This will flip the selection, making the subject the live selection, instead of the background. Keep it low as well. If your border is uniformly hard or soft, you may not want to select this option. This feature can be difficult to find, especially after the recent updates. If you want to understand how to smooth edges in Photoshop, this is the best way to do it. 1. The background affects how difficult making the selection will be. 'RealPlayer'], How to Select Objects in Busy Backgrounds, Photographers capture a spectacular view of the world. If you find the wand tedious or conversely too hungry, adjust the Tolerance. This gives the selections slightly rough edges. Here are 3 of the 7 steps we uncover in this 21 minute video: ['rmockx.RealPlayer G2 Control', This will flip the selection, making the subject the live selection, instead of the background. In truth, the selection edges are now softer, but Photoshop's standard "marching ants" selection outline has no way of indicating that the edge is feathered. License stunning content with a plan that suits your needs. Auto-Enhance. Carry on along the edge of your object until you meet up with the path again. Easily the most common reason for poor focus and blurry images, Leaving your camera on its default settings will produce blurry results, Post processing won’t fix a blurry image from a slow shutter ​, Expert Photography © 2011-2020. The results of this 1-pixel change may be all you need. Thankfully, Photoshop has tons of features, such as the Refine Edge tool to help you finish the job quicker. This tool tries to find image edges and automatically stops the selection there. Y the most when refining edges in Photoshop. Using too much will create harsh edges. To select more, drag over other areas. Now choose the Direct Selection Tool. If so, then you’ll need to refine your selection. This lets you fine tune specific areas and put more space between the subject and the background. So you’ll need to go in and manually adjust the details for a more precise selection. Determine the harsh edges by holding Alt and using the mouse scroll wheel to zoom. In previous versions of Photoshop, if you selected an area of an image that included an edge area and then chose Select >Modify > Feather, the Feather would be added to the entire selection. Start adjusting the improper edges. But you can also try the Magic Wand Tool and the Object Selection Tool. With the CS3 behavior, where feathering or shrinking modified all edges of a selection, even if they were at the edges of the image, correcting the resulting selection along the edge of the image requires hand-painting or hand-selecting those pieces that touch the edge to get rid of the unwanted shrinkage, smooth-age, or feather-age. Select one of the output options to finalise the selections. Very simple, with your selection active, choose any of the selection tools and the refine edge button will appear at the top of the menu bar. 2. Quick selection tool 2: The Pen Tool. So how can you make Photoshop blur edges properly? But, by combining the tools it’s actually quite simple. To refine the edges of a selection: Create a selection. Check these out. I chose an image that looks to be a nightmare to separate from the background. Select the mask of the layer where you made the selection and go to “Select and Mask” inside the Properties panel. The selection doesn’t have to be perfect, but make sure not to leave out large parts. 5. You’ll quickly see that this tool is the closest thing to magic we have at this point in human history. But photo manipulation artists create their own worlds. With your selection tool still chosen, click Refine Edge on the Options bar or press Ctrl-Alt-R/Cmd-Option-R. Set the zoom level to 100% or 200% by pressing Ctrl- +/Cmd- +. 'RealVideo.RealVideo(tm) ActiveX Control (32-bit)', Show Original shows the image without a selection preview. I’ll use the Quick Selection Tool. Now, use it like normal. In my case, the white background is perfect to see the selection and what I’m doing. To control how the selection previews … Using the Refine Edges tool in Photoshop for busy backgrounds requires the same steps. I’ll use this photo to photoshop the smooth edges of the girl and remove the background. In this guide, we will go over straightforward, uncomplicated methods to help you get the best selections possible. Adjusting the edges will fix this. Between the quick manual work and the automatic controls, you have all you should need to make smooth selections like a pro. Making selections is the first step in using Photoshop to isolate subjects and parts of images. Start with the slider set to 1, and leave Smart Radius unchecked. Now you might be asking, why not let Refine Edge Tool do the job? In my example, I used this slider to smoothen the edges of the hair. In my case, the white background is perfect to … He has been exploring the world with his camera for more than a decade creating work in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas. As you paint near the edges of a shape, the selection area extends to follow the contours of the shape edge. You can also select your interests for free access to our premium training: Making selections of people in Photoshop is not easy. Joris Hermans is a professional travel, documentary & portrait photographer. Discover how to get perfect edges, without halos and jaggies. Click “Select Subject” and Photoshop will automatically analyse the image, and make a selection of the dog as shown below: The selection looks great however there is still room for improvement – if you look closely, you will see the hair around the edge wasn’t selected. 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