RECOMMENDATIONS FOR TRIMMING PHOTO FROM BACKGROUND

fastline

Newbie here

I guess I might need some photography and PS help. We recently are taking several pics to be added to the web. We have to snap a pic of them, then trim the background off or make it transparent. Problem is most of the parts are shiny and the background color reflects on the parts so most of the tools are not working very good. I am currently running PS 7.0.

My questions:

1. Is there a smart solution to get PS 7 to trim my photos faster and better? Size recommendations and pixels as well.

2. Would it be well worth getting a newer version of PS to trim these images easier?

3. Would anyone have a recommendation of how to properly setup a scene to take pics of our parts? consider a near chrome part. We want to accentuate the details of the part and the shine but need to easily remove the background in PS. WE have tried a cardboard green backer, white, backer, fluorescent light, incandescent light, etc. Just cannot get PS to help us out.

Right now, the only thing that seems to work OK, is just zoom way in and use the polygon tool. I have been able to get the eraser and wand tool to trim some but always leaves pixels in the background that I have to go clean up anyway.

kyleko · Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 4:59 pm Post subject:

Can you post an image that you are trying to work with please? It is near impossible to help without seeing the image.

fastline · Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 6:39 pm Post subject:

I added a sample file. We will of course flip this to a png that supports the clear background. I would note that I do have higher rezzy images here that will work better for trimming but I could only load up to a 200K image. If this will not work for testing let me know.

If there is a preferred background to use in photos knowing I will be trimming it, let me know. I am sure people that do plenty of trimming know what will work good.

bdbolin · Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 7:20 pm Post subject:

I'd use green background with magic wand tool. If you're wanting extremely smooth details use the pen tool.

fastline · Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 7:47 pm Post subject:

Here is a part with the green background. Problem I find is it reflects on the part so the wand sucks. Do the newer PS versions work better? Also, the green we use, even though one color, will show lights and darks when zooming so the wand does not do so hot in PS 7.

bdbolin · Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 7:58 pm Post subject:

Maybe get some ideas from a cheep lightbox: http://www.creativepro.com/article/digital-photography-how-to-building-a-light-tent

wave of light · Posted: Thu Oct 01, 2009 5:43 am Post subject:

You are going to have this problem because your products have a lot of reflective materials in them.

I did a job a while ago for a company who specialized in catering products, all reflective materials. I became very good with the Pen tool after that job!

raz50 · Posted: Thu Oct 01, 2009 8:11 am Post subject:

how about masking the objects and then use the magix wand?

fastline · Posted: Thu Oct 01, 2009 12:54 pm Post subject:

I have not tried masking the picture. Not sure if that would work or not. What is your procedure for that?

wave of light · Posted: Thu Oct 01, 2009 1:24 pm Post subject:

Masking still requires you to either mask the product or the surrounding area, using the Magic Wand tool, Quick mask or by using the Pen tool to draw a Vector mask.

Anyway, this was a 10 min job using the Pen tool, drawing around you objects and creating a mask to show only the items. It's not brilliant, but you get the idea.

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