It led to the new workspace for making and collection of Refining. Mixing photography and Photoshop creates inspiring, thought-provoking images of…, When it comes to astrophotography, image editing is as important as the actual work in the field. It’s best to pick a simple image if you want to learn how photoshop smooth edges. Hold the Shift key and click around a section you want to add. If updating is slow, continue to drag to allow time to complete work on the selection. Select it and find an area of fur to define. “Photoshop refine edge” vs “Select and Mask” Both of these tools serve similar purposes. Well, you don't get those colours by just taking a photo while diving. 'RealPlayer.RealPlayer(tm) ActiveX Control (32-bit)', Now we can click on the “Select … Make sure to check out his website and follow his YouTube channel. Click “Select Subject” and Photoshop will automatically analyse the image, and make a selection of the dog as shown below: The selection looks great however there is still room for improvement – if you look closely, you will see the hair around the edge wasn’t selected. I’ll teach you all the steps you need to do in this article. You will now see the Refine Edge Tool dialog box. Where is Refine Edge in Photoshop? Use it judiciously and you’ll be able to take your craggy, sloppy selection to new heights in subject isolation. Select the part of the image using any selection tool. In my case, the white background is perfect to see the selection and what I’m doing. Photoshop does an amazing job of determining what is the Background and what is the fur, and eliminates the unwanted parts of the Background sky. Start with making a rough selection of your subject. Feather edges Photoshop quick tutorial: Make a selection; Add a Layer Mask; Go to Select > Refine Edge to smooth the selection; In newer Photoshop version like Photoshop CC, the Refine Edge tool was replaced with the Select and Mask tool. 5. Auto-Enhance creates selections with smoother edges. Y the most when refining edges in Photoshop. The Contrast slider adds more definition to your edge. Holding Shift, just Lasso the remaining background by using big sweeping strokes. The background affects how difficult making the selection will be. It would help a lot if you allow the Refine Edge Tool to see the “edge” better by creating a precise selection. Brush over the areas you want Photoshop to refine. Are you excited to learn how to refine edges in Photoshop CC? Choosing this option means that Photoshop will create a selection from all existing layers, not just the currently selected one. Easily the most common reason for poor focus and blurry images, Leaving your camera on its default settings will produce blurry results, Post processing won’t fix a blurry image from a slow shutter ​, Expert Photography © 2011-2020. ‘ Auto-Enhance. In the Layers window select the Edge Mask layer by clicking on it. 'RealPlayer'], How to Select Objects in Busy Backgrounds, Photographers capture a spectacular view of the world. It can make the difference between a subtle, professional-looking image and an obviously “Photoshopped” one. Compositing, or making a new image by combining two or more images, is one of the foundations of the program. Depending on the picture’s resolution, the final effect after you apply feathering will be different. Holding Shift, just Lasso the remaining background by using big sweeping strokes. License stunning content with a plan that suits your needs. Here’s the good stuff. It is particularly useful when you want to take a portion of the image and add it to another image. Carry on along the edge of your object until you meet up with the path again. Now choose the Direct Selection Tool. Press ] or [to adjust the size of the brush. Feathering your selection makes the edges softer. The Global Refinements section along the right side of the window allows you to make incremental adjustments to specific attributes, until the desired changes are achieved. I’ll use this photo to photoshop the smooth edges of the girl and remove the background. With the CS3 behavior, where feathering or shrinking modified all edges of a selection, even if they were at the edges of the image, correcting the resulting selection along the edge of the image requires hand-painting or hand-selecting those pieces that touch the edge to get rid of the unwanted shrinkage, smooth-age, or feather-age. If you’re finding yourself in single digit adjustments, bail out and come back to it in the next step. Drag over an area you want to select. June 14, 2017 | Leave a Comment | A complex contour mask – made one minute. And press Alt+left click to remove details you don’t want to include. The selection in my example is OK but far from perfect. If so, then you’ll need to refine your selection. A long name for a simple but powerful tool in Select and Mask, this brush makes child’s play of hair, fur, and anything fuzzy. This gives the selections slightly rough edges. As usual, start small. 