In our daily life, we often encounter some difficult problems about image matting of Photoshop. For example, when processing photos, the final product looks terrible because the hair is not handled properly.
In another scene, you need to pick out a small animal from a picture, but the hair on the edge is too messy to get the desired result.
This article details the process of processing pictures with hair, and the related tools and methods of use are also explained in the back. After reading this article, I believe everyone can easily master this skill.
Use the”Quick Selection Tool” to processing pictures with hair
• Usage Guide:
1. Click the “Quick Selection Tool“ in the toolbar on the left side of Photoshop.
2. In the status bar, top of the interface, you can see that there are three optional modes: “New selection”, “Add to selection”, and “Subtract from selection”. We usually use the latter two modes.
3. First, use “Add to the selection” to select the desired content. In this process, if some content that is not expected is also be selected, click the “Subtract from the selection” button to remove this part.
4. Then click the “Select and Mask” to adjust the edge of the selected area and output it as a new layer. It’s over to handle the pictures with hair!
• Specific Steps:
1. Open the material picture. First of all, click the hot key — “CTRL+J” to copy a layer (this step is to ensure that the picture is not destroyed, backing up a layer).
Then click the “Quick Selection” on the left toolbar, and use the two function keys above, “Add to selection” and “Subtract from selection”.
After clicking the button, paint on the cat’s body to select the approximate range of the cat. In addition, press the two keys of “[” and “]” to zoom in and out the brush.
2. Click the “Select and Mask”. Select the “Refine Edge Brush Tool”. Click the drop-down arrow next to the “View” on the right, and select the overlay. Check “Smart Radius”, and adjust the radius value to 5 pixels.
The larger the value is, the larger the width of the edge is. This can remove most of the white sides. For photos with a solid color or few colors, the smart radius adjustment here can basically pick out the cat.
But this background color of the cat is more, so it needs to be adjusted manually. Use a brush to draw a circle along the cat’s edge.
Click the drop-down arrow next to the “Output Settings” at the bottom right of the interface. Check the “Decontaminate Colors”, and finally select “New Layer with Layer Mask”. Click OK.
3. Click the circle button at the bottom right and select the first “Solid Color” to create a new solid color layer above layer zero.
Put the mouse on the cat‘s ear. Then you can see that the mouse becomes a straw-shaped tool. Use the color of the cat’s ears as a background layer.
4. Finally, you can see that the cat was completely picked out, and you can get different pictures by modifying the background style.
• In the process of using, you may encounter the following problems:
1. Brush tool: There is a brush option next to the optional modes. Click the drop-down arrow. Then you can adjust the brush size, hardness and spacing in it. The brush settings can be completed according to your actual situation.
The “Size” can be used to adjust the size of the brush. You can move the triangle to change the size of the brush. You can also press the two keys of “[” and “]” to zoom in and out the brush.
The “Hardness” can change the softness of the brush. When the hardness value is small, the edge of the drawn figure is blurred. The smaller the hardness is, the larger the blur radius is. When the hardness value is great, the drawn edge is clear. The greater the hardness is, the more obviously the borderline is.
The spacing can adjust the interval between the brush and the graphic. When the spacing value is 0, the brush starts to draw from its center. The larger the interval is, the greater the distance between the drawing center and the brush is.
2. Select and Mask: In the setting interface of “Select and Mask”, you can see a “Global Refinements” in the parameter setting bar on the right. Here, we can use “Feather” to change the ambiguity of the boundary. We can use a little feather value to make the picked-out graphics are more natural. Of course, you can also not use.
The other two can be tried by yourselves.
3. In the “Select and Mask” setting interface, you can also set the output as a new layer. Doing this allows you to do other freer operations on the selection arear. For example, you can move the cat at will to change its position, or you can change its size and color, or you can save it as a png graphic so that it can be taken out for use next time.
• Tips
A. The “Quick Selection Tool” is more convenient and faster than the “Pen Tool”. It is suitable for processing pictures with less sharp edges or larger edge information. Its wonderful place lies in the “Select and Mask” option at the back.
B. This function can easily complete the processing of the pictures with uneven or blurry edges, by setting some parameters. And the damage to the edges of the pictures is small, which can easily reach 90% of the requirements.
C. But if the edge of the picture you want to cut is very clear, and contains not much content that you can use only a few simple lines to select, then you can try another special tool— “Pen Tool”.
Do you want to try it? Maybe you will get your own inspiration from the two tools, and will handle the image matting well in the future.
