Anyone here with hands on experience useing MaskPro? I'm working on a project useing very old photographs(even got two tintypes).Trying to cut out portraits of people to be placed on new backgrounds.Done this many times before useing quik mask,then painting/cloneing back hair that got removed.The problem(nightmare)is the old photos are monotone,softfocus,with alot of lace and wispy hair/beards. Is MaskPro going to help here or is doing everthing by hand in Photoshop the best route? I'm doing this work probono(free) for a historical club,but still want the results to be the best I can do. SWAMP

I have absolutly no idea what mask pro is or does.... BUT I can rid you the pain of clone'n make new layer (Fill Black) set mode to screen and start to use your brush (white) on the out side of the person.... use the smudge and blur tool to whisp beards a and soften edges I hope this works for you, it's still by hand but maybe a bit less by hand. just don't flatten the image... untill you are completly satisfied. as for turning this layer into a slection so you can put it on a new back ground... copy this layer and enter quick mask mode... open the channels palette and paste it in the appropriate one. duplicate and erase your background layer and make your new BG. total of thee layers. Give that a go & tell us how you get on. Photoshop! only use another program when you really, really, really (X 10) , really need to.

Thanks alot for the reply,karosnikov.I'm sorry I did not get back sooner,but it has been one of those"nothing goes right,long days",and I just got home. Anyway,while I know there is no one way to do everything,the method you described is a good one and very similar to the one that I'm useing.When I said I was painting/cloneing,what I'm useing is the history brush and the healing brush.I wish the images I'm working on were like the one you have shown(very clean cut borders),but they're not.The photos are from the late 1800's,where bushy beards for the men,and high lace collars,curly(wispy)hair,and hats with plumes(feathers)for the women were the fasion.All this against a non-contrasting background.Try pulling a light colored feather off a light colored background and you'll see what I mean....not easy.I can do this..it's just very,very time consumeing.Time is something I don't have alot of.I did get some feedback late today, from a fellow photographer that has and uses MaskPro.He likes it and said that while you do everything by hand,you can do it faster and more precise.Really thinking about it. BTW,what MaskPro is/does is a plugin for makeing masks,selections,and clipping paths. Thanks once again for the help you offered...very nice of you. The very tired,SWAMP

not a problem... there are about 101 ways you could do it just which works best is up to you. This suggestion came becuase I saw the advantage of always have'n an editable mask. in effect turning the new layer into the mask so you don't have to heal the original pic because the new layer does not effect it untill you do the enivitable.. the very very last thing you do. Because you should also dupliacte the original background layer of the scan... selct all delete, then ~ fill with green or something and you will see the full power of my assistance... when I'm can express myself better the more helpfull it will be. after you paste the mask layer into the quick mask chanel.... and delte the selection from the Photgraph .... hide the mask layer and have a look at what you've done... and post an exaple here. Photshop has masks, selections, and clipping paths... you can make selections from paths and make paths from selections. but I think you know that.