'RealPlayer.RealPlayer(tm) ActiveX Control (32-bit)', With your selection tool still chosen, click Refine Edge on the Options bar or press Ctrl-Alt-R/Cmd-Option-R. Set the zoom level to 100% or 200% by pressing Ctrl- +/Cmd- +. In my example, I used this slider to smoothen the edges of the hair. Select the Magic Wand from the Tools window. Keep it low because it takes away from your selection. If you use one of these and buy something, we make a little bit of money. In my case, the white background is perfect to … Learn how to select and cut out anything from people, hair, trees, complex shapes and even transparency. The second tool down is the Refine Edge Brush. In truth, the selection edges are now softer, but Photoshop's standard "marching ants" selection outline has no way of indicating that the edge is feathered. I’ll be using … Select one of the output options to finalise the selections. This will flip the selection, making the subject the live selection, instead of the background. Discover how to get perfect edges, without halos and jaggies. Make a selection. But, by combining the tools it’s actually quite simple. Hold Shift and keep clicking up and around each shift in color, concentrating your clicks where the subject meets the background. This will flip the selection, making the subject the live selection, instead of the background. Once processed your image should take on the appearance of a line drawing similar to that shown below. Refine edge in Photoshop also works fantastically when you manually blend exposures – especially those with hard edges. Now, use it like normal. To really get a smooth refined edge in some hairy situations, use the Refine Edge Brush Tool. Set Feather Radius > OK Next apply the “Find Edges” filter by selecting “Filters | Stylize | Find Edges” from the Photoshop menu. Auto-Enhance. Check these out. Making selections is the first step in using Photoshop to isolate subjects and parts of images. Here are 5 tips for using Photoshop when…, Don't you just love all those beautiful colours in underwater photography? The Object Select Tool in Photoshop 2020 is a great way to make a fast cutout of a subject or object, no matter how complicated the background. The Find Edges is one of my favorite Photoshop filters for playing with an image.Here’s what you can do with it.. The only issue is that your selection tools will have a difficult time selecting the edges of your subject. But as long as you have a clean selection, you shouldn’t have any problems using the Refine Edge Tool at all. Increase the value of the slider to make the edges of the selection softer and more natural. Very simple, with your selection active, choose any of the selection tools and the refine edge button will appear at the top of the menu bar. First, you can drag the Smooth slider just so you tone down the jagged edge. As you paint near the edges of a shape, the selection area extends to follow the contours of the shape edge. Use different modes to learn which work best for the selection you want to make. After your initial selection, this tool automatically switches to its Add to Selection option. Change the number by 10, up or down, until you find the sweet spot for the particular area. Press the “Marquee Tool” on left toolbar for three seconds and then pick up “Rectangle Marquee Tool” from the list. Easily Select Edges In Your Images Using Photoshop’s Contour Masks. The Refine Edge tool makes this task a lot easier, especially when you have to select hair or fur. Here, you get to adjust the sliders to refine the selection in no time. Select a view mode of Refine Edge, depending on the colours of the photo you are using. This tool tries to find image edges and automatically stops the selection there. This feature can be difficult to find, especially after the recent updates. 'RealVideo.RealVideo(tm) ActiveX Control (32-bit)', It is the perfect solution to jagged edges that are created when using Photoshop for selecting objects. And here’s the result of using Refine Edge in Photoshop on another background. To refine the edges of a selection: Create a selection. Next up is the Auto Enhance. You can still create Photoshop blur edges if you don’t have a mouse. First, go to Select in the menu and click on ‘Select and Mask…’ The Refine Edge window will pop up. It does not appear around pixels that are less than 50% selected. Select>Modify>Feather (Shift+F6) To make soft edges in Photoshop, click on Select > Modify > Feather. Keep in mind that the Quick Selection Tool is used primarily for making quick selections. Digital imaging offers the ability to define complex contours efficiently and precisely, enabling users to affect an image in very specific areas. Adjusting the edges will fix this. Adjust the smooth, feather, contrast and shift edge for the perfect result. Now choose between the Lasso, Polygonal, and the Magnetic Lasso to create a selection. But you can also try the Magic Wand Tool and the Object Selection Tool. The best option when you are finished is the New Layer with Mask option because it offers the most flexibility when you are done. In previous versions of Photoshop, if you selected an area of an image that included an edge area and then chose Select >Modify > Feather, the Feather would be added to the entire selection. Using the Refine Edges tool in Photoshop for busy backgrounds requires the same steps. Quick selection tool 2: The Pen Tool. So you’ll need to go in and manually adjust the details for a more precise selection. I see no cursor and I can't select tpe. You can also choose to open Photoshop first, then select Open from the main screen that appears. Pictures with a uniform background are perfect for practising with the Refine Edge tool. Thankfully, Photoshop has tons of features, such as the Refine Edge tool to help you finish the job quicker. If your selection is too rough, it may end up creating inaccurate samples. Photoshop CC Selection Secrets While this might be desirable in some instances, in the majority of cases, it would be ideal if the feather was only applied within the image (and not to the edges). It allows you to edit the section even further without losing the original photo. First, press OK to get out of the Select and Mask box. Now, click and drag the brush through small sections of hair/fur at a time and allow it to do its thing. 