Expert: LizaL - 9/20/2004

Question
Hi, I'm A Pro photographer for weddings & portraits. I've been using PS 7 on a PC. I've learned alot in the last few years but never enough,(time). Anyway do you know how to replace a
background on a portrait of a person with like a
sky for example and make it look good? Also when I
shoot 400 images for a wedding and need to print them all as a 4x5, when i go to auto package print
thy come out as a 3 3/4 x 6 or so. How do I print
this many the easist way and they are true 4x5?
Thankyou so much for your help!
PS do you know a good help book?

Answer
Hi Chris,

I know what you mean, about never having enough time!! I feel the same way.

There are several ways to take someone out of one background and put them into another. Here are two:

1. The quickest way, albeit perhaps the messiest, is by using the Extract filter. Once you've chosen that filter (Filter>Extract), just select the size brush that you think is best for the job, then trace around the image you want to isolate. When you're finished, select the Paint Bucket and dump to fill inside the image you've traced around. Hit OK, and your image is removed from the background. Then you can do whatever cleanup you think is needed.

I say this is the messiest way, and if you're in a hurry it can be. But if you're pretty painstaking and work slowly, you can make a good selection, and this can give you good results.


2. You can also use the Apply Image command to do this (it's found under the Image pulldown menu). Open two images, one you want as your source, and one as your destination. It could be, for example, a bride and a background. Make sure they're both the same size and resolution. Then, in the background file, select the layer that has the background image. Now go to Image>Apply Image. Make the source the bride file, and the destination should automatically be the background file. The two images should be merged, at this point.

You can be very specific as to which channel you want this to affect, but usually in a case like yours, RGB should be OK. Also, keeping the blending at Multiply (the default) should work all right, too. But you can tinker around and play with your results.

This is a more instantaneous way of combining two photos.


Now about your problem with your images coming out smaller than what Picture Package says they will...

1. Are you sure they're actually 4x5 when they're input? And are you using paper that's large enough to support the number of 4x5s you're printing? Have you chosen a layout that will support the number of images you want to print?

These may sound like no-brainer questions, and I don't mean for them to -- but it's hard for me to figure this one out unless I can see your results. I do freelance work for two photography studios, and I haven't had this happen, so it's kind of baffling to me.

And make sure you have the right layout chosen - Picture Package will scale the photos to fit the layout, as well as the paper, so make sure the layout's right.

Sorry for such a lame answer on that issue, but I feel like I need to actually see the page to figure out what's going on.

Finally, any Photoshop book by Deke McLelland or Scott Kelby is good. They're both pros, and their books are easy to read and follow. Try Photoshop 7 Bible:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/076453694X/102-1101597-9448935?v=g...

or check out Scott Kelby's Web site:
http://www.scottkelby.com/books.html


Hope this helps!

Lisa