I prefer not to use lasso tools and such because you can end up overcutting and removing pieces of the person. The process I use is tedious but yields realistic results. I use a the eraser tool at a different sizes depending on the level of detail i'm working with and start at the edges and work my way in. As I get close to the border of the person, I use a rather small eraser with a slight softness on the brush. Also, you can adjust the lighting on the person to match the background. It takes a lot of practice to get a realistic look, but play with it, you'll see what works and what doesn't. I'd recommend copying your person to a new layer before you start any erasing or cutting so you don't lose the original.

Also, a trick for seeing areas that you may have missed when erasing. Temporarily add a stroke using the default color (red). Your missed spots will be glaringly apparent. Once they are cleaned up, remove the stroke effect. I'm going to upload two pix of my sister, one is the original photo and the other is her removed from the original scene and placed in a new background. You will see how lighting can really help to make a new scene believable.

Just saw your photos...are you putting other people's faces in there or are you just protecting their identities?

If this is a head's on body deal, then there are a lot of other things to consider as well.

The process of selection is the true power of Photoshop. And there are lots of ways to do it. The very best results I've seen have used channels, but I don't really understand the process.

All the selections tools have their ups and downs and their appropriate uses. A huge factor is the the distinction between the edge of what you're trying to select and the background.

The act of then pasting it onto another background just doubles that factor. I personally would tend to spend at least as much effort on matching things like color balancing, saturations, graniness, levels and shadows and lighting effects as I would on cutting out the picture.

Try using different tools for different parts of the selection. The shift and alt keys can be the most usefull tools of all though!
I really like the magnetic lasso if the edge contrast is right. It's all about tweaking the settings for your specific picture, as with all the selection tools. And if you're going the eraser route, the 'magic eraser can really speed things up...again if the edge contrast if high enough. [I wonder if you could use a dupicate layer, a 'find edges filter', a selection process and then delete the filter layer?]

After you get the selection, you can shrink it all by a pixel or three, or expand it and use a feathered cut...but only a few pixels at most I'd say, unless you're going for a bit of a dreamy or blurry look on your final product.

Does anyone use the Extract Filter?

Pat
pjmart.creativeconnectionarts.com

OK. Don't shoot me because he's totally annoying but this video helps a ton with masking, etc.

Go here:
www.russellbrown.com/tips_tech.html

and keep scrolling down til you find "Advanced Masking" Really it does help...

pen tool - the zen of the pen , alternately a mask masks are a black and white layer you can paint in or out without destroying any data !

I ended up using a Mask and "erasing" with a soft round brush. I used my original photo of the people as Background layer, made a duplicate layer and put a mask on that. Then I made a copy of the blanket to use as the 2nd layer. By erasing parts of the mask, I got the blanket/background to show through. And I found that the soft round brush worked well to blend around the edges. It wasn't perfect but I was happy enough with the results.

I've done a little work with masks before but didn't quite get them. But watching a video made it al clear!

Another is to use the plug "Fluid Mask" by Vertus. It is amazing and quick at isolating and removing people or whatever from backgrounds. There are a couple other programs like Fluid Mask, and I have found the Vertus to be easy to learn and very powerful in terms of options and control. And I have had some amazing results from cutting someone/something out and putting into another composition with a near seamless transfer.

Check out this link: www.graphic-design.com/Photos...ex.html