Background Removal For Images

[Alex Ross]

Hi,

I am designing a catalog however the photos have a background, for
example the pictures are of shoes but i can see the table the shoe is
sitting on and the background behind the shoe, is there a way to cut
the shoes out in Photoshop so the background is removed?

Thanks

[troycawley]

I Suck At Photoshop ... and so can you:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXeZ0s8DXZ0
It will at least entertain you ... and it should give you the tools you need to get the job done.
Good luck!

[YvetteKuhns]

I have cut out the background and replaced it in Photoshop many times. The magic wand tool is great for removing strange shapes in a similar color but you have to be careful if the background color is close to the color of the object you wish to keep. You can click on the image to select parts to cut out or remove. Changing the tolerance for the magic wand tool lets you have more control over what is selected. You can use the eraser to remove parts within the selected area if you notice some areas selected are part of the object.

Using the eraser is easier after you have copied your original image into a new layer and created a new background layer that you fill with a contrast color not in the original image. For example, if you have black shoes on a red table, you can use a green background layer, so you can see where the green appears as you remove the red from the new image layer copy. Be sure that you are only removing pixels from the copy layer and not the original or the new background layers. It is best to magnify the image and use a smaller brush size to remove pixels closest to the object you wish to cut out of the image.

If you did a lot of work and realized that you accidentally removed pixels you wish to keep, you may have trouble finding the actions in your history to undo. You could try to copy and paste part of the object from the original layer or use the stamp tool to recreate an area. If you notice jagged shoes in black, you may be able to simply redraw black pixels, but if there is a pattern, the stamp tool may look better. As you unmagnify and look at 100% size, it will look much better.

[Croc Hunter]

Easy way? Pay someone who knows how to use Photoshop.

The magic wand is good for images with few colors. For complex multi color images use a soft edged brush about 9 px in the color of your destination background, zoom in and paint a line around your image using shift+click for straight lines. Then increase the brush size and paint the rest of the background out.

[YvetteKuhns]

I create boxes to cut out large blocks of the background first, especially for busy backgrounds.

[Alex Ross]

I am finding this too hard, I googled and found some companies that do this sort of thing, has anyone tried them? Is clipping path the same as deepetching. www.deepetch.com seems to be one good one, I also saw www.lazymask.com and www.digital-media-tech.com. Has anyone had any experience with this sort of thing. My catalog has over 300 images of jewellery and jackets with fur fitted on manequins due in two weeks, all shot on a blue studio background. Do I require alpha channel masking? Can anyone help please?

[Doc C]

I don't use PS but can't it remove a layer of all one color?

[YvetteKuhns]

Yes, you can remove all pixels of the same color or replace that color with another one.

[satis]

I do this kind of thing regularly for fun and web graphics. I usually use The Gimp, but the same techniques can be used in Photoshop.

Basically I crop the image down as close to what I want as possible, then use various selection tools to select and delete large sections I don't want. This is on a transparent background.

Once I've got the large section chopped out, I zoom in pretty close to the subject and use the lasso tools to select and delete the pixels along the outline of the object. If the object has straight edges that makes life much, much easier. This part takes the longest... cutting out around a person can take 30 minutes. Ctrl-z is your friend in case you accidently cut off a finger or something. :p

Once I've trimmed all that off, I'm close to done. In some cases there's a fuzzy blur of some sort that bleeds onto the figure from the background. You can then use the magic wand to select all the transparent area and apply a feather effect of 2-3 pixels and delete. This causes the edges of the trimmed object to fade into the background. I've found that's the best way to take care of color bleed.

so, anyway, that's how I do it. :)

Of course, with 300 images due in 2 weeks, you probably can't do that. If it's shot on a blue screen it really should be possible to either due a color substitution or use the magic wand to just select the blue screen. Tweaking the tolerance should get you what you want.

[Builder]

Ctrl-z is your friend in case you accidently cut off a finger or something.
Does that work with table saws? :D

[HalfaBee]

I don't think PS has a micro surgery button.

[satis]

Man, if there was a ctrl-z for RL I'd be a very happy person.