Editing Help- Provide Photo

[Bridgett283]

I'm new here and new into the photography world. I've got a creative bite which I'm hoping that photography could allow me to expand however for the editing part I'm clueless. I open the program and just stare blankly at the screen. I'm currently working on this project for my cousin as a graduation present and I'm stumped. I'm trying to make the batter a silloute and change the back drop to white. I've tried for about two weeks. I finally got him seperated from the backdrop but it's very chop; pieces are missing from the bat just terrible and I don't know how to fix it without starting over. Is there an easier way? If your looking to play I've attached my image below and would live some advice on how you did it.

Thank you so much!

[Bridgett283]

For some reason the picture didn't post either.. hmm ok I guess I'm in over my head! If you shoot me a private message if you know how/what I'm looking to do I can send you the picture for you to be able to mess with. Obviously I need HELP!

[The Blue Boy]

Hi Bridgett283,

Welcome to the forums.

Firstly, no your image is not showing up. Don't panic! We're here to help,

Are you trying to upload from your computer or from a link to somewhere on the web?

Have a quick look at this thread, HELP THREAD: How can I post images here?

It's worth a look as it's guaranteed you'll stick around,

[Bridgett283]

Thank you so much for you help Mark! I feel like a duh right now. Hopefully I found the problem haha

[Geoff F]

Which editing software are you using, Bridgett?

Basically, you can either place a selection around the figure then copy and paste onto a new background or delete the current background. Alternatively, erase the background.

Nothing excessively complicated but this sort of job requires a little bit of expertise; although, to some extent, that can be quickly learned; at least to basic level.

Using a drawing tablet and pen will certainly make the job easier.

Some similar tasks require a lot of work and I have often heard someone dismiss a complicated piece of editing by saying something like, it has simply been 'photoshopped'. Which ignores several hours of delicate and painstaking work!

[Bridgett283]

I have CS5 but I seriously but I know nothing about it. I've used the lasso tool but the edging is really bad.

[Geoff F]

Excellent software, Bridgett, but needs careful adjustment of the various settings.

The basic, hand operated, lasso tool can be a bit of a struggle, except in experienced and artistic hands!

The Quick Selection Tool can be remarkable effective providing it is used carefully. After creating a basic selection I zoom in and do a few corrections with the manual lasso tool.

Something which often works for me is to create a temporary duplicate layer and vary the contrast etc on that layer to make the edges more distinct. There are several ways to achieve this. Don't worry about how the image looks with regard to colour etc as you won't be using this layer after creating the selection.

When the selection is finished, delete this temporary layer so the selection now drops down onto the required original layer.

The Refine Selection/Mask option is useful for fine tuning a selection, but once again a little experience will make the various tweak options easier to understand.

There are several excellent and extensive large books on using CS5. I use the Martin Evening version. Now that we have CS6 you should find one of these books at a discounted price.

[JPS]

Sorry Bridgett,
I'm having trouble with my computer. Further to our PM is this what you are looking to do?
Regards
John

[Geoff F]

I haven't filled it with black. This is the intermediate stage.



Just a quick edit using the Quick Selection tool. With a few variations between + and - options as I quickly auto changed the selection. A few changes of brush sizes as well.

Then a tweak with the Refine Edge controls.

I used the temporary layer method as I mentioned above. To increase the contrast I simply changed the layer blend mode to Overlay, but there are several other blend options which could be used.

[Bridgett283]

Oh wow your awesome! Yes this is exactly what I'm looking to do.. Hopefully I can follow your steps and do it you are so helpful and I appreciate it so much.

[Bridgett283]

Sorry Bridgett,
I'm having trouble with my computer. Further to our PM is this what you are looking to do?
Regards
John

Thanks John that's exactly what I was looking for! You and Geoff have showed me it can be done! Now I have to try to do it

[Geoff F]

Just keep practicising Bridgett, creating good selections etc is something of an art which has to be learned, although mostly not overly difficult.

[The Blue Boy]

Bridgett,

As well as all of the above, have a quick look on YouTube and search for the Pen tool tutorials. When mastered this often overlooked little gem can be incredibly accurate at creating selections. Takes practice but well worth it if the above is what you're after.

[jcuknz]

I have CS5 but I seriously but I know nothing about it. I've used the lasso tool but the edging is really bad.

One of the most useful tools in an editing programme are adjustment layers where you are adding a 'control layer' to the stack of layers. With an AL you paint around the edges with a black tool and OPPS! you make a mistake and you simply paint in with white. It is nice if you can organise black as the color you are painting with the left mouse and the right mouse is white. It is possible to adjust the strength of areas by choosing to paint with one of the 254 shades of black through to white. I have done that as a basic kind of HDR with a single shot way back before HDR was talked about.

A variation of this is the layer mask which comes in either hide everything and you cannot see your picture or show everything where the mask only appears as you paint ... with both approaches you can paint or unpaint with black or white.

Having set up the mask layer you then can enlarge the image to work on just a small part of it at a time and as you get closer to the subject to be masked out you adjust the size of the brush, perhaps down to a single pixel for fine 'holes' .. the bend in the arm with your batter .... this works with Paint Shop Pro and I hope Photoshop works in a similar manner for you.

Once you have your mask you can then use it with Magic Wand to select areas to be deleted or copied whathaveyou.

I was gently castigated on another forum quite recently for my 'destructive' way of going around a copy with my erase tool and told to use the layer mask and paint way .... I have yet to get a pen and tablet but it works well for me the few times I have wanted to isolate something from a photo since being told off

So once you get your brain around adjustment layers and layer masks you will have taken a giant step forward It took me months but I'm hopeful it will not take you as long ... it is so simple to be mystifying until the penny drops

Another tool which can speed things up is the Adjustment Layer using the Threshold variation or sub-tool which turns the pictue into black and white and can be adjusted .... play with it and see what it does for you it could reduce the amount of work you need to do .. it doesn't work with your batter I'm afraid. With all these layers the original photo remains unaffected so if you don't like what you did you can paint over part and do that part again rather than starting from scratch