Cut Out Image problem

[Kim]

Hi,
I've been trying to cut out images to put onto different backgrounds and so far I'm not satisfying with my work. My cut-out images either look halo or too sharp along the edges so they don't look good on the new background

Could someone help ?
Thank in advance,
Kim

[Gary Richardson]

Hi Kim, welcome to RP.

For a quick way to soften the edges of your cutouts, try the following.
Ctrl+click on the cut out layer to select it.
Now Select/Modify/Border and set radius to about 2-3 pixels.
Blur using Gaussian Blur (adjust radius for effect).

This should help your cutouts sit better into your image.

Halos can sometimes be removed by creating a layer above your cutout layer, set to colour blend, then sampling colour from the background, paint along the halo helping it to blend in. Not recommended for complex backgrounds where frequency of colour sampling would be too time consuming.

Hope this helps.

[Kim]

Thank Gary

[creeduk]

Another way is to add a clipped layer and change the type to color, now paint the edges with a color close to the surrounding pixels. As the layer type is color and is clipped you get no over run and no destruction of texture. This works very well on solid color images, and it just takes more work (color slections) on general images. You can also add a mask and paint the edges away with a lower opacity small brush until the blend looks good. Another one is create a path around the outline then stroke the path with a low opacity earse brush.

[Paris]

Hi creeduk,

Possibly a silly question, but what is a clipped layer? A search of the forums returned nothing specific.

Paris

[Neve]

http://retouchpro.com/tutorials/index.php?m=show&id=17

I "thought" I'd posted this already so here goes again.....did a search and found the above tutorial here at RP. Hope it helps you.

[Legacy~Art]

You did post it hun but on another thread...

Your the 2nd person in past 10 mins that posted on wrong thread is this site having trouble i wonder?

[Neve]

Thank you Elle.......!!!!! LOL

[Kim]

Neve,
It would help me much more if you have some screenshots attached. I tried your tut and I was lost somewhere between these steps... LOL... so I couldn't get myself to step #9 (One time I couldn't be able to select Matting because it was grayed out. The 2nd time when I tried, it was available but instead of dragging just the head to the new background, it was the whole picture dragged... :p)

Besides getting myself lost, I like your tutorial as well
Thanks

[Neve]

I didn't write that tut Kim! Wish I could help further but I'm not a PS user either.

[arcadhia]

!!!!!!!!