dadcowell Loc: Myrtle Beach SC

I am using PSE 11 and Topaz Remask 5. Remask is a wonderful filter, but I can't seem to master masking wispy things like hair. I've searched on Youtube but have not zeroed in on a great instruction on how to mask. Has anyone found a great link that you swear by? Again, I'm particularly interested in masking hair and fur.

Bill

dannac Loc: 60 miles SW of New Orleans

May get more replies in the "Post Processing Section" of the forum.

http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/s-116-1.html

dadcowell Loc: Myrtle Beach SC

OK,

Thanks.

I'll post it there.

Bill

gwong1 Loc: Tampa, FL

I found this on the Topaz site, not sure if it is what you are looking for. There are two tutorials about masking hair. Gary http://blog.topazlabs.com/software/remask/

shelty Loc: Medford, OR

I have been using Remask 5 quite a bit and have learned a lot of tricks. First of all, it is not perfect. But I have found it better than anything else I have tried. When you have a person, especially out of doors, you are going to have one heck of a time cutting hair out as to be suitable. Some areas will nearly match the hair, and high lights will blow the hair out as to be nearly invisible, and yet other areas will be easy. Also, you will get coloring from certain background colors. When I try to cut hair out, one of the things I use is; I make sure that I color it all with the blue, and then set the 'Edge hardness', 'Mask strength', and 'Edge shift' to approximately the middle position. Then try to move each one up and down in order to see if you get a better cutout. But sometimes I have to fake it and do the best I can so that it looks natural.
Heck, I could write a book on all the different Techniques I use to try to save as much hair as possible.

dadcowell Loc: Myrtle Beach SC

Thanks Gary,

I'll check it out.

Bill

marcomarks Loc: Ft. Myers, FL

I personally watched a tutorial video on the Topaz site. The girl recommended changing the whole scene to blue first, put a line of red around the object to create a closed loop and fill the loop with red, put a line of green to create a closed area wherever the subject is solid and fill the subject closed loop with green. Then you have just a blue edge that needs to be worked on. She was doing a tree that was alone in a field that needed a new sky so she worked with green first and selectively picked colors from the tree limbs and branches to paint the whole tree with. Then she selected a red to fill between the branches with. She said that any trivial little blue that was left would be calculated according to the pixels around it and ReMask would refine your mask when you push the Compute button. In her example it was true. I was interested in this because I put new skies behind homes I shoot for real estate agents when it's a cloudy day or the sky is just white with no blue showing from behind the cloud covering. I do a LOT of tree limbs home roofs, background shrubbery, etc. It works quite well but it's not perfect because I'm working fast. Hair is going to have more shades of color and shadows so you'll have to really zoom in to get it right. Another of their tutorials has a guy cut a furry dog out of a scene and it looks virtually perfect to my eye. Good luck!

dadcowell Loc: Myrtle Beach SC

Thanks for your comments marcomarks. They make it look so easy on those videos, don't they? I do ok but find a lot of difficulty when the hair is frosted and the background is similar like wood behind brown hair.

Bill

marcomarks Loc: Ft. Myers, FL

True. I have difficulty when tree limbs are reflecting some light and the sky behind them is white. You can fuss with the "range" slider and it narrows the range of shades of color considerably. I start out with the range wide open so that when I'm masking the sky, it takes in a large variety of shades of cloudiness. Most times I'm in a hurry and I leave the range wide open while I'm doing green on the tree limbs and leaves but sometimes I'm not in a hurry and reduce the range to be more accurate. That may be the key to finding the differences between frosted hair and the wood behind it. Every time I use it, the situation is different and I have to try things to get it to happen. I don't have to be as accurate as you are because people haven't studied the trees around their yards to be able to see when I've erased a limb or a few leaves off the top, or a stray electric tower or wire in the distance. I've also found out that I can put a new sky into a pool cage roof or the front of a screened in lanai. The only things that need to be accurate are the support posts and crossbars. The good thing is that there is a back button to keep trying the same area over and over until you get it right!