Need Some Help Plz Baby Owl

[Svencool]

I got this shot of a baby owl and would like to darken the background but don't really know how to do it. I don't want to change the back ground but maybe make a mask and just darken it so the owl will pop. Can anyone explain to me how I could do this? I use photoshop thank you.

Mike K
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i1...wlSideShot.jpg

[TimeTraveler]

Originally Posted by Svencool

I got this shot of a baby owl and would like to darken the background but don't really know how to do it. I don't want to change the back ground but maybe make a mask and just darken it so the owl will pop. Can anyone explain to me how I could do this? I use photoshop thank you.

Mike K
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i1...wlSideShot.jpg

Great photo!

Here's a good tutorial for selecting hair.
http://www.photoshopcafe.com/tutoria...ng/masking.htm

If you haven't used channels to make selections before, read it a couple of times, then follow it carefully while you are working on the image. It's easy to get fouled up looking back and forth from tutorial to picture. At least for me it is.

After you isolate the background from the owl, you can put the background on a separate layer and set the blend mode to darken or multiply. Adjust the opacity of the background layer until you like the results.

Once you learn how to do this, you can apply it to almost anything, especially hair, or anything that would be difficult to select using another selection tool/method.

Take your time with it, it took me a few times to get it right. It's easy after you do it once. I recommended this tutorial because of the hair on the owl. From my experience, using channels is the best and most accurate way to make selections. It's also great (as you will see in the tutorial) for selecting people and putting them on different backgrounds.

[Svencool]

Originally Posted by TimeTraveler

Great photo!

Here's a good tutorial for selecting hair.
http://www.photoshopcafe.com/tutoria...ng/masking.htm

If you haven't used channels to make selections before, read it a couple of times, then follow it carefully while you are working on the image. It's easy to get fouled up looking back and forth from tutorial to picture. At least for me it is.

After you isolate the background from the owl, you can put the background on a separate layer and set the blend mode to darken or multiply. Adjust the opacity of the background layer until you like the results.

Once you learn how to do this, you can apply it to almost anything, especially hair, or anything that would be difficult to select using another selection tool/method.

Take your time with it, it took me a few times to get it right. It's easy after you do it once. I recommended this tutorial because of the hair on the owl. From my experience, using channels is the best and most accurate way to make selections. It's also great (as you will see in the tutorial) for selecting people and putting them on different backgrounds.

Thank you I'm going to read it now
Mike K

[0lBaldy]

I took advantage of the white trim around the bird by doing a screen layer from the background layer then a mask and painting black around the bird. made a couple multiply layers from the background layer Used Ctrl+click on the mask to make a selection out of it then Alt+click on the mask icon to apply the selection to a mask on each of those layers.. selected the eye .. did a Ctrl+J to put the eye on its own layer then sharpened it a bunch... That was my down and dirty approach to this picture, hope it helps

[Svencool]

Originally Posted by TimeTraveler

Great photo!

Here's a good tutorial for selecting hair.
http://www.photoshopcafe.com/tutoria...ng/masking.htm

If you haven't used channels to make selections before, read it a couple of times, then follow it carefully while you are working on the image. It's easy to get fouled up looking back and forth from tutorial to picture. At least for me it is.

After you isolate the background from the owl, you can put the background on a separate layer and set the blend mode to darken or multiply. Adjust the opacity of the background layer until you like the results.

Once you learn how to do this, you can apply it to almost anything, especially hair, or anything that would be difficult to select using another selection tool/method.

Take your time with it, it took me a few times to get it right. It's easy after you do it once. I recommended this tutorial because of the hair on the owl. From my experience, using channels is the best and most accurate way to make selections. It's also great (as you will see in the tutorial) for selecting people and putting them on different backgrounds.

Im having a problem isolating the fine hair around the owl I guess its because the background color is dark and not one solid color. I have tired a few different approaches and still no success. Seems like everything I read has a clear cut color in the back ground and I guess this isn't just the case here. Not sure what to do now.

I'm trying to preserve all the details in the owl including all the fine hairs around him or her. any ideas???

Mike K

[Cupcake]

Just some quick painting over the background,and some color fixing.

[Swampy]

Nice, cupcake.

[lurch]

With a little care the extract filter in Photoshop does a surprisingly good job of masking out the little fellow's fine fuzzy feathers. My sample could have used a little more care around the beak, however . . .

Workflow: copy background layer twice; run extract filter on the top copy; put the middle copy in multiply mode. I thought the darkened background was too red, so I clipped a hue/sat adjustment layer to the multiply layer and lowered saturation on reds and yellows.

