Photoshop help

[elkhaircaddis]

I really don't know how to use photoshop, but could negotiate it with instructions. Does anyone know a "quick and dirty" way to extract objects from photos. I take pictures of my finished framing jobs. I'd like to remove the background carpet...walls..etc and just have the framed picture for my portfolio.

I tried the "extract" function, but I must be doing something wrong. Also, it seems difficult to keep my hand steady on the mouse while highlighting the frame. I assume there must be an easier way.

Thanks!

 

[FrameMakers]

The extract tool is not what your wanting.

Check here for tutorials although these might be more advanced then what you are looking for.

The way I do it is to open the file, then duplicate the layer (ctrl+J). Next I drag guide lines to the edges of the corners. I then go to edit/transform/distort. This lets me pull the corners to the intersection of the guide lines. Now we have a rectangular frame. From her you can just use the rectangular marquee tool to select the frame from the background. Once you have it selected hit ctrl+c to copy it then ctrl+v to paste it. Delete the other layers and save.

 

[jim_p]

The extract tool is not what your wanting.

Check here for tutorials although these might be more advanced then what you are looking for.

The way I do it is to open the file, then duplicate the layer (ctrl+J). Next I drag guide lines to the edges of the corners. I then go to edit/transform/distort. This lets me pull the corners to the intersection of the guide lines. Now we have a rectangular frame. From her you can just use the rectangular marquee tool to select the frame from the background. Once you have it selected hit ctrl+c to copy it then ctrl+v to paste it. Delete the other layers and save.

That's one way to do it The beauty/curse of Photoshop is that there are often many ways to achieve the same result. What he describes above is probably the most straightforward way to do this, at least for a rectangular subject.

One other hint: to give the edges of the selection a more natural look, after you use the rectangular marquee tool go to "Select|Feather" and feather the selection by 3 pixels or so. This will reduce the harsh edge when you paste it into another picture.

 

[Dani]

This tutorial may have more info than you need, but shows how to remove the background: http://www.dreamstime.com/uploaded_files/basic-selection.pdf

What I usually do is make another layer of the image, then use the Select Color Range to select the background. Make a Layer Mask of the Selection. Go to the Channels Tab making sure I'm still on the Layer Mask, and paint what I want to keep in Black (turns red on the mask). When I've got what I want completely selected, Click on it with the Magic Wand (W on the keyboard), select Inverse, make sure White is my background color and hit delete. That will erase everything that is not Red on my layer mask.

Return to the Layers tab, and Paint the top layer in pure white (hit D to reset the color palette to make sure it is pure white). So, now you have the top layer as white background, with the hole that is your object, which is now on the bottom layer.

To make the edges smoother, make sure you are on the top layer, and Click Filters > Blur > Gaussian blur, and make it about 1.4. Click Ok. Merge the layer down and you now have one image with the background removed.

Hopefully I didn't lose you after "What I usually do is...". I've tried all sorts of quick and dirty ways, but this is the process I go through when editing my backgrounds to white to sell the images. I'll have to make that a tutorial with pictures one of these days.

I found this tutorial that might be of use as well, which is a bit shorter: http://blog.thembid.com/2007/08/22/removing-backgrounds-quickly-in-photoshop/

EDIT: Oooh, just the FRAMED object, not the object it'self (smacks head). Use the Crop Tool, and click the checkbox for Perspective. That allows you to adjust each corner separately to match the edges of the rectangle, then hit Enter when you're done. Wha-la!

 

[Uncle Eli]

From her you can just use the rectangular marquee tool to select the frame from the background. Once you have it selected hit ctrl+c to copy it then ctrl+v to paste it. Delete the other layers and save.

once you have the image rectangular, just use the crop tool and snap it to the guide lines you set out.

 

[BILL WARD]

isn't there a "photoshop for dummies"???????????? there's one for almost everything else....... would be basic enough to get a good start on things + be able to have it by the keyboard

 

[elkhaircaddis]

thanks! I will toy with these methods. I also found a method using the pen tool. you creat a "path" with the pen tool. A few steps later you have the image. The cropping sounds more straight forward.

This is a dumb question. I see that is I save the image as a transparent GIF it doesn't show the background. However, the "image" is still rectangular. Is there was to have just the image...in any shape. Not sure if I worded that to make sense :-(

 

[Dani]

The "image" will still be rectangular, as that is the "bounding rectangle" of the file. If you isolate the image and make the background transparent then place the image on top of something else, the bottom background will show through the areas where it is transparent, and the object will seem to float over the new background.

The image below I did something similar, other than I put it on a white background. When I put it on a white page, you can't tell where the background ends, and the objects appear to just float. Now, If I want this to have a blue background, I could edit it to be transparent, and put it against the background of choice.

Happy pre-halloween by the way!

 

[Bill Henry-]

I see that is I save the image as a transparent GIF it doesn't show the background. However, the "image" is still rectangular. Is there was to have just the image...in any shape. Not sure if I worded that to make sense :-(

Dani is right. The transparent bounding box will always be rectangular, but the actual image inside of this box can be any shape. Notice the Molly avatar on the left. The blue “background” is supplied by the Grumble page and not the .gif image of my furry buddy.

However, a GIF image doesn’t support layers, so if you’re trying to add a background, like a wall with flowers or teddy bears, you will need to convert this GIF image into something that will support layers such as TIFF or Photoshop’s PSD format.

 

[freakquency]

Quick and dirty way that I do it.

marquee a square that includes the entire frame with art. The image is always askew.

Then I 'crop'
Then I marquee the entire piece and under the "edit" tab choose to 'skew' the shape.
Stretch each corner so that it fills the entire space with no background visible.

render it by double clicking on the image. then "Flatten" the image and save.