Help with cutting complicated objects out

[true_blue1878]

Hi there,

All the tutorials show cutting simple shapes out of a very differently coloured background which is fine.. but what do you do when you have to cut out something more complicated like a person from a very similarly coloured background??

For example, I need to cut the attached man out of the background of each picture but his skin and shirt are dark and so is the background. I am having great difficulty doing this without going and manually erasing it myself which is time-consuming.

Please help me understand how I can do this easier!

Cheers!

[carl123]

With the Selection Brush Tool

Using a small brush (14px) go around all the outside of the man. Don't worry about the middle of the man, you can do that later with a bigger brush

Go slowly, as the faster you go the less accurate the tool is.

If you select outside the man, just continue as you will come back later to redo these areas.

Once you have selected all the outside of the man, change to a smaller brush (6px), switch the Selection Brush Tool to Subtract and slowly go over the areas outside the man that you accidently selected previously.

Once you are happy you have selected all the outside of the man you can switch to a larger brush, switch the Selection Brush Tool back to Add and quickly select all the inner parts of the man.

Then hit the Refine button and (in this case) set the Smooth slider to 4.5px

The main point is that in areas of low colour difference use a small brush to do the edges first, nice and slowly.

Tip: In areas where it is almost impossible to see the difference where one object ends and another begins, adding a temporary Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer and adjusting the contrast can help define these areas better.  Making the selection process easier. Just delete this layer afterwards

[R C-R]

Carl, your explanation is excellent. My one complaint with your post is when the accompanying screenshot scrolled into view I nearly spit a mouthful of coffee all over my keyboard. 

[jer]

10 minutes ago, R C-R said:

Carl, your explanation is excellent. My one complaint with your post is when the accompanying screenshot scrolled into view I nearly spit a mouthful of coffee all over my keyboard. 

Ditto! What a scream! Good one, Carl.

[true_blue1878]

Carl thanks so much for your detailed help. I use this all the time now to do all kinds of different stuff!! Sorry for my late reply but I lost the tab and couldn't find the post until now! Your fairy mock-up was also hilarious.. I am sure Kevin Campbell would love to see it.. might send him a tweet haha

 

Cheers!