Hi guys! I've been workin' on this image of my friend for like over a month now...trying to erase the background. My hands shake a lot so this is very hard for me. I've gotten a lot done but still have a long ways to go. This is SO tedious! Is there an easier way??? hopin' someone might have a trick up their sleeve! I don't have much left, but as you can see, that pole is not smooth. This is driving me crazy!!!!! Thanks for the help!

Sheila, When you erase the bg, use the lhaso tool and the delete key on the larger areas. When erasing along that pole you may want to take your mouse and roll out the image (making it larger) until it starts to pixelate, you get a cleaner removal this way, working larger. Hope this helps! Brenda :)

You can always use the magic wand tool and increase the step in it to marquee the girl and perhaps most of what she is holding.Then copy it as a new image.Flood fill the background.Then paste her back in. Remeber to have a duplicate to add any parts of her back in.If you see lines one the new selections use the eraser tool very slightly.

"The happiness of a man in this life does not consist in the absence but in the mastery of his passions."

Hmmm - I've always had better luck with the pen tool - it allows you to modify the outlining after the fact, and you can do the outlining in multiple steps (not to mention it does wonders for slight curves - plot a point at the beginning, and at the end, and adjust the bezier (sp?) until you;ve got exactly what you want. Command click on the outlne and set whatever feathering ou want and PRESTO - great outline! (I'd be more than happy to help outlining this image if you want.)

I just tried to brush out some of the areas in the post above. I love picking objects out of a pic and have tried all the tricks in this trade to the best of my ability. If you ask me...... First...........I clean out the unwanted areas using lasso free hand tool. Major chunk removal is done easily this way, saves time going rub rub rub. Secondly......... I again would use the lasso tool to draw a neat outline around areas like the pole and hair line. It's best cropped out that way. Thirdly..........Whatever tiny bit remains can either be cloned out or can be erased using the erase tool using the background color as the color of your choice. Like you musta noticed I have posted several flowers in black background. I kept the background color black while cutting out the area. If you choose white then let it be white. Don't worry about your shaky hands sis..... your bro has an equally shaky hands............and infact, erasing and lasso selection have made me go calm and easy. So, consider this a remeady;) If you get bored of the above stuff.... you can try spray and block out areas.;) SNAKEY

well, you've already gotten some excellent suggestions, the most important on these is to work BIG!! i like using the lasso tool, freehand selection, point to point (depending on the program you're using) keep at it, we've all been here :]

Wow!!!!! I am overwhelmed at ALL the tricks you guys have told me!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU ALL!!!!!!! I am going to print out all of your suggestions and keep them handy!!!! You guys have any idea how much this is going to help me??!! You all are the BEST!!!! Snakey...yep...so sick of that rub, rub, rub! and sick of holding my breath to still my hands!!!! arrrggggg Plus, I have arthritis in my hands...oh man...all that erasing makes my hand hurt SO bad!!! Brenda, Cindy, I am rolling it out big, but my hands just don't stop shakin. But i have some good tricks to try here!!! Yea!!!! thanks again everybody!

You re welcome sweety.:O))

Hi Sheila !

i mostly use the Path Tool to make selections.make a path around your object and after this turn it in an selection.
invert the selection and feather the selection some pixels.
now you can delete the background.
after this i used a radial softener to make the edges softer.

regards

gerhard

sorry i forgot. this work to remove a background normaly i need 15 min. - 2 hours on postwork. regards gerhard

Oooooh...I love that feathering, Gerhard!!!! That softness makes a really nice touch!!! I will have to try this! uh...well..that is if I HAVE a radial sofener. I use PSP7. hmmm...i don't recall having this tool/filter...whatever it is. U know if there's something similar for PSP7??? Thanks SO much!!!!! sheila

Hi Sheila ! the Path tool is called Pen Tool, sorry. when you add the radial blur( there is a radial blur filter in Potoshop 7 ), make a fast selection around the parts who should be untouched( you can make a simple oval around it ). feather the selection again. you need some try to do this. have fun gerhard

oh i forgot. you can change a selection in a path too. a path is like working in Adobe Illustrator, you know what i mean ? its a Vector Tool (Bezier). its exactly what Wolfsnap said above. gerhard !!!!!!!!!!! #:O) !!!!!!!!!