I photograph products on a white, cream, grey or black background. Normally I select the magic wand, assign a tolerance, click on any part of the background and delete it. Sometimes, I also select the contours of the product with the magnetic lasso, inverse the selection and delete the background thus. Now these 2 methods do not always work well, for the selection doesn't always take on the exact shape of the object and when I delete the background, the contours could be imperfect. The only way I could figure out so far is to super-zoom on the product contours and to slowly remove the background with the earaser .... which takes way too long a time. Is there a quicker method? Please advise. Thanks.
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how to quickly remove any background 1
- Thread starter Alxolotl
- Start date
You could play around with the Extract tool (CTRL+ALT+X) or Filters>Extract.
Sometimes, though, the only way to get it done right is the slow tedious way. Personally, I am rather particular, and I zoom in at least 200% and enter the Quick Mask mode and select the object with the brush and eraser tools, go to standard mode & delete the background.
When in doubt, deny all terms and defnitions.
Sometimes, though, the only way to get it done right is the slow tedious way. Personally, I am rather particular, and I zoom in at least 200% and enter the Quick Mask mode and select the object with the brush and eraser tools, go to standard mode & delete the background.
When in doubt, deny all terms and defnitions.
I asked the same question (See Spideroo post on the 13th Dec)and Amirag was kind enough to send some tips.
Also pasted below is another response I got.
There are such subtle edges on some of my paintings that I've been finding by using paintbucket with tolerance of about 20 and using "Soft Light mode"I can control the "Eating of the edges" fairly well. Spideroo.
Another response below.
You Could,
Adjust the Image by altering the Levels and the Curves of the Painting.
Image > Adjustments > Levels
Image > Adjustments > Curves.
Instead of using the magic Wand
Select > Colourt Range
then use this to select the colour you want removed.
Occasionally I have to do a lot of work cleaning up Large Watercolour paintings and getting them ready for large format printing. I have to scan them in bits and then join the pieces back together and clean the image up. There is no quick way to do this and you just have to tweak everything ansd clean it a piece at a time.
If you rush it and the painting is enlarged the mistakes that you make will stand out a mile.
For the fade outs you describe you can use Gradient masks on the Layers this will allow a subtle fade outs. You can find this on the icon for this at the bottom of the layers pallette. You can place the painting layer above the white background layer and set the layer mode to Multiply.
Add a feather to the lasso tool, and use this - don't use the magic want tool as it's too harsh. Instead of using the paint bucket use the feathered airbrush tool. It's a lot softer.
Do any airbrushing on a seperate layer.
You'll probably find that All of this will increase the time it takes you to clean up the image but the results will be a lot tidier and neater
Also pasted below is another response I got.
There are such subtle edges on some of my paintings that I've been finding by using paintbucket with tolerance of about 20 and using "Soft Light mode"I can control the "Eating of the edges" fairly well. Spideroo.
Another response below.
You Could,
Adjust the Image by altering the Levels and the Curves of the Painting.
Image > Adjustments > Levels
Image > Adjustments > Curves.
Instead of using the magic Wand
Select > Colourt Range
then use this to select the colour you want removed.
Occasionally I have to do a lot of work cleaning up Large Watercolour paintings and getting them ready for large format printing. I have to scan them in bits and then join the pieces back together and clean the image up. There is no quick way to do this and you just have to tweak everything ansd clean it a piece at a time.
If you rush it and the painting is enlarged the mistakes that you make will stand out a mile.
For the fade outs you describe you can use Gradient masks on the Layers this will allow a subtle fade outs. You can find this on the icon for this at the bottom of the layers pallette. You can place the painting layer above the white background layer and set the layer mode to Multiply.
Add a feather to the lasso tool, and use this - don't use the magic want tool as it's too harsh. Instead of using the paint bucket use the feathered airbrush tool. It's a lot softer.
Do any airbrushing on a seperate layer.
You'll probably find that All of this will increase the time it takes you to clean up the image but the results will be a lot tidier and neater
I use the closecutting method to remove unwanted backgrounds. Select the pen tool and outline the required image - you can go quite quickly once you get the hang of it & go back if necessary to finetune. Then I go to Paths/Make Selection, feather radius of 1 (or whatever your requirements are), Select/Inverse, Delete. This will give you crisp clean edges exactly the shape of your product shot (or slightly feathered depending on the feather radius).
- Thread starter
- #5
MisterVideo
Instructor
I always make a copy of the original layer before I make changes to it. That way, if you goof up you can always trash the copy and go back to the original (without having to go into the history palette.
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1
- #7
mscallisto
Technical User
Blueark...I too use select > color range and believe it saves a bunch of time.
I usually cleanup with eraser, healing tool etc.
Can you tell me a little about cleaning up in QuickMask mode?
I usually cleanup with eraser, healing tool etc.
Can you tell me a little about cleaning up in QuickMask mode?
Once you've used Select > Color Range, part of your image is selected. Switch to Quick Mask mode (shortcut: press Q). Now you can paint in the bits of the selection that aren't quite right, and erase bits that shouldn't be there. Hit Q again and you have a nice clean selection to do with as you please, which in this case is delete.
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