Easiest way to cut out a picture

[ngmar]

I was wondering what the easiest way to cut someone out of a picture and lay them on a black background with nice edges is. I have adobe elements and it seems like it is a big pain in the ass. Does anyone know an easy way. Thanks

 

[Epc525]

This may seam simple and lame, but I just pick out a nice color and paint around the person in photoshop. Just use different sized brushes and you can get a nice look.

 

[ngmar]

I guess that makes sense. With Adobe at least it is easier to paint a black background then it is to cut a clean clear one and fill it in? I'll try that. If anyone has any other ways I would be glad to hear them.

 

[OFFicerJACK]

I assume Elements has a lasso tool, and given enough time it will produce acceptable results, but you're prone to artifacting (jagged edges). If Elements has a pen tool, that gives you much smoother results but can be VERY time consuming. The pen tool creates a polyline that you manipulate with handles at each node and then can be converted to a lasso style selection, and is much smoother. Then you can just paint in a black background. To answer your question, for excellent results there is no easy way.

 

[ngmar]

Thanks One and jack. I guess there is no lazy way for the results that I want. I will try the pen lasso it sounds like it might be better than painting. At least I can use the finished picture with whatever I want.

 

[GrapJ]

I do the same however i paint in one solid fluorisent color.

if ever you want to make the background transparent you don't want "left-over" pixels (as there will always be some black pixels in the resulting (cropped) image).

But yes, it's time consuming , i rather rip 100 pages than doing one Christina Aquilera (or whatever) cut-out.

.

 

[mikoid]

the easiest would be Lasso tool. Background Eraser is also easy to use but that depends on how the object blends with the background.

Extract Tool and Pen Tool is I think for advance users only.

 

[Cman]

the hardest thing to cut out is hair. especially if its messy with strands all over the place. i've cut out a bunch of pictures and its never fun.