The ideal tool

[Chsavage]

I want to work with this image, but I'm having trouble deciding which tool is the best to pull the subject matter from the background so that I can work with it more freely. Typically I use the pen tool. I put down about 756,982,012,117 anchor points and then I can pull the image out. It seems like there must be a better way. Although I like how well the pen tool does things as compared to magic wand, lasso, quick select, I have a feeling that perhaps there's an easier yet just as reliable way to do this. Render I think is the word some people use?
The picture is located here: https://www.photoshopgurus.com/forum/photography/51664-nice-photo.html

 

[hawkeye]

If you are adding that many anchor points (which I doubt), then obviously you don't know how to use the pen tool properly.

 

[Tom Mann]

Hawk, I'm 99.9% sure he typed that absurdly large number just to humorously suggest how tedious the process can be, not as an actual count of the number of anchor points.

T

 

[hawkeye]

Hawk, I'm 99.9% sure he typed that absurdly large number just to humorously suggest how tedious the process can be, not as an actual count of the number of anchor points.

T

Obviously, hence my parenthetic remark. That point aside, I've seen people add way more anchor points than are necessary when using the pen tool.

 

[Tom Mann]

Whenever I'm doing an extraction, I first try to decide just how good it has to be. For example, if all you are going to do is slightly change the brightness or colors of the background in a photo, you can often "get away with murder" -- it can be a crude selection, and no one will ever notice. There is just no point in doing more work than is absolutely needed.

OTOH, if you are going to completely change the background, you have to be very careful. For example, if the subject was originally on a dark background, but you need to place it on a white background, you have to be much more careful.

With respect to selection techniques for difficult images, one favorite trick of mine is to make another, temporary version of the image adjusted to make the subject clearly stand out. Typically, I'll increase the local and/or global contrast, increase the saturation, change the brightness by absurdly large amounts ... whatever is needed to get the subject stand out visually.

Here's an example of doing this to the image you cited to make the extraction using automated tools easier:



I'll then use something like the quick selection tool to perform an initial selection based on this temporary, pimped up version of the actual image. Usually, I'll next improve problem areas using the polygonal lasso tool (alternating between "add" and "subtract") modes, then a "refine edges" improvement of the selection, and then save the selection.

I can then use this selection on the actual image, not the psychedelic version I used to generate the mask.

Here's the original subject cut out and placed over a black background.




The total time to do this was probably 3 or 4 minutes. It took much longer to write up the text of this message than it did to do the actual work, LOL.

If this selection wasn't good enough, once I have a reasonable (saved) selection to start from, it's much less of a job to go back and work on the problem areas using whatever tool works best for that area, eg, more applications of the polygonal lasso, the pen tool, working with a brush in these areas, etc. The basic idea is to initially reduce the number of areas that need time-consuming manual work.

Anyway, I'm sure other folks have their favorite methods and will chime in.

Cheers,

Tom

 

[Chsavage]

I'll have to give that a go. The absurd number was indeed used to indicate humor, but I have found that the more time youre willing to put in to using the pen tool by using as many points as you can, the smoother the results. In and ideal world I'd zoom in on the image and place an anchor at every point in the image where the angle begins to change.

 

[nachofrades]

Not agree, the pen tool works great with less anchor points, use [Alt] key in Windows [option] in Mac to work better, I casually am doing masks (about 100 in a morning), and I go very quickly, I don't understand the difficulty of this image... I have counted less than 50 anchor points for the Jeep to be extracted from backgroud...

This can help you:

http://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/editing-paths.html

 

[nachofrades]

44 points, 2 minutes

But too hard with an IPhone resolution... :sad:

 

[Tom Mann]

"44 points, 2 minutes"



:mrgreen:

Tom

 

[nachofrades]

Yeah yeah 44/2 the golden proportion! imp:

 

[nachofrades]

Seriously, this image is easy to mask with a few anchor points, the "secret" is to do a good tangents. it's not masking leafs in a forest, its a mechanical piece. The points itself are not the important question, it is the point tensions, tangents and subsequent curves what do the job for you masking hundreds of pixels at a time.

 

[Tom Mann]

I certainly agree with NachoF's general suggestion that for a man-made object with sharp, geometric edges, the pen tool is clearly the best one to use.

I illustrated the use of automated tools because some people aren't yet good with the pen tool, and one can also get reasonable results with these automated tools (and nothing else), and can tidy up the initial automated selection using tools like the polygonal lasso in either "add" or "subtract" modes.

T

 

[nachofrades]

Agree, photoshop is a really great soft, and there is multiple ways to make a job, I have mentioned paths because it's more accurated, but you can use polygon selection, magic wand, painting mask with infinite brushes, use feathers in selections and many other options, only experience tells what's the ideal tool for one particular case. I have worked making rotoscopy for film industry (with photoshop of course) and we use paths for speed and accuracy, only for this I recommend.

If it's hard for you at the beginig, you can practice with tangents on a blank canvas. It's the best recipe I think. If you have doubts tell us.