Moving a dog with fine hairs to new background

[Crazy Cockatoo]

I am still trying to learn CS3 and have learned a lot but one thing that seems to be out of my grasp is masking. I need to move a photo of a dog with very fine hairs to a new digital background. Moving it is not the problem...those very fine hairs are ! I have tried different methods of pulling the dog from the original photo but it always clips tha hairs and it looks unnatural. I was told that masking was the solution to my delima but I just can't seem to get the hang of it. Is there a tutorial anywhere on the web that I can try? Or any sage advice for a beginner. My goal is to be able to take portraits of dogs at dog shows but Ineed to master these long haired dogs before I can say I'm ready to go into business.

ANY help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks...
Crazy Cockatoo

[amica999]

Hi there, you image is very small and completely blurred, wouldn't make sense to extract any blur instead of fine hairs. Hoping that you original is of better quality, maybe you want to look at http://www.russellbrown.com/tips_tech.html - there is quite a good tut on channel masks. Hope this helps

[hexi]

do you have a better quality image?

lg
manuela

[Jerryb]

hi,
Just a beginner myself... but have you tried channel masking? and this might work with hair pictures in general... smiling ..

now there a lot tutorials on this... there one by russel brown that I like it a video you can download...
go to this link http://russellbrown.com/tips_tech.html and at the bottom of the page "advance masking" video addresses this

Originally Posted by Crazy Cockatoo

I am still trying to learn CS3 and have learned a lot but one thing that seems to be out of my grasp is masking. I need to move a photo of a dog with very fine hairs to a new digital background. Moving it is not the problem...those very fine hairs are ! I have tried different methods of pulling the dog from the original photo but it always clips tha hairs and it looks unnatural. I was told that masking was the solution to my delima but I just can't seem to get the hang of it. Is there a tutorial anywhere on the web that I can try? Or any sage advice for a beginner. My goal is to be able to take portraits of dogs at dog shows but Ineed to master these long haired dogs before I can say I'm ready to go into business.

ANY help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks...
Crazy Cockatoo

[hexi]

i am also a beginner

[Juergen D]

Fine hair is always hard to select. There are possibilities, like carefully choosing the new background and cheating some, too.
The attached image is far from perfect. First the background was selected, then inversed and the dog put on a new layer. Using the mask with a rather soft, low opacity brush, the areas around the head were cleared some more.
Additionally, the Clone Stamp and the Eraser Tool were employed.

Juergen

[Crazy Cockatoo]

WOW !!! Santa could not have given me a better gift than the info that amica999, hexi, Jerryb and Juergen have just given me ! THANK YOU !!!! I'm sure it will take some time learning all the steps and becoming good at it. Sorry for the poor quality picture I posted. I just wanted a small example of what I was up against. The original is a tiff file that is very large, showing each little hair on the dog. I can now play with the suggestions that you have all provided and with any luck I can produce the portrait that I can be proud of. The Russell Brown web site is awsone and I am sure I will be using it for other learning experiences.

Again Thanks for the help with this situation...and to each of you (and all others too) I wish you a Happy Holidays. You just made mine one to remember !

Craig
Crazy Cockatoo

[hexi]

Ok! Now here are what I have done

Hair Tutorial

hope you can following my steps


lg
manuela

sorry for my poor english

maybe someone can put this tutorial on the right place here on this forum ;-)

[Digiart]

Originally Posted by hexi

Ok! Now here are what I have done

Hair Tutorial

hope you can following my steps


lg
manuela

sorry for my poor english

maybe someone can put this tutorial on the right place here on this forum ;-)

The tutorial is perfect Manuela... my englsh is also far from perfect.

lg, Digiart

[MerzaFka]

here's my attempt
Papillion.jpg

[Myphotosoft]

There are plug-ins doing good selections, fine hair included. Most of them have free trials.
Look here: http://myphotosoft.com/select-tools/2.html I'd use MaskPro or Fluid Mask.