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Post by srmoment on Sept 18, 2018 3:13:40 GMT
I'm jumping in here as I do a ton of selections with my birds and animals. I have given up on the refine edge feature and start off with the quick selection tool. I then "refine" the edges by increasing the zoom (with the button on my mouse) and adding or subtracting with the selection brush around the edges of my subject. For the very fine hairs and long straight edges, I use the polygonal lasso tool to either add/subtract. At this point, you might think I am done, but no....there is more! After I Ctrl J the subject onto a blank layer, I create a new layer underneath of pure white and then zoom back in to check my subject. There are always tons of stray pixels showing that I don't want, and I use the erase tool to get rid of them, and to refine the edges even more if there are noticeable dark or offcolour lines. ...and, then I change the white layer color to a dark blue/green to catch the weird kind of smudges that show up and erase them. Finally, I use Enhance, Adjust Color, Defringe Layer. I do this so that I have the purest, cleanest subject to be used with a background; and, where possible, I often blend back a teeny bit of the original background to make the image look more natural. (...so Tom, you were wondering about my technique - this is one part.....  |
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Post by BuckSkin on Sept 18, 2018 4:04:56 GMT
Finally, I use Enhance, Adjust Color, Defringe Layer. Thanks for pointing it out; I didn't even know that I had a "Defringe Layer" command until now; just exactly what service will this perform ? I have probably every Elements book ever written; and, although I may have read about it before, I don't remember ever seeing any mention of it. When I read this, I went straight to Elements 7 and there it was; now, if I just knew what to do with it. |
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Post by srmoment on Sept 18, 2018 4:28:55 GMT
This is from a search on the web: (Sepiana may have a better explanation)
When you replace parts of an anti-aliased image with selections from a different image, you get unwanted fringing that's comprised of stray pixels, and looks like a fuzzy halo around certain parts of the image. Photoshop comes with a Defringe tool that enables you to remove the fringe from your images.
...translated, I think defringe takes away the halo effect around an image so that it better blends into a new background. I always choose the default 1 px, but you could take more if you wanted.
I personally use this only at the end, as I feel I have better control over my selection with the other tools I use.
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Post by BuckSkin on Sept 18, 2018 4:52:51 GMT
This is from a search on the web: (Sepiana may have a better explanation) When you replace parts of an anti-aliased image with selections from a different image, you get unwanted fringing that's comprised of stray pixels, and looks like a fuzzy halo around certain parts of the image. Photoshop comes with a Defringe tool that enables you to remove the fringe from your images.
...translated, I think defringe takes away the halo effect around an image so that it better blends into a new background. I always choose the default 1 px, but you could take more if you wanted. I personally use this only at the end, as I feel I have better control over my selection with the other tools I use. Thanks ! I will definitely be checking this out. I am often selecting things and this "new" tool may prove to be useful. |
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Post by Sepiana on Sept 18, 2018 4:56:55 GMT
This is from a search on the web: (Sepiana may have a better explanation) When you replace parts of an anti-aliased image with selections from a different image, you get unwanted fringing that's comprised of stray pixels, and looks like a fuzzy halo around certain parts of the image. Photoshop comes with a Defringe tool that enables you to remove the fringe from your images.
...translated, I think defringe takes away the halo effect around an image so that it better blends into a new background. I always choose the default 1 px, but you could take more if you wanted. Pat, your explanation is right on the dot. You got it!!! It goes hand in hand with the Help file.
Defringe a selection
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Post by BuckSkin on Sept 21, 2018 3:54:25 GMT
Finally, I use Enhance, Adjust Color, Defringe Layer. Never Mind >>> "My default is 1 pixel; how many pixels do you normally enter in the box ?" <<< I see in your second post that you always use the default 1px --- Thanks ! On EDIT: I first had my selected Hoot Owl on a layer with everything else deleted to transparency; when I tried to use "Defringe Layer", it was greyed out and was not available. I turned my transparent selection into the full content layer with a mask around my Owl and Defringe Layer was no longer greyed out. However, your explanation above reads like you are working toward transparency, as you describe using the eraser; what am I not understanding ? EDIT 2 : My above post was while I was still in E12 after using Refine Edge; I moved back to good old trusty E7 and the situation was reversed = greyed out for layer mask and ready to use for transparencies --- exactly opposite of what I was seeing in E12. I admit I don't know what I am doing with E12 Refine Edge, but I can make a lot better selection doing things the slow hard way; I have to clean up the mess that refine edge makes. I am going to keep after it; if those guys in the videos can pick out a horses tail with a few sweeps of refine edge, then surely I should be able to. |
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HappyScot
Junior Forum Member
Posts: 111 
Open to constructive criticism of photos: Yes
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Post by HappyScot on Sept 21, 2018 17:29:39 GMT
srmoment. That looks fantastic. I see I still have a way to go!!
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Post by Tpgettys on Dec 18, 2018 1:38:02 GMT
It has been a while since you posted your question, so perhaps you have moved on with the solutions you found. However, I very recently found a technique that works *really* well in certain situations. Using it in a very quick and not too careful way I was able to isolate the hairs by the eye and snout. One problem I ran into was that the hairs a so very thin that they have a tinge of the background due to refraction. None the less it worked pretty good!  I learned about this technique from this video tutorial:
It says Photoshop, but the tool is in PSE with not quite as many controls, but enough to pull this off. In a nut shell, it works really well if the subject and background are dissimilar in color (black/gray dog vs green background), less so the more color similarity they share.
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