Need help with select-subject issue!

Question

Hi Everyone:I am having difficulty with the select-subject-invert function in Photoshop. I have portraits whose backgrounds I want to darken, so I isolate the portrait with select-subject, and then invert so that i could manipulate only the background. The problem is that the outline of the select falls short of encapsulating the entire figure so i get an artificial looking border, which is difficult to hide. Please see below (ear mostly, but when enlarged you can also see it at edge of the face). This is very frustrating. I think it is because my DOF is shallow and so the edges of the face look mushy and the select function has trouble knowing where the edges are. The shallow DOF is integral to the types of pictures that i am taking. I would appreciate any help in terms of how I can avoid this problem and possible alternatives if I cannot do anything about it! Thanks a bunch,-Charles

Bob_Hallam · Answer

When you get an hard edge masl and realy need a soft edge, use the Select and Mask too and refine the edge in the soft areas to produce a mask with the same edge quality as the image.  You can check this prior to making any corrections easily by hitting the Q key when your selection is loaded.   From there you can also blur portions of the mask with a brush or filter.

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