Hi - Urgent help need with replacing background

[BrandonDouglas]

Hi,

First off, my name is Brandon, I'm 19 and I'm a student at the University of Greenwich studying Film & Television Production.

Now, the problem I have is this, I had a last minute photoshoot where I didn't have the best equipment with me which has left me and my limited
Photoshop knowledge in a bit of a pickle.

The type of images I'm working with are like this


What I need to do is remove the current background so i have a solid white background instead.
I've already had a go at a couple simply using the quick selection tool and they look like this.


I wanted to know if there was a better way, as the quick selection tool isn't perfect and doesn't work well enough
on some of the photos (where the ladies hair is parted etc.)

The image with the green screen behind it up top is the one
I'm struggling with at the moment.

Thanks for your help!
Brandon.

 

[Tom Mann]

Did you try the refine edges command after using the quick selection tool? If not, give it a shot. It may be all that you need.

 

[BrandonDouglas]

Hi Tom,

I have played around with the settings on refine edges but I still get alot of oddities, mainly with the girls hair.
This is the best I can do with the image posted above...

As you can see, there's alot of green still around the girls hair

 

[BrandonDouglas]

I just tried duplicating the layer and having it underneath in black and white. Then erasing the green from the top layer, revealing the b&w layer below. it makes it less noticeable but still a lengthy process.

 

[Tom Mann]

Have you tried using a channel selection technique using the green channel?

Tom

 

[ALB68]

Here is kind of a different methodology but it does work pretty well. This is in Windows.
Use the Magic Wand tool with contiguous unchecked and tolerance set high to about 50. You want to initially select as much of that green background as you can. Then, after making the selection with the MW, enter Q on the keyboard. This opens up Quickmask. At this point everything that is selected will turn reddish. Look at your edges and you can see what is not in the selection. At this point, grab your Paintbrush tool set to Black and start painting in the areas you want in the mask. (White will erase also if need be). Once you have painted in what you want, (suggest a soft brush too) then hit Q again. You will then have a really good mask. Be sure you have made the background into a layer. Then with the mask active, enter Edit/Clear. Then make a new layer and put it below the first one. Set foreground to white and enter Alt/ Backspace. That will fill the layer with white. Now, you may have a little of the green showing faintly where you painted the mask on. If so, reselect and use a brush with white to clean it up (you may have to invert the mask though) Here is one I did. You may want to flatten the image or not. (note, you can see a little tinge of the green I was talking about in this (old eyes)