[saint.panda]

Thanks Fastjack and boodi, I'll try following your instructions.

 

[Edwood]

I remember seeing a portable, reflective photography sweep. It was in a slim folio briefcase size. I saw then on eBay. Not sure of how well it works, but eBay buyers seemed happy. Great for quick product shots with no shadow or background, but I would think that edge blooming and anything chrome would be problematic.

Ironically, shooting too professionally for items on eBay get's the opposite result. The more unprofessional and uniquely "at home" the images are, the more legit it looks. Otherwise it can be mistaken for stock photos.

-Ed

 

[saint.panda]

Ok, I still need more practice with the path tool so for the moment I'm concentrating on the magic wand. Combined with the quick mask mode, I can get my desired selection quickly enough. The only problem I have is that the edges around my selection are too harsh. It always turns out like this:


How do I get the edges to be smoother and less "pixely"?

Thanks again.

 

[ilikemonkeys]

work with a larger original picture.

I blow mine up to 200-300% for more detail.

 

[saint.panda]

Thanks! Works much better now although still not perfect. Is there perhaps some kind of blurring option for the borders? I wouldn't mind sacrificing some resolution at the borders if I can achieve a somewhat smoother overall impression.

 

[ilikemonkeys]

use the unsharp mask.

 

[XxATOLxX]

Use the Filter > Extract tool, it usually makes extractions much cleaner looking.

 

[USER NAME:]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ilikemonkeys use the unsharp mask.

This actually makes it sharper, not what you want.

I suggest making a path. Learning to use the pen tool is imprortant.

 

[boodi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by USER NAME: This actually makes it sharper, not what you want

..it depends on how you handle the 3 levers ,
generally I use it quite frequently to clean up large amount of white to gray dirt on dark/color backgrounds

 

[boodi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by saint.panda Thanks! Works much better now although still not perfect. Is there perhaps some kind of blurring option for the borders? I wouldn't mind sacrificing some resolution at the borders if I can achieve a somewhat smoother overall impression.

get the blur item , then play a bit with hardness and diameter ( right click ) and strenght ( top of the screen , under the main menu line bar ) ; start with a low strenght ( 20 % )

then click , keep down and move along the border , all 1 time

pay attention as blur is quite always drastic , the best thing is to get proper zoom and use proper diameter .

 

[USER NAME:]

Quote:

Originally Posted by boodi ..it depends on how you handle the 3 levers

No matter how you adjust the Amount/Radius/Threshold, it will always make the image sharper, unless of course you set them all to "0" which will change nothing. It starts from no change > to super sharp

If you insist on doing things the half ass way, You can "command/click" the layer in the layers pallette which will make a selectiion. Then go to select> modify border. Enter 4 pixels and then Gausian blur the selection 3 pixels then deselect.

 

[boodi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by USER NAME: No matter how you adjust the Amount/Radius/Threshold, it will always make the image sharper

not my case..
..
..I was referring on doing it on a 200 zoom % ( 200/300 is the normality here for cleaning up )

 

[saint.panda]

Thanks for all the replies! I guess I'll have to invest more time in the path approach; it sounds like the most straight-forward and common solution.

 

[boodi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by saint.panda Thanks for all the replies! I guess I'll have to invest more time in the path approach; it sounds like the most straight-forward and common solution.

once you'll know the powers of the pen in photoshop you'll be a path superhero

 

[saint.panda]

Wow, the path thing is really useful and intuitive as well. Great tool. Now I can concentrate on effects and enhancing the pictures.

Again, thanks to everybody who helped me out.