Removing the background from an image

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Removing the background from an image

Hello! I have been trying to figure out for a month how to remove the background from a photo and just use the body or bodies or the people from the picture. Is there already a tutorial for that? Thanks so much!!!

The best way is to duplicate your bottom layer and than hide the bottom layer. Use one of the selection tools and select what you want to keep. Make sure you use the options on to to switch back and forth using the add to or subtract from to refine your selection. After you selected, create a layer mask. Do this by using the tool at the bottom of the layers panel.

Now you can refine the selection or mask. You right click on the mask and select refine the mask. Depending on how you plan on using the selection - smooth the edges, feather the edges, etc.

Thank you so much!!! This has been holding up a project for the longest!!!!!

Great tip. I'm going to use this soon.

I like to make a duplicate layer and hide the real one. Then I cut or erase all the areas I don't want without going too close to the subject. Then I enlarge the photograph and work on refining the edges. Hair can be a nightmare - you don't want hard edges! The "magic wand" is useful but usually the pixels need smoothing afterwards. Or use the polygon lasso tool. If you put the finished extraction on both a white background and a black background you can see how the edges look.

Thanks! I do it the hard way and just get in close with the eraser tool - this will save time!

Hi! If you want the easy way you could always use the eraser tool for that and make sure to really zoom in on the picture to make sure you get cleaner adges. smiley But I usually use the Extract filter. It's quite a tricky process but once you get the hang of it its pretty easy and results are much much better than using the eraser tool. Good luck on your project!

I duplicate the layers too, but I realised that I go better istead of hiding the bottom layer putting a contrasting color layer in between them, so It´s easy to check for stray pixels and when I need to check the original I hide this layer...

I like to use the polygon lasso tool working in close with short stops to get good curves. when I have all 'lassooed' and cut out I paste into a new document leaving the original open. Then I like to go in to the near pixel level use a hard brush eraser of around 13 pixels to work round the cutout to rid it of the most obvious jaggies then down the brush size to between 1-5 to get in all the crevices.Now use the the magic wand to marquee your cutout. Use the selection invert to refine on the cutout. Whilst refining make sure you don't go crazy with the pixels settings at the top of the panel. Use a setting of 3 pixels maximum at this stage then use soften gently. don't use feather as this is acheived with soften. Use increase or decrease to your liking and satisfaction. You may need to use sharpen. Refine.
Put on a stroke style of 3 pixels and erase pixels that are showing where they shouldn't be with that stroke on.Be aware that some pixels will be semi visible around the near edge of your cutout. Don't get rid of all these just the obviously out of place.
Resist temptation to go down to the very edge of your cutout with your eraser at this stage. You are looking for stray pixels. come back to hundred percent to see what the look is if satisfied remove the stroke and voila an almost perfect extraction. The soft semi transparent pixels give you a more defined cutout than going to the solid pixels, which can look jagged at some angles.Practise this technique and you will master it in a few goes. . This is not the fastest of techniques but it is very accurate and clean.

The eraser tool is great but creating a mask is less destructive and you can always retrieve the original, refine it smooth the edges a lot neater than with the eraser.

Try this tut for PSE 11
Here