Tips for Extracting

[MaureenH]

In my layout Easter Bunny (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=184391&cat=500&ppuser=4243), BethHardy asked the following question about extracting:

"Your husband's photo of the backlit bunny is so supurb. Surely the pink dotted background wasn't there when he took it, so what is your secret for your perfect extraction with all the fur left intact???? Love your layout."

I bumped her question to this forum as I thought it would be an interesting topic for others to comment on as well.

Beth, thanks for your very nice comments about my layout. I'd say the most important thing for me is my Wacom tablet because I can vary the pressure of my pen with the brush tool (I use Photoshop). That lets me remove a small amount or lightly soften the edge as I go around the edge (with very light pressure and a soft brush). I generally like the the edge to be a little soft so it looks more real, so I usually use a very small soft brush or airbrush right near the edge of the photo.

If it's an area, like a face, where the edge must be distinct I'll use a very small hard brush. I'll go around close to the photo, then enlarge the brush and go around again. Also, I use a layer mask to erase instead of an eraser so I can go back and add a little if I feel I removed too much.

So, (1) use a tablet and pen, (2) using a very small, usually soft, brush near the edge I'm extracting and leaving the edge a little soft when possible (3) use a layer mask so adding back is possible. Oh yes, and practice practice.

[MaureenH]

Laurette (lbfpebbles) also provided some information in another ask DET thread about her methods for extracting so I've copied her information here as well.

"I have often been asked how I do extractions, expecially around hair. Here is my process. I have two different methods, depending on the photo and paper. In Adobe Photoshop, I use my pen tool to carefully select areas with smooth edges like clothes, skin, etc. when I get to areas with hair, I use my pen tool close to the hair but not touching. At this point everything is extracted but the hair. I then take my eraser tool at a 10 or 20% transparency and start erasing close and on the hair. I vary the size of the eraser and the transparency to get a more natural look. Also, The photo you choose is an important consideration. In my LO, Cool Kid, http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com...182815&cat=994 the background was already somewhat light which works nicely when blending in with a light background. For my LO, Secret Child http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com...182816&cat=994 , my dd was in a treehouse so the background was already really dark. Blending it in with the dark paper in the background makes the erasing the hair at 10 to 20% easy. In my LO, Make Memories http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com...179918&cat=994 , I used a different process. Here, I took my photo and placed it over the paper. I then converted my photo from normal to darken which appears to look like it was extracted. I then selected a colour from the background paper (a very light green) and brushed that in behind my kids on the background paper layer. This makes the image of my kids smooth and not textured from the paper. I used this same process for my LO Under Lock & Key http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com...0&ppuser=38811 . Here however, I did a lot of other photo manipulations. (my daughter doesn't have that awesome red hair. but I love how the red makes this photo more dramatic.) This photo was taken in front of a white wall so blending it in with the light blue paper wasn't too hard."

[prodigal1978]

Oh this is priceless! I like the look of extractions, but I get so irritated with them! It takes forever for me to do one with the little bitty brushes, etc... I'm just too lazy to do it most of the time. If I wanted to spend 4 hours on a layout I'd go back to paper scrapping. LOL. These are great tips that will help reduce time spent on those extractions, thank you for posting them!

[BethHardy]

Thank you. I will print what you've suggested and study it some more. I'm using Microsoft Digital Image Suite 2006, so I'll have to try to "translate" your instructions to their tools, and experiment to see what works. I've done a lot of extractions using an eraser or transparency brush, but hair and fur are difficult to do so that they look natural.

[BethHardy]

I spent Sunday afternoon trying to find a way to use the "masks" that you have been talking about. Didn't think that they existed in Microsoft Digital Image Suite, and couldn't find them listed in the directions. Finally stumbled on the right button when I was using the magic wand, and the mask appeared. WOW. It WAS a lot easier to use than what I had been doing. Thank you all so much for taking the time to explain what you are doing.
Here is a layout where I used the mask to extract my DGD's photo:
http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=186308&cat=500&ppuser=35437
The higher-resolution version is much smoother.
Thanks again.

[MaureenH]

I spent Sunday afternoon trying to find a way to use the "masks" that you have been talking about. Didn't think that they existed in Microsoft Digital Image Suite, and couldn't find them listed in the directions. Finally stumbled on the right button when I was using the magic wand, and the mask appeared. WOW. It WAS a lot easier to use than what I had been doing. Thank you all so much for taking the time to explain what you are doing.
Here is a layout where I used the mask to extract my DGD's photo:
http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=186308&cat=500&ppuser=35437
The higher-resolution version is much smoother.
Thanks again.

Oh wonderful. Congratulations on learning it and your layout is wonderful.

[maryjos]

For those of you that haven't yet made the jump to Photoshop, the new CS3 has a tool for doing selections that blows away anything I've seen built into graphics software in the past. It really works quite well and you can even go in and modify the edge after running it to get a softer or harder edge as you prefer. It's so nice, I almost want to upgrade just to have it! I just couldn't believe how fast and well it worked with most images. I currently use Mask Pro, which is an add-on filter for doing selections that costs a pretty penny (although I imagine the price may come down with CS3 out now)...there are other similar tools out there but hard to justify the cost when for the same price you can just upgrade to CS3. The Mask Pro tool is much more sophisticated and allows me to really tweak my selections down to the last pixel but sometimes I wish for something that can just do the job quick and easy.

[MaureenH]

maryjos, thanks for that tip on CS3. I've been wondering if there would be any features that would tempt me to upgrade!

I was asked in a comment on my Emily Seated Layout (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=186522&cat=500&ppuser=4243) how I did the extraction. I did extract a portion of the wedding dress by brushing it out with a layer mask, positioned the photo in the frame and then erased the portion of the frame I wanted under the dress. Finally I fine tuned the edges between the frame and dress with a brush and layer masks.