Background removal question.

In this case, the Red channel presented the best option for a Mask.

and rough painting in white with the brush set to Overlay produced

Curves produced the needed solid black for the background, then applied as shown here

To  produce this

Look for a channel that may be the basis for a useful mask, and in this case it was Lab Color's  b  channel.

A steep single Curves adjustment made by sliding the end points horizontally produced this:

and with minor touchup, when applied, produced this:

At this point you may consider adjusting the image contrast.

OK so now you can mark my work .  So to get a white back ground for this to be set against so I can introduce a drop shadow.. In your original instructions, point no. 8 Set output to.. Where do I find this option to set output ?

Bingo !! That worked.. the reset Select and Mask. Let me try the painting it white bit you just mentioned a short while ago..

Thanks again Dave. I have the preferences set the way you described already ?   Any clues ? Should I restart Photoshop to resolve ?

This is truly great. On my level of learning.. I will surely owe you a large Jar or more for your help. Both of you.  Dave, I proceed with your instructions as they are more probably at an introductory level. 

Dave, I got as far as the attached image following your instructions but you'll see there is now a small hole in one of the daffs towards the lower right. When I attempt to try and fix this I need to select 'Select and Mask' once more. When I hit that it removes all the selection I have already made ?  Is there any way to 'continue' masking ?

Hi Rob

Try this :

1. Click on any selection tool then in the options bar click on Select and mask

2. In Select and mask go to the top right and set View to onion skin and transparency to approx 50%

3. At the toolbar on the left choose the top tool (quick select)

4. Set the brush size to about 90 and brush over the wanted areas (don't work at this stage if it spills into any unwanted areas)

5. Hold down the Alt key and brush over any unwanted areas that were included in 4 (you may need to reduce the brush size and repeat steps 4-5 )

6. If this was fur or hair you would now use the second tool (refine edge) but that is not needed here

7. Pick the third tool and with the brush size set to small - brush over any final details (hold Alt key down to remove from selection)

8. Set output to New Layer with Layer mask and do not check decontaminate colours - Click OK

9 Add a new layer underneath the masked layer using Layer - New Fill Layer - Solid Colour and set it to white

10. In the layers panel right click on the masked layer and choose Blending options

In the options set a drop shadow as shown below

11. Finally (optional) I have added a curve layer to brighten up the flowers

If you wish to refine the mask further you can either - double click on it in the layers panel to re-open select and mask or you you can single click then paint on it directly with a soft brush (white will reveal the layer and black will hide it it)

I hope that helps you

Dave

Frankly, these images are going to require a lot of manual work. The Pen tool might be the best bet. You can start by using channels to try and isolate contrasting colors such as the red and greens in the Japanese Maple. Converting to L*A*B* color also help when separating the channels, as it's not as sensitive to light and shadows, more just the color of the object. Here's a sample of a starting point. Once you get the edge, you can paint in the large areas. You can also use the brush tool in overlay mode to help clean up some of the edge detail.

Heres what I'd do as an example,  Obviously I don't have time to cut out the whole image but this should give you a rough idea of what you can do;

First I'll select the polygonal lasso tool to cut around the image, the longer you take during this step the better end result you'll get - I'm selecting around the area I'd like to remove, so for this image it's the background, I use the + and - keys on my keyboard to zoom in and out of the image;

You'll also notice I've got two layers, I've kept the original so I've always got something to fall back to, this is just good photoshop practise. once selected I'll remove the background using the Delete key on my keyboard;

I'll then add a third layer underneath my image, this is our background which I've made red for the sake of viewing;

With that complete, I'll take out my eraser tool, using a soft brush at around 30-40% opacity I'll go around the flower to bring the background into the foreground;

After the whole image is cleaned up, this photo looks a little saturated to me so the bring the colour back I'll go Image > Adjustments > Brightness/contrast and increase the contrast of the photo, then I'll go Image > Adjustments > Vibrance and increase the vibrant until I'm happy.

There is a lot more you can do with image editing and colour balancing but for the sake of ease I'd stick to these for now and explore further when you're confident.

See my final image below;

Hope this helps.