Expert: Glen Demers - 7/21/2010

Question
Hi Glen,

I work with Photoshop 7. I also work with other versions depends on what I am trying to do, but this situation that I will explain I am doing in Photoshop 7.

This is an example of the way I compose I first remove the background around the image not at the edges of the image but close to it, then I remove the rest of the background, I figure I crop the image so I do not have that much of a background to remove, then I remove the background edges if I have to paint the edges that got erased and replace it by painting the edge that got erased. I chose to protect the foreground color when I remove the background, I zoom in on the image as much as possible to work on to remove the background from the edges of the image. I experiment with different size brushes. To do this work. I may just happen to do this move the image that I am trying to compose and move it to a another back ground with color for example red or white if I have dark edges (like blue or black etc) on the image that I want to remove just by doing this will help me remove more of the edges that I can not seem to remove because the edges will look like almost white and or gray when I am removing the color of the edges a very good example here having a light color like almost white or something like that and I can not tell what I am removing cause I have the transparent color, you know white and gray the checker board colors and if I move the image that I am composing to a background color such as red I can see what I am removing depending on the color of the edges that I am removing. And also plus make sure that I removed the background colors as well. And then I just move the image to another transparent background and then I can do whatever I want with the image that I composed. Now, if for any reason I need to stop composing forever the reason I know you can just save the work that you are doing in photoshop so you can continue your work next time, but in this situation I’ll just place this image to another transparent background and do it all over again next time and continue from there. You do understand what I am saying, don’t you? And this is the way I compose is there an easier way to compose from the example(s) I just explained?

And how do and would the newspaper people compose an image and quick in a situation to have the composed image in the newspaper for a deadline, I hope you just understood this question?

And, how would you blend in the edges so you do not get a hard sharp edge on the image can you use the blur tool or the feather, I tried the feather and can’t seem to get it to work can you help me with that, too? And I do hope that you understood what I said and asked? Thanks a lot.

Sincerely yours,

Martin C. Meyer

Answer
Hi Martin,

My workflow when I need to outline an image is to first go to Layer>New>Layer via Copy. This will copy the image to a new layer. Then go to Filter>Extract to do the basic outline. In the extract filter window you can enlarge you image to work on a small area at a time. Use the highlighter to highlight the edges, a small brush for sharp defined edges and a bigger brush to cover softer, fuzzy edges. When you are done highlighting the edge, fill in the image with the paintbucket tool and click preview. In the preview mode use the cleanup tools to adjust the mask, you can adjust the pressure of the cleanup tools which will adjust the transparency of the edge. When satisfied with the results, click OK and the image is outlined. You can hide the background layer to see the outlined image but it's there if you need to clone image from it back into the outlined version.

Select the background layer and go to Layer>New Fill Layer>Solid Color... This will create a solid color layer between your image and the background. Double-clicking on the layer thumbnail will bring up the color picker and allow you to easily change the background color. This way you can edit the outlined image. When using the Eraser tool I usually switch from Block to Brush mode, there is a small pop-up in the toolbar to do this. This way you can erase with a big soft brush to make a feathered edge where you need one.

Another trick I use is the double mask. Make a selection around your outlined image that has a hard edge, then select the background layer (Turn off the solid color layer when you do this)so the selection you made is on the whole (not outlined) image. Go to Select>Modify>Border... This will make a border of your selection, if you make it 8 pixels the border will be 4 pixels outside and 4 pixels inside your original selection. Then go to Layer>New>Layer via Copy and move this new layer to the top of the layers palette. By adjusting the opacity of this layer in the layers palette, you can soften your edge however much you need.

The Extract Filter is well worth learning. For speed nothing beats the extract filter and a big soft brush eraser to fine tune the edge.

Hope this helps,
Glen Demers
Adobe Certified Expert, Photoshop 7
Prepress Technician, Best Printing Online
www.bestprintingonline.com

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