quite a time. I may not bother being to exact as the use for this particular project is past (birthday), but I’m happy to be making some progress in knowledge for the next time.
How does one use the brush & how does it differ from the lasso? Thanks, Jenny.
Right no adjustment layer, I havn’t got to that part of the book yet.
Jenny
The selection brush differs in that you don’t just select the border. You must ‘paint’ everything that you want to select, There are two modes: Selection and Mask. In the Mask mode, everything you select is protected from edits. So, when you select a border (if you are in the mask mode), the border stays and everything else moves. I mainly use the selection brush in Mask mode. If the object I want to cut is small, I paint it, then select Inverse (this paints the everything else) from the selection menu, then use the Move tool.
Hope that’s what you are asking.
Cliff
Yes,
thanks one & all,
Jenny
