Jump to content
You must now use your email address to sign in [click for more info] ×

Cutting Out Example but Pixelated


Recommended Posts

So after learning how to use the Cutting Out method from a video here under tutorials, I used two images, one was close to 1000x? pixels and the other over 4000x? pixels. After moving the cut out deer from one image to the building image, I see it is highly pixelated when enlarged. even though the finished image when exported as a jpg, was lowered to near the 1000x? pixel image size. To recap, I used an image 1/4th the size (deer) of the image of the building, then saved saved by reducing 75% and still have major pixelated deer on building. What did I miss? And now I'm editing to add I see you won't be able to see the pixelization as enlarging is not allowed, but its there.

IMG_8500_CutOutDeeronBldgpixelated.jpg

Light, Subject, Focus, DOF, Background, Edit, Learn

59ef645ca6e4e_IMG_7558LightBeneathFAAcopy300x100.jpg.d53988f0690ebe508047421cdc137023.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Any enlargement is going to involve interpolation to create the extra pixels that are needed. In order to avoid 'jaggies' when using a cutout image, you need to do the resizing first and then do the cutting out. 

Alfred spacer.png
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.4.1 (iPad 7th gen)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just to add to what Alfred said, if you simply ENLARGE the image you will always get larger "dots" as you are making each pixel larger. Essentially you are just zooming into the image. However, if you RESCALE the image before you edit it then you can use something called Interpolation to guess what the "smaller" pixels should be.

Consider the attached picture. The top image (A) is the original at x1 scale. The left-hand image (B) has been ENLARGED to x10 by enlarging the portion highlighted by the red rectangle in A (sort of). Notice that each pixel in the original image is now one hundred times larger (10 times the width multiplied by 10 times the height). The right-hand image (C) was SCALED using a "Cubic Interpolation" in GIMP (other software is available). Notice that the software has interpreted what the "new" pixels should be by looking at the pixels around it. Each pixel in (C) is now the same size as the pixels in (A). Different Interpolation methods produce slightly different results so it's worth doing some experiments on the images you;re using each time to see which is best in the circumstances.

If you SCALE images first so that their pixels are the same size it is much easier to make them blend in with each other (as long as other things, such as lighting etc, have been taken into consideration). This means that you need to have a good idea of the composition of the picture before you start the editing - as you need to know how big everything should be at the end - and you will probably have to do a bit of basic arithmetic - to make sure that everything has the same pixel density - but it's well worth the effort.

I probably haven't explained this well enough from an expert's perspective but hopefully it's good enough for what you need.

Capture.PNG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So I resized to 800x533 pixels on both images, then Cut & Pasted, then saved as Export in jpg with Nearest Neighbor, so this scaling should be the least pixelated. A better image for viewing online or in small format. Thanks for the feedback. It's been a fun exercise and I've learned something. Scale prior to cut & paste and saving.

IMG_8500_NearestNeighbor_Interpolate_800x533.jpg

Light, Subject, Focus, DOF, Background, Edit, Learn

59ef645ca6e4e_IMG_7558LightBeneathFAAcopy300x100.jpg.d53988f0690ebe508047421cdc137023.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hmm. That latest one actually looks worse to me than the earlier ones. Also, you seem to have changed the aspect ratio of the deer when you resized it. From what I can see from your images, you shouldn't be resizing/scaling both images to the same new size. Keep your background image to be whatever it is and rescale the deer to be whatever size you need.

Unfortunately I don't use AF myself so I can't give much more help in the actual techniques you need to use (having to cut and paste sounds a bit "archaic"). Maybe there's an AF expert out there who can take you through the process more fully.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 hours ago, RCPhotos_FineArtAmerica said:

So I resized to 800x533 pixels on both images, then Cut & Pasted, then saved as Export in jpg with Nearest Neighbor, so this scaling should be the least pixelated. A better image for viewing online or in small format. Thanks for the feedback. It's been a fun exercise and I've learned something. Scale prior to cut & paste and saving.

 

I'm not quite sure why you're resampling on export, but compared to other methods 'Nearest Neighbour' resampling at any stage will give you more pixellation, not less. 'Bilinear' is good for scaling down, but for scaling up you should use 'Bicubic' or 'Lanczos3 Window'.

 

1 hour ago, GarryP said:

Hmm. That latest one actually looks worse to me than the earlier ones. Also, you seem to have changed the aspect ratio of the deer when you resized it. From what I can see from your images, you shouldn't be resizing/scaling both images to the same new size. Keep your background image to be whatever it is and rescale the deer to be whatever size you need.

 

My thoughts precisely!

Alfred spacer.png
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.4.1 (iPad 7th gen)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well I seem to be misinterpreting advice.

On 10/19/2017 at 2:12 AM, GarryP said:

If you SCALE images first so that their pixels are the same size it is much easier to make them blend in with each other

From the advice above, it seemed clear to me that the two images should be the same size. So if the background is just over 3000 pixels width and the second image is closer to 1000 pixels wide, I set about scaling the larger image, the building, to match the smaller image, the deer. Hence the appearance that I upscaled the smaller image larger.

5 hours ago, GarryP said:

Hmm. That latest one actually looks worse to me than the earlier ones. Also, you seem to have changed the aspect ratio of the deer when you resized it. From what I can see from your images, you shouldn't be resizing/scaling both images to the same new size. Keep your background image to be whatever it is and rescale the deer to be whatever size you need.

So the building image, a little over 3000 pixels, remains the same and the deer, at just under 1000 pixels should be resized up to match the building background image, remembering to use 'Bicubic' or 'Lanczos3 ' for Windows. Do I have this correct this time? I'll wait to hear back before I proceed. And thanks

Light, Subject, Focus, DOF, Background, Edit, Learn

59ef645ca6e4e_IMG_7558LightBeneathFAAcopy300x100.jpg.d53988f0690ebe508047421cdc137023.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You should never be enlarging images to do this sort of stuff.

Just start with your main image (the building) at the size you want it to be.  If it is too big you can make it smaller now.  If it is too small find another image.

Find a deer image which is larger than what the final deer will look like when placed on your building.

Cut it out then paste it onto your image, then you can just resize it on screen (smaller) to blend into the image, sizewise.

Resizing images larger will always result in a loss of quality, so always avoid doing this whenever humanly possible.

 

 

deer.jpg

To save time I am currently using an automated AI to reply to some posts on this forum. If any of "my" posts are wrong or appear to be total b*ll*cks they are the ones generated by the AI. If correct they were probably mine. I apologise for any mistakes made by my AI - I'm sure it will improve with time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

carl123, using your steps, here is the results. Mind you I have not spent any time retouching to remove the area between the rear feet, or the weeds at the neck, which the the Selection Brush always seems to grab. In this copy&paste and move the original building image remains at original size and the deer was C&P then moved and selected and reduced to fit.

IMG_8500_Cut_N_Copy4.jpg

Light, Subject, Focus, DOF, Background, Edit, Learn

59ef645ca6e4e_IMG_7558LightBeneathFAAcopy300x100.jpg.d53988f0690ebe508047421cdc137023.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Guidelines | We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.