[Vernon]

Here is my attempt...

OwlSideShot_enhanced.jpg

My recipe:

• Duped original twice
• Switched to Channels and selected color with highest contrast (blue channel)
• duplicated this channel
  • Enhanced selection by applying levels to the duped channel,
  • Applied contrast again to duped level to enhance black/white differences
  • with brush painted in white within the owl so selection would be a clean shape of the owl
• created selection of the owl
• Switched to layers
  Inverted selection (so the background is selected, not the owl)
• With selection still active, and while on 2nd copy, applied an exposure adjustment layer to darken the background somewhat.
• Applied a Lens Blur filter to blur the background somewhat and allow the owl to "pop"

[Svencool]

So cupcake how did you do that?

[Svencool]

Originally Posted by Vernon

Here is my attempt...

Attachment 68906

My recipe:

• Duped original twice
• Switched to Channels and selected color with highest contrast (blue channel)
• duplicated this channel
  • Enhanced selection by applying levels to the duped channel,
  • Applied contrast again to duped level to enhance black/white differences
  • with brush painted in white within the owl so selection would be a clean shape of the owl
• created selection of the owl
• Switched to layers
  Inverted selection (so the background is selected, not the owl)
• With selection still active, and while on 2nd copy, applied an exposure adjustment layer to darken the background somewhat.
• Applied a Lens Blur filter to blur the background somewhat and allow the owl to "pop"

I got all the way to the with brush painted in white within the owl! So were you in overlay mode or normal and what opacity were you using??? I don't know much about making a mask as Im sure you have figured out and want to learn.

Mike K

[Flora]

Originally Posted by Svencool

Im having a problem isolating the fine hair around the owl I guess its because the background color is dark and not one solid color. I have tired a few different approaches and still no success. Seems like everything I read has a clear cut color in the back ground and I guess this isn't just the case here. Not sure what to do now.

I'm trying to preserve all the details in the owl including all the fine hairs around him or her. any ideas???

Mike K

Yep ... background and owl have very similar colours that's why the great Photoshopcafe Tutorial isn't a big help here....
You could try this Tutorial about creating masks using the Channels, I wrote ages ago ...

After using the Levels to increase contrast, painted solid white inside the owl ... stay away from the edges ... use a very soft brush set to Overlay (Opacity 30 - 50%) and carefully paint white from the inside of the owl over the fine feathers and black from the background over the edges...

I used a Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer to decrease Saturation and Luminosity of the background..

Hope this helps ....

[Svencool]

Thanks Flora Just what I was looking for I will have to give this a try.

[unimatrix001]

First i adjusted the levels. Used the blue channel to create a mask. darkened the background. Hope you like

[Vernon]

Originally Posted by Flora

Yep ... background and owl have very similar colours that's why the great Photoshopcafe Tutorial isn't a big help here....
You could try this Tutorial about creating masks using the Channels, I wrote ages ago ...

After using the Levels to increase contrast, painted solid white inside the owl ... stay away from the edges ... use a very soft brush set to Overlay (Opacity 30 - 50%) and carefully paint white from the inside of the owl over the fine feathers and black from the background over the edges...

I used a Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer to decrease Saturation and Luminosity of the background..

Hope this helps ....

You took the words right outta my mouth, Flora!

[Svencool]

All I can say you guys and gals got the mask thing down! Maybe I'm making it harder than it needs to be. Seems like I tried everything you all have taken the time to post and I can't get all the way through anyone of them with out a snag! Snag meaning one of the steps isn't working for me probably my problem for sure!

If anyone can point out a file on the net or a book that will show me how to do this I'm all for it. I appreciate all the time you all have taken and most of them all have something I liked and would add to my final ver if I could get there! Anyway thanks

Mike K

[TommyO]

Svencool,
Good luck with your image, it seems you have many great suggestions already.

Regarding some masking support, here are two good resources:
1. If you don't mind looking at some internet based video, visit this link and look at the 3rd section of videos titled "Masking Primer", by Rita Amladi. These are free sections from her CD. There are 12 free sections for your viewing, all complete. While the version of PS may not be current, the help is still applicable. This is a great resource for new PS users, especially if you are not quite ready to buy a lot of DVD's yet. Masking Tutorials
2. The book most everyone recommends is Katrin Eismann's "Photoshop Masking & Compositing", from New Riders publishing, ISBN 0-7357-1279-4.

[Svencool]

Thanks Tommy I will check out videos and Just ordered Katrin's Book