Combining Images: The original image of the three girls in dress-up had all kinds of things in the background. I attempted to select just the children, and move them to a different...

Wanda Krack Loc: Tennessee, USA

The original image of the three girls in dress-up had all kinds of things in the background. I attempted to select just the children, and move them to a different bkg. The one with the milky way so far has been my fav. Any suggestions for improvement, ease of removal and transfer, or plain advice would be acceptable. I have printed some on 13X19 paper..........I figure the girls can tack them up and use even throwaways in their artwork if they want to!

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Nice work, Wanda.
--Bob

Wanda Krack wrote:

The original image of the three girls in dress-up had all kinds of things in the background. I attempted to select just the children, and move them to a different bkg. The one with the milky way so far has been my fav. Any suggestions for improvement, ease of removal and transfer, or plain advice would be acceptable. I have printed some on 13X19 paper..........I figure the girls can tack them up and use even throwaways in their artwork if they want to!

PixelStan77 Loc: Vermont/Chicago

Wanda Krack wrote:

The original image of the three girls in dress-up had all kinds of things in the background. I attempted to select just the children, and move them to a different bkg. The one with the milky way so far has been my fav. Any suggestions for improvement, ease of removal and transfer, or plain advice would be acceptable. I have printed some on 13X19 paper..........I figure the girls can tack them up and use even throwaways in their artwork if they want to!

Very creative Wanda.

Wanda Krack Loc: Tennessee, USA

Thanks Bob, but I am still working on them from time to time........the extracting part I find the most difficult and perhaps poorly done.........then there is the colors.........I love the images of the children, unpoised, but it may take me a year to get a print I think is worthy!

Wanda Krack Loc: Tennessee, USA

Thank you PixelStan77

artBob Loc: Near Chicago

Fine work in imagination, color, and composition. I do like the feet in #1 better than #2 because they seem more to be walking on air.

Cany143 Loc: SE Utah

I hope you know just how good your first image is simply as an image.

Yeah, there might be a thing or two you could do on the technical side, but that's minor. What's important is that you're on a good path and are striving to make it a great path.

bleirer

Nice shots and a good idea! Number one is more compelling to me composition-wise. For your extracting from the background question, you didn't say if you have Photoshop, but the refine edge tool can help sometimes to select the fine hair and separate from the background. The trick is to start the selection totally within the hair, then brush using the refine edge brush to make the selection area include the fine strands of hair.

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/select-mask.html

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

If you're using Photoshop I find it easiest to cut out things using the quick selection tool, then using "select and mask". In the dialog that select and mask brings up, go to the bottom and set the output to "New layer with layer mask". That turns off the original layer and gives you a copy of that layer, but with a mask defined by your selection. The mask has focus, and you can take the brush and draw on the mask to refine small details. I find that helps to refine the edge. You can set the brush feathering to whatever is appropriate or you could use the polygonal lasso to define a selection and fill it with black or white to make large area changes in the mask.

You can put a layer beneath the cutout with a solid color to make it easier to see the edge and just turn it off when you're done. Another thing you can do is to make the original layer visible but decrease the opacity to 30-50%. That will let you see what is next to the edge you're defining but since it's low opacity you can tell the difference between the cutout and the original.

Wanda Krack Loc: Tennessee, USA

Yes, I use PS, but have an older version. Thank you DirtFarmer and bleirer for your suggestion with extraction. I will keep working on them as I also like the idea, and the girls images seem to go well with the milky way. I haven't even looked at the tutorials that I know are out there on using some of these tools, but it should give me some rainy day fun! Thanks for your help.

Wanda Krack Loc: Tennessee, USA

Thanks also to artBob and Cany143 for your encouragement.

PattyW60 Loc: Northwest Illinois

I love this, Wanda! Thank you for your post, as I'm new to everything in Photoshop and am struggling to learn how to do this.

In-lightened Loc: Kansas City

I really love the first image! Its magical and reminds me of the innocents and sense of adventure of my youth. I am trying to learn more about PS and layers...sigh. This encourages me to try harder, or go to a workshop.

yssirk123 Loc: New Jersey

Nice set Wanda - very creative!

jimcrna Loc: indiana/florida

wands.i very rarely comment on others work but this is, in my opinion, really great esp if one of your early attempts..very striking.jim