Complex selection on image – how to?

C
Posted By
cbres00
Apr 23, 2005
Views
424
Replies
16
Status
Closed
I have a landscape image with a background that really needs some contrast. The foreground has lots of trees and leaves….tons of detail!
Because the foreground was closer to me its contrast was fine. The distance in the image is washed out.

What techniques do I use in PSCS to separate fine details in an image?

Regards,
cbres00
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complex how image select

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D
deebs
Apr 23, 2005
Hi cbres00

Like good wines, very very good wines, images are best treated as individuals. What may work on one image may be absolutely attrocious on another.

On the other hand the techniques to obtain a finished result are indeed well provided in the form of tutorials.

If you are willing to pop a copy to wwww.pixentral.com and post the link here I am sure many, far more talented individuals than I, will be pleased to have a go and draft some possibilities for you

thus spake das deebs!
C
cbres00
Apr 24, 2005
Well here it is! I <<laboriously>> experimented with Magic Wand, selecting and unselecting hundreds of marching ants. Just when I thought I got everything I did some contrast/brightening and I saw MORE pixels I missed.
There’s GOT to be a better way!

< http://breslow.smugmug.com/photos/popup.mg?ImageID=19847869& amp;Size=Large>

The hills in the background are just a bit too washed out for me. It was an overcast day so the sky won’t be too blue.

Any and all tips/hints are welcomed!

Regards,
cbres00
Y
YrbkMgr
Apr 24, 2005
Well, from a selection standpoint I got great separation. First set your eye dropper tool to 5 x 5 pixels (magic wand uses this vale in determining the sample size). Then use the magic wand on non-contiguous with a tolerance of 25. Click the sky. You may get a little of the river, but that’s easily taken care of.

Whenever I make a magic wand selection, I always check it by creating a new channel in the channels palette. That’ll allow you to make sure you don’t have partial selections, and to eliminate what you want.

Once I had that selection, I used curves and created an "S" shape. Now, my eye for fixing it isn’t the greatest because only you can really say. but from a selection standpoint, I got there pretty quickly using the method described above.

And don’t forget that when you have a selection you can use Select|Grow or Select|Similar to increase the selection for similar pixels (grow selects adjacent pixels, similar selects those that are similar throughout the image).
J
johntolliday
Apr 24, 2005
Look like gum trees, where was pic taken?
LM
Lynch_Mike
Apr 24, 2005
I’d Leave the background washed out and darken the foreground. . . .but that’s just me . . .
-Mike
P
Phosphor
Apr 24, 2005
Gum Trees…

Beautiful to look at, but terrible to park your car under.

And those seed pods are nasty to step on with bare feet.
D
deebs
Apr 24, 2005
This is a very interesting image for all manner of reasons.

Not least is the variety of options and, if one may humbly invite a prod or a click on this < http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?pic=1A9yHO2bv4c0nbFRoYWTv1 pN18xJoN> here is a manifestation of one of the many options available
D
deebs
Apr 24, 2005
ps – it looks as if EXIF data has survived the transmission through cyberspace 8)
Y
YrbkMgr
Apr 24, 2005
Sorry to hear about Nico.
D
deebs
Apr 24, 2005
Yes, it was a bit of a shock but it isn’t my Nico

I think the message is from the website host/creator
Y
YrbkMgr
Apr 24, 2005
Ah. Thought it was yours. Nevermind then <smile>.
D
deebs
Apr 24, 2005
Carlo? at Pixentral?
D
deebs
Apr 24, 2005
Another tweak too far? < http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?pic=1RkJ2pOvdCRECsybhuXtH8 nuMYBRU0>
D
deebs
Apr 25, 2005
I guess I’d like to say thanks for an interesting project to cbres00 and a general thanks for image #2. It looked lovely and tonally in a way that captured some essence of being outdoors – until I viewed it on another monitor earlier today and it looked turgid.

Image #3 < http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?pic=1x3bsgoUMFEZBJyt5jm3tX sVi7gBse> is an attempt to put that right.

Things discovered in this project:
a) magic wand (Ybr?)
b) double select (take the bit you want and the inverse selection too – it seems to come in handy later on)
c) filters
Y
YrbkMgr
Apr 25, 2005
Nice work Deebs.
D
deebs
Apr 25, 2005
Merci beaucoup et thanks for the details about magic wand!

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