Here's a montage I put together from one of Gale Bizet's fabulous snowy shots.
I call it, "All Eyes For You".

I used the new version of Fluid Mask(beta 3) to do the intricate mask I used in the montage. Hope you enjoy the result!

Virginia
aka beaucamera

http://www.pbase.com/beaucamera/image/81451402.jpg

nice job on the masking, you should post the before shot as well...

Very nice Virginia ( bet Gale is pleased ) phew that looked a hard job masking that fine hair on the head :)

Palms

nice job on the masking, you should post the before shot as well...

Sorry I don't have an original image to post....it wasn't mine.
Gale Bizet was the photographer for the original.

Virginia
aka beaucamera

Here's another I did yesterday from one of my own images.
Maybe this will help. This was a bear to mask too.
The montage, "Snowy World #2"
http://www.pbase.com/beaucamera/image/81855170.jpg
and the original
http://www.pbase.com/beaucamera/image/81877598.jpg

Virginia...very nice. I mask okay until I get to hair and detail that your montages are showing. How do you like fluid mask. Version 2 is quite expensive, but if it is a good product it may be worth the price. Feedback please.

Virginia...very nice. I mask okay until I get to hair and detail that your montages are showing. How do you like fluid mask. Version 2 is quite expensive, but if it is a good product it may be worth the price. Feedback please.


Skydog, I started with Fluid Mask 2, but I don't recommend this version. There's a new version, Fluid Mask 3, that's just been released. It's a big improvement over the earlier version.

If you want to do complex masking, however, Fluid Mask is the only way to go. It uses complex mathematic formulas to determine edges and allows you to blend areas of an image so that you can get that "see through" property you need for hair, feathers, etc.

Yes, it's expensive, I agree.

Virginia
aka beaucamera

[FONT="Comic Sans MS"][SIZE="3"]S
Here's another I did yesterday from one of my own images.
Maybe this will help. This was a bear to mask too.


very nice, how long did it take to mask this image using the new version of fluid mask?

very nice, how long did it take to mask this image using the new version of fluid mask?

This is a tough question to answer. It's hard to separate "learning" time from the time necessary for the actual extraction. There's a lot of trial and error that goes hand and hand with making a good extraction.

This took me several hours to do, but now I'm getting the hang of the best way to use the blending modes. There's also a new patch feature which I haven't gotten into yet. It allows you to work on a small section of an image.

Here's another background replacement I did today. I was finally able to achieve more feather transparency.

The original:
http://www.pbase.com/beaucamera/image/81901917.jpg
and the extracted version:
"Bug-eyed But Beautiful"
http://www.pbase.com/beaucamera/image/81902090.jpg

very clean work... well done!