I have figured out roughly how to use the extraction tool to remove the background from a portrait.

Now, how do I add the background colour (I want to have a plain white background) to replace the checkerboard background I am left with?

God this program is very user unfriendly.

Thanks
Minskie

Hi Minskie!

Welcome to RetouchPRO! :pleased:

Extraction is only one and, in my opinion not necessarily the best or the easiest, of the many methods for changing/replacing backgrounds ...

The best way for isolating the subject depends on the picture itself .... so .... needless to say .... it would be a great help if you could post a sample .... :)

The checker-board pattern you see is Photoshop's way of indicating that you are seeing transparency. Just add a layer below the image (cmd/cntrl+click on the new layer icon at the bottom of the Layer Palette) and fill it with your color of choice.

Check out the movies on Russell Browns site. There is a new one on using the extract filter.

http://www.russellbrown.com/tips_tech.html

Scroll down the page to the list of movies.

Christine

The checker-board pattern you see is Photoshop's way of indicating that you are seeing transparency. Just add a layer below the image (cmd/cntrl+click on the new layer icon at the bottom of the Layer Palette) and fill it with your color of choice.

I have my picture loaded, I select the extract tool and do all that stuff, Then I am presented with my image on the checkerboard background.

Then I selected the New Layer Icon and that's were I get lost. What do I need to do to then 'fill' the checkerboard with my new colour?

Thanks for all the help so far. I really appreciate it.

Minskie

What you want to do is to create a New empty layer and place it BEHIND (below) the extracted image layer. If you hold down the cmd/cntrl key while selecting the New Layer icon it will automatically create a new layer below the currently active layer. Once you create this, just fill it. Your top layer (extracted image) will be above the color layer. This will also give you an idea of how well you really did your extraction (unfortunately, lots of errors show up at this point).

To fill the layer you can go to Edit>Fill or you can use the keyboard shortcuts of opt/alt+delete to fill a selection/layer with the Foreground color (of course, you must choose your color first).

Thanks Klaatu,

It's kinda making sense. I am slowly getting some results.

I see I need to learn some better techniques to achieve this.

I downloaded Russell Browns video on extracting backgrounds and it seems the way to go, but I'm still struggling with the basics.

Will I ever learn this program? It is sooo complicated.

Thanks

Minskie

Just another thought,

Is it perhaps possible to isolate the background colours (if they are not part of the subject) and simply change them all to White, or whatever colour you want as the background?

Looks like the pictures I am working with have a few independant colours that make up the background and are not in the actual model/subject.

I can't upload them to show as they are copyright images.

Thanks,
Minskie

Thanks Klaatu,
It's kinda making sense. I am slowly getting some results.
I see I need to learn some better techniques to achieve this.
I downloaded Russell Browns video on extracting backgrounds and it seems the way to go, but I'm still struggling with the basics.
Will I ever learn this program? It is sooo complicated.Perhaps a better way to look at it is that Photoshop is sophisticated. Because of this sophistication there are ALWAYS other ways to achieve similar results with Photoshop. This forum is filled with members sharing different ways to achieve the same effect.

It may just seem complex when you have not been exposed to the general concepts and principles of photo manipulation. It is like learning a language or trying to learn to read and play music. Baby steps at first. Get to know the basics and build on them. Before you know it you'll be an expert.

Read as much as you can and actually DO the steps of tutorials. That is probably the fastest way to get up to speed with Photoshop.

Is it perhaps possible to isolate the background colours (if they are not part of the subject) and simply change them all to White, or whatever colour you want as the background?Yes, of course, you can replace colors and there are a number of simple as well as sophisticated ways to do this (starting with Image>Adjustments>Replace Color).

There is also the Erase Background Tool, the Magic Wand, the Magic Eraser, the Select>Color Range and Image>Adjustments>Selective Color just to name a few methods that allow you to either delete or make selections of specific colored areas of an image.

Don't get discouraged. If you have the ernest desire to learn it, you will... and much faster than you can now imagine.

Thanks Klaatu,

Your advice is appreciated.

I am motivated and will stick with it.

Minskie