Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Hi Everyone,
I am new to photoshop, but am having a hard time (and eye strain) trying to extract products with a fairly decent white background.
My normal steps are: Select and Mask, then have to go around with the brush to add/subtract shadows all the way around each product which is extremely time consuming. The shadows on the side are the parts that give the most difficult time, as well as inbetween the tassles (is white).
Is there any faster/better method to this? Photo attached as reference.
Much appreciated and many thanks!
Photoshop 24.4.0
Before you select and mask, bring your tolerance in the upper bar to 40 it may select more. Leaving less shadow.
Select and Mask is designed to be much easier and faster than manually brushing around a subject. If you’re new to Photoshop, you might not know how to do that most effectively. Here are a few tips, which are shown in the demo below.
The carpet image you posted is easy for software to isolate, because it’s got a relatively simple edge on a consistent background. So a good first step might be to click the Select Subject button. Notice in the demo below that Select Subject instantly does the out
...Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Before you select and mask, bring your tolerance in the upper bar to 40 it may select more. Leaving less shadow.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Worked wonders!
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Select and Mask is designed to be much easier and faster than manually brushing around a subject. If you’re new to Photoshop, you might not know how to do that most effectively. Here are a few tips, which are shown in the demo below.
The carpet image you posted is easy for software to isolate, because it’s got a relatively simple edge on a consistent background. So a good first step might be to click the Select Subject button. Notice in the demo below that Select Subject instantly does the outline for you. Also notice that you can change the View Mode to see the mask outline much more clearly.
(Edit: I now notice that you posted a picture of the carpet after manually masking, so using that image for the demo might have made it look too easy. If you post the carpet image before it’s masked, we can try to see how well Select and Mask does on the un-edited images you have to work with.)
The last thing the demo shows is refining the edge selection for the fact that the rug has soft threads along the edges. The original Select Subject outline doesn’t really show the thread detail, so I carefully drag the Refine Edge Brush (set to a small diameter) along the outer edges of the threads to better define them. Unlike a plain Brush tool, the Refine Edge Brush tool is designed to detect and automatically enhance fine or soft edge details such as hair.
To better see what changed, I set the View Mode to Black & White, and then do a before/after comparison using the Edit > Undo and Edit > Redo commands. Or you can choose Edit > Toggle Last State.
Using these methods, you can dramatically reduce the number of clicks, and also give your eyes a break since the tools can identify subjects and edges a lot more quickly and easily. And remember to use different View Modes for a clearer preview of the mask edge, which again gives your eyes a break.
You might want to watch some Adobe or YouTube tutorial videos on how to use the automated tools in Select and Mask to work much faster, so you can spend less time on detailed hand and eye work. Notice that I was able to use Select and Mask to mask a detailed edge in just a few seconds.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Thank you for this tip!