What is the best method of cutting the background out of a pic?
 

I usually go for the magic select and then do pixel by pixel. Better method?

I use the lasso.

update: use the MAGNETIC lasso.
set feather to 2-3 pixels... makes it a little quicker.
of course nothing beats doing it yourself.

Too much effort. I propose that content providers shoot at least 5 shots of front page quality girls in front of a colorless backdrop (the sloped ones that have no shadows or reflections).

There are some high end plugins for photoshop that help you mask
pictures. I believe they are called mask-pro and corel knockout.

salt

I actually blow the image way up and then use the eraser at 5 pixels, youd be amazed and it looks better then lasso crap :2 cents:

I'm not a designer, so I dont' know the answer, but it's been covered in our tutorials:

http://www.bluedesignstudios.com/tutorials.php

Hope you find em useful!

Andrew

I use Pen tool - ( its much more accurate than lasso)

use the extract function!!!

just remember to use the a bigger brush when working on the hair.

I use scissors :Graucho

I use a mixture of extract and magnetc lasso
it depends on what the pic is liek that decides which tool i use
after it's cut out i clean it up with eraser

of course - I use a stylus and tablet - SO much better for photoshop workj
you cant get such good lines with a mouse

haha you beat me

"What is the BEST method..."


by hand.

How is that better than the lasso(polygon one) with a 2-3 pixel feather?

yea use the extraction method, then go in and erase what you don't want... depending on how neat you want the pic, you can even lower the opacity to about 50%-30% and smooth out the edges


incase you didn't know

filter> extraction

So does no one use masks? I mean it is the best tool, You just pain stuff you dont want black and stuff you do want white, you can pain stuff you kind of want a shade of grey. It is really easy to reverse stuff and so on.

I prefer to erase manually by hand. Gives me the best results.

ctrl+alt+x + my hand

With a mask though say you need a bit more of the bottom of the leg, you can just paint white down because nothing was erased. Also you get more choice in brushes for the eraser head.

I don't see why you would choose the eraser, because it has everything the eraser has +more.

Pen tool + zoom in. Complete a path, then make it a selection. Voila. If you dont have it down perfect, feather it by a couple pixels and it should improve your results.

Quick-mask.

What?
You are cropping subject matter out of photos?

I own the patent on that...

Better pay up man.
I invented the technique with photoshop using the beziar curve tools to create complex selection area's for extracting only portions of an image to create a new one.

It is a technique and invention.

Pay up.

use the path pen tool then make selection out of it with anit-aliasing on then u got it. works best for me.

This is what I do. I just do my erasing onto a mask layer instead of directly erasing the image so it can be more non-destructive and if you mess up you can easily change things.

pen tool by a landslide . . . there isn't a more accurate tool

yep..great tutorials:thumbsup

same .

depending on how the image is i usually start by removing large portions of the back ground with my marquee tool, just making a rough cut around the outline, the i take the eraser at various sizes, and usually around 300 - 400x zoom, and clip out the rest of the back ground. if you fuck up, there is always the cloning stamp. :2 cents:

I always maximize to 1600%, use the magnetic lasso, cut out tha background and then do finally touch with the eraser.

Assuming you use photoshop, for the selection try the magic wand first especially if the background is fairly solid. If (when) that doesnt work i use quickmask or the extract tool depending on the pic characteristics. With so many variables in pics there just isnt an easy or "best" way for all. The pen tool is indeed the most powerful selection tool but few people have the time or inclination to master it. And i never found either knockout or mask pro to be worth even half the money they want for them. Of course i could say the same thing about photoshop but i already paid for that piece of shit and thats another thread........

My girlfriend uses a program called Knockout. It's available on the Mac, not sure if there's a Windows variation. Will seperate any part of any image from the rest of the photo...in a snap.

Knockout is available for Windows.

http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satelli...=1042152786153