Having troubles with the lasso and pen

[Jessie226]

I have PSE 2.0 and PS 6.0 (Using the latter right now). Ugh this is SO frustrating! So I'm trying to cut out a picture from a background, not a solid background, and I've tried using the lasso and the pen and it's just not working for me. I would love to use the magnetic lasso, but if I zoom in real close and move the curser to the top of the screen to scroll up, it lasso's that whole area, ya know what I mean? Like I get a big line that goes with my curser whenever I try to scroll up to do a different part of the picture. I'm sorry if I'm not explaining this very well, I'm just really aggrivated. :mad: I'm having the same problem with the magnetic pen. I'm also a little confused about other aspects of the pen tool as well. I've created my shape and when I click the check mark, it just dissapears. And once i have the shape I want, I can't figure out how to cut the picture below it that shape. Please help! I'm very confused and very frustrated. :(

[Meryl]

If you want to use a lassoo the polygon is much the easiest to use for extractions you just keep clicking around on the line you want to follow. The magnetic lasso really only works well if you have a fairly strong line to follow. The other, best way is to use a layer mask - using photoshop
Duplicate your photo layer, never work on the original.
Add a layer between the 2 photo layers - fill with white
Click on the top photo layer then click on the little "create a mask" button, bottom of the layers palette (a square with a white circle inside)
As soon as you do this you will see your colour swatches should change to the default black and white - press D if they don't - black must be foreground.
Now take a brush and paint over any areas you want to disappear - its as easy as that :)
If you make a mistake, Press X (white will now be foreground) paint with white and it will reappear.
Remember black will paint away the image, white will restore.
Good luck with the project :)

[Jessie226]

Thanks so much! That definitely worked better, but I'm having trouble with the last step...
I've got the background all erased so it's just the part of the picture I want showing, but I'm not sure how to select just the shape and drag it onto a background. I've tried using the magic wand and selected the white around the shape and then inverting the selected area, but it leaves some of the edging around it that I don't want. I'm not sure what to do. Thanks for your help!

[Meryl]

So glad that helped :)

Once you are sure you are done, right click on the layer mask thumbnail and select apply layer mask and then drag it to your page :)

[Jessie226]

Gotcha thanks! Part of my problem was that I had done some of the painting on the mask and some of the painting on the photo itself. Grrrr. I had clicked on the photo at one point cause I had to brighten it because I couldn't quite see the outline, and I forgot to click back on the mask. But I am going to give it another shot. Thanks so much!
Question - This doesn't seem much different than just using the eraser tool. Is it?

[Meryl]

The joy of using a mask is that its so easy to edit - you have made no permanent changes to your picture - as I said if you make any errors, just paint with white - erasing is for keeps LOL!!! Once you have started using masks you will never go back to erasers!
I try wherever possible to do non-destructive editing and photoshop is full of ways in which to do this.
So glad we are getting there :)

[Lauren]

There are other tools you can use in PS too but using a mask for this kind of thing really is the best thing because if you make a mistake you can fix it easily - there is a filter called the extract filter you can play with - in this one you draw a rough line around the area you want to extract making sure the line goes over both sides the inside and the outside of the area you want to extract - then you fill the inside and hit go - ps then works out for you which areas stay and which go - It works well sometimes and not so well others - but its another way to try !!!

[Jessie226]

Thanks so much guys! I have learned so much about ps that I never knew before, and I've had it for so long!

[Jessie226]

Well I've think I got a handle on this now. Thank you guys so much for all the help!! I slapped this one out... Whatcha think?

ETA: The caption reads:
Cookie
The day I brought you home was
one of the best days of my life.
And every day since has been just
as wonderful. I couldn’t imagine
my day without your wet kisses and
total loyalty. I love you Cookie, you
are the light of my life.

[Meryl]

So glad you got this right (and learned a lot in the process!!) well done......

If you want to try lauren's suggestion in PS 6 you would choose Image > Extract , don't look for a filter. This is one of those PS things I have never had ripping success with though, so never springs to mind LOL!! However its there and well worth trying - thanks Lauren for the reminder!

[Jessie226]

Thanks! I am definitely going to try Laurens suggestion as well.