5 Easy Ways to Make Better Selections in Photoshop, Photoshop Basics: Learn How to Use Layers in Your Designs, How to Make a Background Transparent in Photoshop, Halftoning 101: How to Halftone Images in Photoshop, Why the New Photoshop Content-Aware Fill Is Insanely Powerful, How to Whiten Teeth in Photoshop + More Retouching Tips. After this, increase the Feather a bit, to the point when everything looks even. Joris Hermans is a professional travel, documentary & portrait photographer. Use the four other sliders in the Refine Edge window to get the best and most natural result: The Smooth slider smooths out the edges. He has been exploring the world with his camera for more than a decade creating work in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas. But here’s what you need to do: First, go to Select in the menu and click on ‘Select and Mask…’. In Photoshop CC, the Refine Edge tool can be found in the “Select and Mask” area. Move the Shift Edge left or right to shrink or expand the selection. There’s no better way to select hair or fur than using the Refine Edge tool in Photoshop. The Quick Selection Tool is somewhat of a newcomer to the Photoshop selection tool family. I chose an image that looks to be a nightmare to separate from the background. See how it all works here.]. Stop struggling with selections. Refine Edge substituted with the select and mask in the Photoshop CC 2015. But photo manipulation artists create their own worlds. With any selection tool active, click the Refine Edge button on the Options bar at the top of the Photoshop window. I went up to 5 and found that it treats the fur a little better in this situation. Once you have made your selection go to the Select menu and find the option that says ‘ Refine Edges ‘. I’ll use the Quick Selection Tool. Product links on ExpertPhotography are referral links. If you make selections from multiple layers of an image, you can use the Sample All Layers option to merge them into a single selection for editing purposes. All Rights Reserved. Select the Pen Tool then click, drag in the direction of the edge, and release. 'RealVideo.RealVideo(tm) ActiveX Control (32-bit)', Show Radius displays the image with the selection border. It has the same sliders as the Select and Mask tool. To recap, here are suggested uses for the Select and Mask tools: With this combination of controls and tools, you’ll never meet another image you can’t dissect again. To select more, drag over other areas. This step is necessary when your subject is against a contrasting colour background. Using too much will create harsh edges. Press Shift+left click to add areas to your selection. This next photoshop selection method works best if you have a smooth, curved object, with hard edges. The selection grows as you paint. To use the edge detection Tool, check the Smart Radius box and paint around the edge of the Hair. Locate to Layers panel on right side and double click on the picture thumbnail to unlock it. Usually, New Layer with Layer Mask is the best option. Keep away from images with busy backgrounds until you’ve got the hang of it. Photoshop CC Selection Secrets New Course by Colin Smith. You’ll quickly see that this tool is the closest thing to magic we have at this point in human history. It still looks like a solid, hard edge. Select the mask of the layer where you made the selection and go to “Select and Mask” inside the Properties panel. 'rmocx.RealPlayer G2 Control.1', Now hold the Alt (or Option) key and click around the section you want to remove. Under Edge Detection are just two controls: a Radius slider and a Smart Radius check box. To begin refining the selection, start with these settings: On an image like this, when there are lots of undulations, and light coming through fur against a background, we can use the Edge Detection controls, above Global Refinements, to see if Photoshop can better define those areas. Privacy Policy Terms of Use. Start adjusting the improper edges. Then, under Select in the top menu, choose Select and Mask. Paint inside the part of the image you want to select. Find the little tools window in the upper left of the window. He likes road trips, cameras, and complex concepts in design a whole lot. Looking for more photoshop tips and tutorials? [Note: ExpertPhotography is supported by readers. If neither direction helps … The first tool you’ll need is the Quick Selection Tool, which you’ll find in the Select and Mask box. Now just click in the background (the area you want to remove) near the subject to separate them. However, it’s already proved itself to be far more useful than the Magic Wand Tool. So how can you make Photoshop blur edges properly? Next, why not check out our tutorial on using the displacement map in Photoshop. Dragging the slider to the right of center will expand your selection edges outward, which may help to add more hair to the selection, while dragging the slider to the left of center will contract the selection edges inward, tightening up the selection. 2. Select the Refine Edge Brush Tool on the left side, or press “R” on the keyboard. Show Original shows the image without a selection preview. If the selection runs into the subject, hold Option and click that area to deselect it, according to the Tolerance value. 1. 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