Selection Quality

[Engine44]

I have an image in which I want to place a bird. The bird should be partially hidden by reeds.  I coped a part of the plant background layer and placed it in front of the bird.  I selected and cut out parts so the bird would show through.  I ended up with a poor quality selection. See below.  Could you suggest a better technique. Thanks. 

[DM1]

You could try adding a mask layer to bird. Add grass layer and set to overlay. Then paint black on bird mask to hide bird/show grass. I did a quick and dirty example to show technique. Better brushwork would give better result.

[Engine44]

5 hours ago, DM1 said:

You could try adding a mask layer to bird. Add grass layer and set to overlay. Then paint black on bird mask to hide bird/show grass. I did a quick and dirty example to show technique. Better brushwork would give better result.

So instead of using a selection technique, you use a brush to create the grass.  The overlay of the grass on the mask is a template. You then carefully brush over the individual grasses which are created. When the overlay is turned off, you are left with the grass strokes you created with the brush. I’m not sure I got this right but it seems like something that would work well.  Thank you.

[DM1]

Reveal the grass is probably a better descriptor than 'create', as the grass already exists. It’s just hidden by the bird. A mask shows or hides whatever is on the layer. In the example above the bird layer is covered by a mask. In its initial state a mask is white, so everything under the mask is visible, By selecting a brush, applying a black colour and, with the mask layer selected, carefully painting black over the parts of the bird that you want to ' disappear', makes it looks like the grass strands are covering the bird. Setting the grass layer blend option to 'overlay', allows you to see the bird layer underneath. 

Masks are very useful for applying adjustments too. You can select an adjustment mask and invert it in Channels studio, which hides the effect. Then paint in white the areas where you want the adjustment to show. I use this technique a lot with gradient masks.

[Engine44]

Thank you very much.  Great technique.