Refining Adding Darkness And Greyness

[justinpbrown71]

The three images below show the subject in:

1) The original image layer

2) The new refined layer and mask of the subject

3) Number 2 on top of number 1.

Why has the feathered outline area (around the head and neck) that I manually Refined, turned much darker than the original image? This is noticeable both in 2) and 3).

Also, often when I select an area and Refine it, the subsequent new layer and mask show a lot of grey patches where I have manually Refined. I usually erase these, but then the original image layer becomes visible beneath, and this is often noticeable enough to render the new layer and mask unuseable.

 

[firstdefence]

Maybe there is a doubling effect, so if you have two layers the same but one is masked the one below will make the one above darker because you are overlaying one on top of another.

 

 

[justinpbrown71]

On 1/12/2023 at 11:31 PM, firstdefence said:

Maybe there is a doubling effect, so if you have two layers the same but one is masked the one below will make the one above darker because you are overlaying one on top of another.

 

 

Hi, thanks for your reply. But the darkening effect is happening only on the edges of the subject, where I have used the refining brush. The grey patches also appear where the refining brush has been used. The rest (majority) of the subject remains the same when layered over a copy of itself.

[NotMyFault]

Can you please provide a screen recording or set of screenshots of all steps you to to select and create the layer based on the selection?
 

This behavior is not „mandatory“, but depending on your workflow it might be a side-effect of chosen parameters for „refine mask“

Option 1: using pure mask

• Have only the original image as sigle layer within photo open
• create a selection by brush.
• If using refine: use output „selection“!!!!!!
• convert to mask (by creating a mask while the selection is active)
• important: deactivate selection!!!!! (Otherwise you might create the darkening effect)
• merge visible
• ceactivate mask layer
• Now you have 2 layers: the source bottom, the cut-out on top
• you can toggle the top layer visibility: no darkening effect

Option 2:  Using refine and output „new layer“ 

• same process as above, but choose „new layer“ as output for refine
• This will change colors ad edge pixels to remove color contamination, and may impact brightness 
• If you toggle visibility, you may see the darkening effect

 

[NotMyFault]

You can see the darkening effect of color decontamination if you choose „new layer with mask“, and then deactivate the mask. The edge pixels got almost black.

While mask active:

Mask deactive:

 

[NotMyFault]

Thinking again: this might be a bug of color decontamination going too far, or missing brightness compensation.

I never liked how this feature worked, and avoid it.

My alternative solution is to always use „mask“ as output method, or „selection“ and the converting selection to mask as described above.

If i need color decontamination, i simply add an HSL or vibrance adjustment, fully de-saturate, and then invert mask and brush in again whith white brush the edge area where i really need decontamination. Depending on the new background color, you may need additional adjustments to blend this composition. 

 

https://affinity.help/photo2/en-US.lproj/pages/Selections/selections_refine.html

 

 

[justinpbrown71]

On 1/14/2023 at 10:51 AM, NotMyFault said:

Thinking again: this might be a bug of color decontamination going too far, or missing brightness compensation.

I never liked how this feature worked, and avoid it.

My alternative solution is to always use „mask“ as output method, or „selection“ and the converting selection to mask as described above.

If i need color decontamination, i simply add an HSL or vibrance adjustment, fully de-saturate, and then invert mask and brush in again whith white brush the edge area where i really need decontamination. Depending on the new background color, you may need additional adjustments to blend this composition. 

 

https://affinity.help/photo2/en-US.lproj/pages/Selections/selections_refine.html

 

 

Thanks for all your assessing and troubleshooting. I really appreciate it. I haven't yet had the opportunity to review all your points, but will do so over the ensuing days. Again, many thanks for your thoroughness and testing.

[NotMyFault]

 

I would like to explain my method  how to perfectly blend cutouts with background replacements  in more depth, and need an example file. 

Would you allow me to use your excellent images for a tutorial ?

[justinpbrown71]

2 hours ago, NotMyFault said:

 

I would like to explain my method  how to perfectly blend cutouts with background replacements  in more depth, and need an example file. 

Would you allow me to use your excellent images for a tutorial ?

These emu images are terrible, though you can use them if you want. They were taken by a friend on a mobile phone. Next time I'm at the field (within the next few days), and there's a blue sky as a background, I'll take some better photos of the emu and post them here for you to use. Or alternatively, I have some images here that might suit your purpose:

https://postimg.cc/gallery/mgBbcFG

[NotMyFault]

2 hours ago, justinpbrown71 said:

These emu images are terrible, though you can use them if you want. They were taken by a friend on a mobile phone. Next time I'm at the field (within the next few days), and there's a blue sky as a background, I'll take some better photos of the emu and post them here for you to use. Or alternatively, I have some images here that might suit your purpose:

https://postimg.cc/gallery/mgBbcFG

Thanks a lot. Impressive gallery.