Photoshop Compositing Secrets - Matt Kloskowski [11]
To fix this, we have to put our selection up on its own layer, because it won’t work on a layer with a layer mask. So, Command-click on the layer mask to load our selection around the subject.
STEP 12:
Click once on the layer thumbnail itself to target it, and then press Command-J (PC: Ctrl-J) to duplicate the selected area onto its own layer. Next, click on the little Eye icon to the left of the original layer to hide it, along with the layer mask (this hides it, but keeps it just in case you need to go back to it later). Now you’ll see the subject selected from his background on a separate layer, but without a layer mask.
STEP 13:
Go to Layer>Matting>Defringe, enter a Width setting of 1 pixel, and click OK. Most of the time, you’ll immediately see the fringe disappear. If it doesn’t, go to Edit>Undo and reapply Defringe with a 2-pixel setting instead. Like I said before, it doesn’t happen for all photos, but if you do see a small fringe around the edges, the Defringe feature works great.
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Tip: Compare a Before/After
After applying Defringe, zoom in on the area that had the fringe and press Command-Z (PC: Ctrl-Z) to Undo and then Command-Z again to Redo to see the difference. Sometimes you’ll think “Eh, not that great” and other times you’ll think “Holy crap!!! That’s awesome!”
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Extracting Hair
There’s one question that I get all the time whenever I’m out teaching Photoshop: “How do you select a person from one background and move them to another background with all of their hair intact?” Well, you’re in luck. If you followed along with the previous tutorials, you’ve already learned how to get yourself most of the way there. There’s just one small tool we need to help out with the hair.
STEP ONE:
Go ahead and open a photo that has some wispy hair in it. While the subject here has got some clean, defined edges around her clothing, she definitely has some flyaway hair.
STEP TWO:
Use the Quick Selection tool (W) to put an overall selection around her. Just like we did earlier, spend a minute or two to get the selection as close as possible around all of the well-defined edges. But don’t worry about the hair—just get the overall selection close, like you see here. Don’t even try to select the hair edges at this point.
STEP THREE:
When you’re ready, click the Refine Edge button in the Options Bar to get the Refine Edge dialog. For starters, press the F key to cycle through the View settings until you get to black (since the black background shows off the hair selection really well).
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Tip: View Shortcuts
Under the View pop-up menu, you’ll see each option has a letter next to it, which is a quick shortcut key to jump directly to that background view. It’s probably a good idea to memorize your favorites like B for black, W for white, and K for black and white.
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STEP FOUR:
Now, drag the Radius slider to around 10, and you should immediately see a big improvement. Seriously folks, if you’ve ever doubted how powerful this Edge Detection stuff is, then take a look at what it’s doing here. Zoom in on the subject’s head, press the P key to see the original, and then press P again to see the current selection. All we’ve done so far is move one slider and we’re already starting to pick up more hair!
STEP FIVE:
Okay, we still have some work to do. Notice how you can definitely see the gray peeking through around the edges of her hair, especially near her shoulders. This is where we call in the ringer. The big dog. The head honcho (okay, I’ll stop). The big kahuna here (sorry, last one) is the Refine Radius tool. It’s the little brush icon (circled here) just below the Zoom and Hand tools near the top left of the dialog.
STEP SIX:
Just like other brushes in Photoshop, it has a size setting that can be controlled with the Left and Right Bracket keys. Go ahead and resize the brush, so it’ll cover the entire radius of any flyaway hair. Then simply start painting around the edges of the hair. As you paint, you’ll reveal part of the original background,