I am trying to cut out an image of my daughter to paste onto another background. Iv’e tried several ways to do this and the eraser seems the best. What do you think?
When i place the cut out onto the new background you can see the joins,so to speak. Can anybody tell me how to do this.
Thank you
Neil,
There are many methods, but a non-complicated one is offered here:
1. Open Picture
2. Bring down layers palette, click on arrow upper right, click duplicate layer. Shut off visibility of background layer
3. Using lasso tool, select your daughter’s image. I would feather 3- 5 pixels
4. Go to edit>copy, edit>paste
5.Select background copy layer in the palette, go to select>reselect
6.Go to select>inverse
7. go to edit>copy, edit>paste
Now you have foreground and background layers separated. You may have to touch up a spot here and there with eraser tool.
Hope that this helps. Repost if you are having difficulty. Ken
Addendum:
8. Select you nicely crafted foreground layer and copy/paste, or drag, on to your new background layer
Ken
Neil,
When you have cut out your image using something like the lasso … set the feather for a couple of pixels or so. That blends it into the background better.
Wendy
You guys are all so awesome and I appreciate the help. I’ve tried your suggestions and still cannot get the results I’m looking for. What I’m trying to achieve is this: I have a picture of some friends standing in the desert. I’m trying to "cut" them and the desert out (to use) while getting rid of the sky behind them. My purpose is I’m trying to design a cover for a DVD. I would like to try using different background colors, patterns, etc. and then placing the "friends/desert" selection on top of them. What keeps happening is when I select my "friends/desert" on the original image I always end up with a white background. Does that make sense? I mean, if I can’t get rid of the white background, I might as well keep the sky. Thanks for any help you can give (and have given)
Cayleen
I agree with Ken. The use of feathering will help your image blend with the background better. If however you insist on using the eraser, you could try using it set to a low opacity setting when attempting to blend your two images together…this should take some of the sharpness off your edges. Another option is to use the clone tool set at a low opacity setting to blend the photos. If in a flowing situation, water or maybe long hair the smudge tool might come in handy.
Terri
Cayleen, After you have your friends and the desert cut out, turn off the eye on your background layer (the eyeball in the layers palette). I am assuming from your post that you have already put your friends and desert scene on a separate layer if not you need to do this. You could also just slip your pattern between your cut out images and the background layer. If your pattern is semitransparent, you will have to turn the eye in the layers palette off.
Terri
Cayleen, I’ll outline a slightly different way to do what you want to. It may not be the fastest, but it should be pretty straightforward and easy for me to post here. Given that you already know the dimension of the DVD cover, use that size as your base. And since we know you’re going to print it, choose a resolution between 150 and 300ppi for preparing your image.
First, make a copy of the image you want to use for the DVD cover. Edit it until you know that the part you want to cut out will be a good fit for the size of the finished picture.
Use one of the lasso tools to select the people and the desert. Leave the image open on your desktop.
Open up the Layers palette and leave it accessible on your desktop.
Go to File>New and create a new canvas. Set it up so the dimensions match that of your finished cover, set the resolution to match that of the image from which you’ve just made the selection, and set the background to Transparent. Click OK and a new canvas will open on your desktop. Just leave it there someplace so you can see a part of both it and your original image.
Now select the Move tool, click and hold on your selection and drag it to the new canvas. Once it’s on there you can either close the original or minimize it to get it out of the way. You should now have your selection on a transparent background.
To experiment with different backgrounds, work with Layers>New Fill Layer. By fiddling with those you can change colors, patterns, etc. until you get the look you want. Just remember that when you add one it may cover your selection, so shift the layer position in the palette.
Andrew, to borrow from a technique Scott Kelby (Photoshop Elements Book for Digital Photographers) has suggested for getting rid of dark circles under the eyes:
1. Make a copy of the background layer so you’re preserving the original
2. Select the Clone Stamp; set Mode to Lighten, Opacity to 50%, Aligned
3. Click an area near the area you want to cover and do Alt-click (or Option-click) with the mouse.
4. Paint over the moustache area (making sure the new layer is the active layer). Go over a few times until it looks right.
The lighten mode will only affect the darker areas, which would presumably be the moustache.
Hope that helps!
