In this lesson, I'm going to show you how to remove a background from an image 2 2
using this photo of my buddy Anthony it's called remove background. So if you just 3 3
double-click that, that would actually open up this image in Photoshop zoom in 4 4
just a little bit. 5 5
The easiest way to do this is with this quick selection tool, so I just choose 6 6
the quick selection tool, I can adjust my brush size if I want or I can use the op 7 7
control option key on my keyboard or windows all key if you are on a PC to 8 8
increase or decrease the size. And then just drag over his face, change the 9 9
breast size to get his ear right here the ear and the background kind of blend 10 10
in not just because of the colors but also his face is perfectly in focus by 11 11
his ears and his shirt their kind of out of focus, so it's kind of hard to get 12 12
this selection perfect right here. So you have to kind of go in there with a 13 13
smaller brush and make your selection. Then when you are fairly happy with the 14 14
selection, when you have all the big important parts of the face or the body 15 15
selected even if there's not a wisp of hair selected, that's ok. Click selected 16 16
mask if you are on an older version of Photoshop it's called refine edge. I can 17 17
drag and drop this transparency slider right here, so that I can actually see 18 18
the background or have a completely transparent that's completely transparent 19 19
that's kind of nice. So I can see what it looks like without any of the background. 20 20
I'm going to check on the smart radius button and photoshop tries to 21 21
intelligently fix the edges so if there's a wisp of hair or something like 22 22
that it will make that selection and I can increase or decrease this. If I 23 23
increase it too much, it starts to get rid of some of the edge that I have and 24 24
I don't like that. So you gotta make sure that it's not going overboard. 25 25
We can also use the smooth move button. Smooth will make your edges more smooth. 26 26
So they are not as jagged, if there's not as many edges and there's not as many 27 27
changes in directions and that can be good but sometimes four phases with hair 28 28
that's not a good option, because you want to get those little details of the 29 29
hairs feathering. I can increase just a little bit contrast i'm definitely going 30 30
to use right here, there's a lot of contrast between say Anthony's beard in 31 31
the background, so increasing contrast will help photoshop no to select the 32 32
darker parts versus the lighter parts, 33 33
this looks pretty good and so I'm just going to select ok. Now with the 34 34
selection man i'm just going to copy and paste it and pressing command+C and then 35 35
command be on my mac ctrl+c, ctrl+v if you are on a PC, I'm going to turn off my 36 36
background and just add a solid color in the background. 37 37
This is actually an image i'm using for a documentary about Anthony and I use 38 38
some sort of color similar to this in the background, so you can see here what 39 39
happened with the edge of Anthony right here, you can give this highlight I don't 40 40
like that little highlight right there. So I'm going to go back and actually 41 41
re-edit this but first I'm going to make this background layer a regular layer so 42 42
that I could put it on top of this color layer. So now when I make this selection 43 43
just going to quickly go over Anthony space and shoulders right here. 44 44
Make sure you get his ear and now when I go to select and mask, I can see the 45 45
actual background, so I can see what that edge looks like. I think it was actually 46 46
a lot to do with this smart radius that created that sort of highlighted edge, so 47 47
maybe i'm just going to decrease that a little bit and I think feathering added 48 48
a bit of that as well. And so if I do increase the feathering what I'm also 49 49
going to do is decrease or shift the edge negatively, so that decreases the 50 50
edge and it kind of shrinks this, so we are not going to get any of that white 51 51
background, that's kind of shining through the beard right here. I'm also 52 52
going to increase the contrast and the feather just a little bit. 53 53
I like that kind of selection a little bit better there are still some little 54 54
white spots and we can deal with those in just a second. I'm just going to 55 55
select ok copy and paste this and now we have the selection. So I'm going to just 56 56
for the sake of right. Now delete these other layers, I typically wouldn't do 57 57
this but i'm just going to delete those other layers to keep it clean, so to 58 58
erase some of this white right here I can use a layer mask, so i'm going to 59 59
drag this down to layer mask. I'm going to zoom in here on this photo, I'm going 60 60
to make sure I have the layer mask selected press be on the keyboard to 61 61
bring up the brush, make the brush a lot smaller using this slider up here or the 62 62
control option keys on a mac or windows Alt key. You've heard me say that a lot. 63 63
And then just he out some of this kind of hard because I don't want the edge to 64 64
be too smooth and it might look a little bit smooth if I'm on the brush. So I'm 65 65
gonna leave some of the detail trial leave some of the wisps of hair but 66 66
really get some rid of some of those bigger white spots. And seeing with up in 67 67
his hair. Right here get rid of this big one I think there's one over here at the 68 68
top just a little bit and shaping his hair is so it looks a little bit more natural. 69 69
It doesn't have that big white from the background. So you can see how you could 70 70
go in here and do a lot to this image and spend a lot of time finally editing 71 71
it and it really depends on how much time you have and what you want to do 72 72
with it but that looks a lot better than that other master I had before. So that's 73 73
how you would remove someone from the background using the quick selection 74 74
tool, using the refine edge tool or the selected mask tool that is in the new 75 75
photoshop and then using a layer mask to get rid of some of the edge that you don't want. 76 76
The great thing about the layer mask is I can go back and paint on what I just 77 77
painted off because it is thereIi just have to go in with my brush, say increase 78 78
my brush size change this to white and paint it back on and on 79 79
undo, you see what I've done. Thank you so much for watching .I think it's time for 80 80
you to take action yourself and to go do this on your own photo. So take a photo 81 81
of yourself and try removing the background and when you have done that 82 82
posted to the course page, so that me and the rest of the students can check it 83 83
out. Thanks for watching and we'll see you next time.