Friday, February 25, 2011

Backround removal with Topaz Remask 3






With animals you sometimes just have to 'grab' the shot. While doing chores yesterday, Morris ran past the fence line and got these mules attention.

I like how they had lined up, but did not like the fence post nor the wires:

So I opened up Elements 5 and decided to see what I could do.

Step one:
Used the 'Ctrl J' command and copied the layer. I wanted the hair to come a little more textured and desaturated the photo a bit.

Step Two:
I used Topaz ReMask 3 and outlined the fellas in Blue.

Three:
I used the red paint bucket and clicked on the area I wished to be removed.

Step Four:
I hit the compute button to see what was cut and see where I might have to do some fine detailing around the manes.
I didn't get super accurate as I was going to feather and blend in a back round that would fit nicely with the edges. I wanted a quick and neat edit.

Step 5:
Now back to Elements. I still have to get rid of that pesky piece of fence. I use the clone tool to fix that and the far left mule's nose.
Step 6:
Choose a nice backround for mine I picked a some swirling clouds and used an opacity of 53%, but use what you think would look pleasing.

Flatten and save or if you feel like changing things up a bit later keep it as a full .PSD file.

The result:

3 comments:

  1. WOW!!! That is gorgeous! You did a wonderful job.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks, it sometimes hits me like a blow to the head!

    Then kazaam! There it is!

    ReplyDelete
  3. That is really awesome! Well done!

    ReplyDelete

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