planepics Loc: St. Louis burbs, but originally Chicago burbs

How would I take a pic (this one or any other) and eliminate everything except the main subject, like maybe having an all black background to emphasize the sculpture? Is PS7 intelligent enough to isolate the main subject or will it take hours at pixel-level to do? I'm trying to decide which book to get to help me (separate thread a couple weeks ago)

Vase made from medicine bottles filled with colored water - Chinese Lantern Festival at St. Louis Botanical (aka Shaw) Gardens

perk263 Loc: NE Ohio

Thanks for posting this question. I can't help yet but I did just order a used copy of Photoshop 7 for Dummies 10 in 1 for .25 from Amazon. But I will be watching this post.

sinatraman Loc: Vero Beach Florida, Earth,alpha quaudrant

you can do it by open your photo go to layers hit duplicate layers. use whatever selection tool you are comfortable with, select the vase hit invert create new fill layer select black as color. you may have to pplay with opacity some. wasn't very good with photoshop 7 stillprefer pse 9. there maybe an easier way than what i suggested.

Drigby1 Loc: American Fork, UT

Try the magnetic lasso tool, then feather the image.

katbandit Loc: new york city

On a Mac you would put this shot into photoshop ..hit command j to make a duplicate..then the easiest way I would do it would be to select all..and start erasing the background...make a new layer ..then choose a solid background ..move that layer under the layer with the "cut out" layer
It took me a while to get the layers concept but just imagine them being sheets of paper and it may be easier to grasp the idea..
I hope that sort of gave you an idea..you can try to go on you tube and see if there is a more visual tutorial..I sometimes use my iPad as the instructor and follow the tutorial while working on the project itself on the computer...

jimbo70 Loc: Orange Park, FL.

Unfortunatley with #7 there is no easy way. The above methods work sometimes depending on how intricate the object is, or you can do duplicate layers and paint the bottom layer black (or any other color) and then use the eraser tool with a fairly hard edge. This process can take a lot of time and a very steady hand.

Searcher Loc: Kent, England

I downloaded your image and tried various methods of selecting using PS7. Nothing I tried worked well, but Drigby1's suggestion of using the magnetic selection tool was the best. After selecting with the mag lasso, use Quick mask "Q" and a small brush to refine the edges.

With PS7 it will be a long job - especially around the bottle tops which are ill defined when zoomed in to 200=300%.

Another idea you might like to consider is this:

Duplicate the layer a couple of times, Turn off visibility on the bottem two layers and using the mag. lasso and feathering select best you can the image on the top layer. Delete or erase the surrounding image. When done - it does not have to be perfect - deslect and turn off visibility on this top layer and show the second layer. Add a strong gaussian blur to this second layer. Turn back on the top layer and see if the result works for you. If all is well, merge or flatten.Save as edited image (preserve original)

Funboystu Loc: Cambridgeshire, UK

I do not have PS 7, but I can suggest a course of action to preserve the original file, but is too big for me to upload. Open your original file, then double click on the layer called 'background'. It will pop up with a new layer letting you rename the layer. It also unlocks the special 'background' layer so now you can use clipping masks. I would suggest using the magic wand tool, making sure anti-alias and contiguous boxes are ticked and tolerance is set to no more than 32. now hold down the shift key and start to select the main areas of colour you wnat to cut out. It will take practice and patience but once you have finished with you selection go to LAYER menu and select LAYER MASK-->reveal selection. now you have a mask you can alter to hide or reveal portions of the picture. The checkerboxes in the background show transparency so you can leave like this or add a new layer underneath and fill with black or a colour. Now you have a layer mask you can alter with a black or white brush, and also blur or sharpen filters to refine the selection. Just click on the layer mask next to the picture of the layer.
There are plenty of tutorials online in forums and youtube, what you really need to do is find a lot of pictures to practice with.
I hope this helps :)

crissx09 Loc: FL-USA

Even I am not using it regularly I have Photoshop 7 in my computer more for sentimental value.Anyway you may be able to get the book "How to do everything with Photoshop 7" by Laurie McCanna (check in the internet) and you will be all set. Good luck.!!

Kamraman Loc: Canada

Well I tried for you..

katbandit Loc: new york city

it is a great try.very well done in fact .thats what i would've done..

planepics Loc: St. Louis burbs, but originally Chicago burbs

That's exactly what I was going for! ( I wouldn't have cropped quite so tight though) Can you e-mail me the file and explain how you did it? I just think it makes the vase really pop. PS your avatar kind of looks like the former Meigg's Field on Chicago's lakefront.

Harvey Loc: Pioneer, CA

One could try opening a new image -coloring it black - open the vase image - use the "extract" tool process and place it in/on the new image - the extract tool does a better job than the "selection" tools for this type of work as the program selects the pixels of the object much better.
IMHO
Harvey

PS - I have been ordering the PS for dummies from Amazon and giving them to my friend who are struggling with PS7 & elements for quite a while - everyone seems to have been helped immensely

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

To get an accurate selection you should use the pen tool. Convert to selection and cntl-j and then make a new blank layer and fill black. (Cntl-N)(Shift F5) Make sure your cut out layer is above the new black layer. Done.

Wendy2 Loc: California

The edges are so intricate that it does take a while to get it right, but it can be done and more easily with a pen. Here it is on white and on black