This is useful where the radius you're using is fading out the hard edges of your subject. Shiny!Īnywhere you want the edge detect to stop looking, use the eraser or hold down Alt/Option to brush in the areas that you'll manually clean up later. The result immediately after the brushstroke. You should see it magically eliminate background and retain hair detail before your very eyes! Wherever you have clear areas of background showing after your radius adjustments, just brush over them and the edge detection will look at the areas more closely. Halfway through the brushstroke going down the left hand side. It may take you a few tries to figure out how best to use this tool, since it can seem finicky.
![when i use the eraser in cs3 photoshop it creates a white line when i use the eraser in cs3 photoshop it creates a white line](https://img.yumpu.com/10905659/1/500x640/adobe-photoshop-pdf-tutorials-out-of-bounds-picture-framing-.jpg)
This allows you to selectively expand your edge detection area, bringing in more details from the subject as Photoshop learns what is and isn't background. Of course, this is also dependent on your shooting resolution.īefore we move on to the next panels, now is a good time to bring in the Refine Radius Tool, or just the refinement brush as I call it. With fur and more styled hair, the radius should be smaller. In this case, this is quite a high number as my hair is frizzing all over the place. It's somewhere around 84px for this image because the hair frizzes out so far. Playing with the radius function in the Edge Detection menu. First, ensure Smart Radius is checked to make sure the intelligent edge detection algorithm is running, and then play with the radius of the edge detection until the edges of the hair look reasonably detailed and naturally roll off. Now, on to Edge Detection, the next panel down. Show Radius displays only the width of the edge that you're is working on, and Show Original toggles your original selection. The two little checkboxes I very rarely use. If I'm compositing and already have my replacement background in place, I use Reveal Layer as this shows the true layer stack and I can work to naturalise my subject within the Refine Edge dialog. Let's use this picture of me with crazy hair while I was testing horizontal clamshell lighting for a potential shoot.Īs I recall, the default is view mode is Black & White, but I've found that this, Marching Ants and Overlay aren't very helpful for refining purposes.įor light subjects, I use On Black, as this will show the edge issues much more clearly. You can click the thumbnail to change the view type. This is where the magic happens! You'll see a little preview thumbnail in the view panel, and your main image should become just like it. Let's get started.įirst, make your selection, then hit Refine Edge in the tool properties bar. When using pure white, the mask must be good, as any areas of apparent white will show up as grey. I'm going to go through a relatively straightforward use of the tool to mask a detailed subject off a not-completely-clean background to composite onto a pure white background. It works fantastically on white seamless, or against plain walls, but can even work some wonders against detailed backgrounds.įor the purposes of this article, I'm assuming you're trying to select hair, since hair and fur are the most common uses for Refine Edge. More than likely you will find yourself using a mixture of multiple techniques to achieve a perfect extraction.Refine Edge is an invaluable tool which transforms your hard, approximate selection into a soft, crisp, detailed selection! If you can't key your subject out of the background, as on green screen, this tool can come to the rescue. Go through the different options below and find the method that you like the best. You should assess your image and try to figure out which method will be the easiest and cleanest way possible for your design.īecoming a master at extraction is very useful in all design jobs. Unfortunately, if the background is pretty intricate, you will have more of a time consuming road ahead of you. Most of the time you will be supplied an image or have to find one on a stock site. This will make any of the methods below an easy process in removing the background.
![when i use the eraser in cs3 photoshop it creates a white line when i use the eraser in cs3 photoshop it creates a white line](https://img.wonderhowto.com/img/01/60/63513200821518/0/convert-photo-into-line-art-drawing-photoshop.w1456.jpg)
Try to make the background as plain as possible with highly defined edges. If you have the luxury of being the designer as well as the photographer, then you have complete control of the contrast between the subject and the background. Depending on the background or complexity is how you should determine which method you should take. With all the different ways, there is really is no exact method that you should take every time. There are so many ways that you can extract a subject from its background to end up with a transparent background.
![when i use the eraser in cs3 photoshop it creates a white line when i use the eraser in cs3 photoshop it creates a white line](https://blog.udemy.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/photoshop2.jpg)
Removing a background from an image is a common task that every designer needs to do on an almost regular basis.