Masha wrote:
don't forget to feather the selection.

Haha "Masha"..like in the play "Three Sisters". I love that name

easyonthe eyes wrote:
Or pay me to do it.

But seriously, get a good photoshop book, sit at the computer with the book in your lap, and teach yourself the Pen Tool. Making this stuff look right is all about the accuracy of your mask/selection.

Pros don't shun the Magic Wand because it's "easy" or "amateur"; it's actually way harder, and slower, to get good results. Same goes for the Extract command and 3rd party plugins.

A perfect mask, and you can sell anything. Sloppy mask, there's no dressing it up.

Now for those wispy hairs... that's a whole 'nother ball of wax.

Agree.

I used the magic wand a lasso tool to show how easy it can be. It's actually faster for me than using the pen, but that's just me.

And yes, the selection is feathered, lol... but in this case I would do a lot more with the edge and make a tighter selection. My example looks fuzzy because it's still feathered --

Still though, not too bad as an example and it took 2 minutes.

Picture This wrote:
Agree.

I used the magic wand a lasso tool to show how easy it can be. It's actually faster for me than using the pen, but that's just me.

And yes, the selection is feathered, lol... but in this case I would do a lot more with the edge and make a tighter selection. My example looks fuzzy because it's still feathered --

Still though, not too bad as an example and it took 2 minutes.

Not meant personally; I don't think anyone can blame you for not setting aside an hour or so to create your demonstration!

That's kind of the trap, though (definitely was for me, until I embarassed myself in front of "the big boys"). Lasso + Magic Wand is the fastest mediocre mask you can make. For a 2 minute composite, nothing beats it. It's just when you start thinking: "hey this is turning out pretty good, maybe I'll finish the job," that it turns into a huge time-waster.

I think the Pen Tool seems slower, because nothing happens for so long. 10, 15, 30 minutes of clicking, and nothing in the image changes. But... when you close the path, adjust the curves and add a vector mask, it all changes in a heartbeat. Then you can further tune up the vector mask before rasterizing it, THEN adding feather (Gaussian Blur) to the layer mask. All with the precision to... well not to amaze people at all, because they'll never guess it was a composite. Takes about an hour including hair (if there's hair against a non-black-non-white background... PS I don't use the Pen for that!); seems like a long time, but if you watch the clock, some of those endless fine-tuning sessions of (raster) layer masks can easily double that (or more... but we don't like to look at the clock much, do we?)

Oh wait, if the background's black or white, there's another way, but my (not-quite-5-year-old) daughter's whining about me typing, it's 11:00 and she's not in bed yet... oh good, she's grabbed her camera to take pictures of the cat... shit! batteries died, gotta go.

easyonthe eyes wrote:
Oh wait, if the background's black or white, there's another way, but my (not-quite-5-year-old) daughter's whining about me typing, it's 11:00 and she's not in bed yet... oh good, she's grabbed her camera to take pictures of the cat... shit! batteries died, gotta go.

Hahahaha!  I always love typing as if there was no delete key.  So fun to read. 

Alli B wrote:
pen tool sucks....i use the lasso tool when i make my selections or i use quick mask mode....i use my wacom pen tablet and makes things go a lot faster

Actually the pen tool is far more acurate and the better of the two methods unless all you want to use the image for is the web.  I fought the pen tool for so long but to achive the next "belt"  I had to move on...

Peace;
G.

ART OF ARIANE wrote:
I totally love these Photoshop Posts. As an Artist my whole life, the longest corporate Art job I had was for 3 years as a Graphic Artist in a Sign Shop in Chicago. It was about 10 yrs ago and we didnt have programs like we have now. I had to measure everything and program the computer to what I wanted it to draw. Man, times have changed. So what I learned then, is totally useless now.

I am trying to learn Photoshop...I dont know how to use it but I use another image editing software to create my artwork. What I do now...is all self-taught. I spend about 2 hours a night playing around with it and I'm obssessed.

Does anyone know if what they are teaching in the colleges these days is good? I have a friend going for a Multimedia Degree in Visual Arts....their classes are all Art 4 hours a night, 3x a week. I'm wondering if this is the fastest way to get up to speed to where I wanna be.

Self-taught for the most part. I used to do a lot of airbrushing when I was younger, before I "discovered" photography and then Photoshop.

I took the intermediate and advanced Photoshop courses offered at a local college. I found the instructor knew more technical terminology and shortcuts than I did, but was less advanced in some techniques than I was (after spending 2 hours a night obsessed with it like you are). My advice... don't bother taking the classes unless you know for sure the instructor can teach you. You will learn more by googling tutorials online and practicing.

The best thing about those 2 courses I took was the book, Photoshop CS - Classroom in a Book. It takes you through exercises and uses real examples to teach you the basics. The pen tool was my enemy for a long time because it seemed painfully slow adjusting each segement of the path over and over. But, the results are worth the effort. You can probably get a copy with the CD for around $30.

One thing to keep in mind if you will be seeking employment in the graphic arts field is the value of being accredited. Having it "on paper" is important to employers, so you might need to take a few classes just so you can show a certificate of completion in your resume.

If you want to advance your skills, though, pick up a copy of the book and study it - do the exercises, and practice, practice, practice.

What got me going was discovering www.worth1000.com. An online Photoshop contest site (plus photography and illustration). Go check it out - play with the noobies in the training grounds, read the tutorials, learn from pros who do this every day for a living. There are some really talented people on there. Then challenge yourself and enter an advanced contest.

You will get better, I guarantee!

Yes, it's more graphic arts than photography, but your skills will improve even if all you want to do is edit pics. You can also enter one of the photography contests and discover the joy of competing. It adds to your "edge", and adds material and confidence to your "sell-ability". Nothing catches the eye of a potential employer than a well-developed portfolio of high quality layouts and retouch work.

Anyway, the bottom line is I still have a long way to go before I think of myself as highly skilled, but I am better than I used to be.

ART OF ARIANE wrote:
am trying to learn Photoshop...I dont know how to use it but I use another image editing software to create my artwork. What I do now...is all self-taught. I spend about 2 hours a night playing around with it and I'm obssessed.

For you Artists on board here at MM...are you self taught or schooled?

For the first 5-7 years I used Photoshop, it was all self-taught, doing exactly what you describe. I'd get home from work, launch PS (or other applications before PS came out), and "dabble".

ART OF ARIANE wrote:
Does anyone know if what they are teaching in the colleges these days is good?

Some is great; some isn't so hot. As with any craft-oriented class, the ability of the instructor to demonstrate and explain is crucial, and their depth of understanding of the field is similarly important.

Some classes are taught by those in the field, which gives good understanding of The Real World, but no guarantee of ability to teach. Others may be taught by good/great instructors who are weak in the real world applications. The best, obviously, have both--but they're less common.

Some of the (potentially) great classes may nevertheless be useless for a photographer, though, if the focus is on graphic arts and design; many of the tools are the same, but the methods are very different.

Alli B wrote:
pen tool sucks....i use the lasso tool when i make my selections or i use quick mask mode....i use my wacom pen tablet and makes things go a lot faster

I just checked again; nope the pen tool still doesn't suck. If you're talking about the magnetic freeform pen tool, however, I may be inclined to agree.

If by "suck" you mean it's non-intuitive, and has such a steep learning curve that it's easier to forget about until that day that hi-res perfection reaches top priority, well... yeah. It's tear your hair out sucky until the day it just...doesn't suck anymore.