Cutting people out of photos

TT
Posted By
Third Time Lucky
Apr 4, 2010
Views
1878
Replies
6
Status
Closed
Hi

I want to cut a person from a photograph and save it as it is. I want to do this with several photso then join them all up on one big photo with a nice background.
Any ideas how this can be done please?

Thanks

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JD
Joe D
Apr 4, 2010
On Sun, 4 Apr 2010 08:52:38 -0400, Third Time Lucky wrote (in article <hpa238$2ofd$>):

Hi

I want to cut a person from a photograph and save it as it is. I want to do this with several photso then join them all up on one big photo with a nice background.
Any ideas how this can be done please?

Thanks

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Yes: with a lot of work.

Sorry, I don’t mean to be snippy, but it’s a time-consuming, challenging and ultimately very rewarding feat. I couldn’t begin to describe it though, since I’m not an expert and have only done it when the person I wanted to remove was on the end of a line of people.

I did remove someone’s head once and put another version of it in its place; a better image and representation of that person.

—
Joe Dee from NYC
LL
Leo Lichtman
Apr 4, 2010
"Joe D" wrote: Yes: with a lot of work. (clip) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
And that’s an understatement. If you don’t care how convincing the result is, you just select each of the people and copy/paste them over the background. Here’s what you will encounter:

1. The lighting on each person must come from the same direction. Good luck with that.
2. Most people have hair, which blends into the background in gentle, semi-transparent ways. Selecting around this is very, very difficult.
3. The people have to look like they belong together. If you don’t have
the right combination of skill and luck, they will just look pasted on.
4. You will probably find that some of the people have parts missing/
covered up–a hand behind a chair; a foot in the grass, an arm behind someone’s back. When you paste these up, you will have the task of generating the missing stuff from scratch or pasting from other sources. Very tough.

Have you considered doing a montage instead?
TT
Third Time Lucky
Apr 4, 2010
"Leo Lichtman" wrote in message
"Joe D" wrote: Yes: with a lot of work. (clip) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
And that’s an understatement. If you don’t care how convincing the result is, you just select each of the people and copy/paste them over the background. Here’s what you will encounter:

1. The lighting on each person must come from the same direction. Good luck with that.
2. Most people have hair, which blends into the background in gentle, semi-transparent ways. Selecting around this is very, very difficult.
3. The people have to look like they belong together. If you don’t have
the right combination of skill and luck, they will just look pasted on.
4. You will probably find that some of the people have parts missing/
covered up–a hand behind a chair; a foot in the grass, an arm behind someone’s back. When you paste these up, you will have the task of generating the missing stuff from scratch or pasting from other sources. Very tough.

Have you considered doing a montage instead?
Thanks for the advice.

I just want to put 8 pictures of a person alongside each other. If part of an arm is missing then that ppart of the picture can be hidden behind the next one and so on.
It’s not imperative to have all the body on display just mainly the head and torso.
I’m sure it can be done and think it has something to do with Layers. Also I am sure there are ways of cutting round a person, maybe with the magic wand tool?

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JD
Joe D
Apr 4, 2010
On Sun, 4 Apr 2010 15:54:36 -0400, Third Time Lucky wrote (in article <hpaqpu$11nm$>):

"Leo Lichtman" wrote in message

If you don’t care how convincing the result
is, you just select each of the people and copy/paste them over the background.
Thanks for the advice.

I just want to put 8 pictures of a person alongside each other. If part of an arm is missing then that ppart of the picture can be hidden behind the next one and so on.
It’s not imperative to have all the body on display just mainly the head and torso.
I’m sure it can be done and think it has something to do with Layers. Also I am sure there are ways of cutting round a person, maybe with the magic wand tool?

As Leo pointed out, you can probably do what you want to do relatively easily, since it sounds like you don’t actually intend to make the end result look like everyone was in the same shot at the same time.

For that result, you’re probably on the right track: cut around the people using the magic wand or use the quick-selection tool if your version of PE has that, and paste onto layers.

You’ll do a lot of pixel-level cleanup and your end result will be fine — again, as long as you’re okay with it looking like a heavily retouched photo.

—
Joe Dee from NYC
LL
Leo Lichtman
Apr 4, 2010
"Third Time Lucky" wrote: (clip) I’m sure it can be done and think it has something to do with Layers.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
If that’s the level you are at, you are a long way from the skill level needed for this project.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Also I am sure there are ways of cutting round a person, maybe with the
magic wand tool?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Same comment.
TT
Third Time Lucky
Apr 4, 2010
"Leo Lichtman" wrote in message
"Third Time Lucky" wrote: (clip) I’m sure it can be done and think it has something to do with Layers.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
If that’s the level you are at, you are a long way from the skill level needed for this project.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Also I am sure there are ways of cutting round a person, maybe with the
magic wand tool?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Same comment.

Well we all have to start somewhere.
Once I know what the icons and for and can do I will be fine. I know it’s a complex package but I’m sure I can get the end result I want.

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