Best way to outline a complex object

K
Posted By
KeepTrackOfIt
Oct 30, 2005
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321
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I have a picture of a butterfly that I want to make the background grey, the butterfly left in colour.

What do people use, the magic wand doesn’t work as there are too many colours.

As an example, the photo I would try it on:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mmkempe/52193990/

Thanks for the advice, I had a friend suggest something, was wondering if there was an easier method.

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N
nomail
Oct 30, 2005
KeepTrackOfIt wrote:

I have a picture of a butterfly that I want to make the background grey, the butterfly left in colour.

What do people use, the magic wand doesn’t work as there are too many colours.

As an example, the photo I would try it on:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mmkempe/52193990/

Thanks for the advice, I had a friend suggest something, was wondering if there was an easier method.

A fairly easy method is this:

1. Copy the image to a new layer
2. Choose ‘Image – Adjustments – Desaturate
3. Add a layer mask
4. Paint the butterfly with black in the mask

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N
neon
Oct 31, 2005
Johan W. Elzenga wrote:
KeepTrackOfIt wrote:

I have a picture of a butterfly that I want to make the background grey, the butterfly left in colour.

What do people use, the magic wand doesn’t work as there are too many colours.

As an example, the photo I would try it on:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mmkempe/52193990/

Thanks for the advice, I had a friend suggest something, was wondering if there was an easier method.

A fairly easy method is this:

1. Copy the image to a new layer
2. Choose ‘Image – Adjustments – Desaturate
3. Add a layer mask
4. Paint the butterfly with black in the mask
use the pen tool.
T
Tacit
Oct 31, 2005
In article ,
"KeepTrackOfIt" wrote:

I have a picture of a butterfly that I want to make the background grey, the butterfly left in colour.

What do people use, the magic wand doesn’t work as there are too many colours.

The Magic Wand tool is an extremely crude selection tool that is rarely useful for complex, precise selections. I’ve been using Photoshop professionally since 1992, and nowadays I use the Magic Wand tool perhaps once every eight or nine weeks.

For that butterfly, or any other object with hard edges and curves, the Pen tool is the way to go. It is arguably the hardest tool on the Toolbar to learn how to use, but once you’ve mastered it, the butterfly in the image you linked to can be selected flawlessly in seconds.

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