Hello, I’m using CS2 and I need to create a file for a client for a billboard. The canvas is 7" x 24" at 300 dpi and what I’m doing is this;
I have taken about 20 groups and 30 doctors that need to be randomly placed with some partially ontop of or in front of others.
My question is this, how do I remove or make transparent the upper part of the background only of the group photographs I’ve taken? I don’t need to lift the whole group from the background, just the top half. I would need the background to be the image behind it.
Jan, not to be flippant, but to lift the top half of something, you select the top half of it, and by definition, the background is "the image behind it." So, what is your desired background?
If you could elaborate on what you mean by "top half," and exactly what you want to isolate, the gurus here will be able to provide better help.
If your task is to create a collage from parts of photos, select what you want from each photo and save each part to its own file. Then, after color- and level-correcting each file, start with a background file, open all the "parts" files and use the Move tool to drag each part into the background image. After dragging, you will likely have to use the Transform function to size each part appropriately.
After dragging, you will likely have to use the Transform function to size each part appropriately.
Transforming is a "destructive" process, but one that only really becomes a problem if you repeatedly alter the size of a layer.
If you feel you might need to keep tweaking the size of the various elements whilst putting together the montage, you’d be better off using the "Place" command.
Each element will be "placed" as a "smart object" and as such can be repeatedly resized with out affecting the quality.
Folks, thanks for getting back to me. Yes, Chris it is a big project!
How do I explain this better – I will be making 2 or 3 rows of the groups of images, and I will need to free transform to create the correct prospective as if I had all 130 people there as one hugh photograph, however, that wasn’t an option. So, think of this as one big image with a row of people in the back, another row in front of them and possible another in front of them too. What I need to do is bring in the second row in front of the bottom half of the first row, and a third row in front of the second.
This means, the top of row 2’s background is the bottom half of row one (the top row).
Sounds to me like you want to use layer masks to hide or reveal different elements,or am i misunderstanding? in other words,to simplify,you want to do something like bring in a lone person to a group shot and make that person appear to be standing behind the others naturally? am i off base and totally missing the idea here?
someone stated that "Free Transform" is distructive, is this true when you are down sizing the files
That "someone" was me. 🙂
Interpolation (resizing) will cause "damage" to an image regardless of whether you upsize or downsize. Either way you are having to reconstruct the image across a different number of pixels.
As Howard pointed out, this is minimal when you resize the once. Each subsequent resizing operation, however, will further degrade the image.
That is why the "Place" command is essential for this type of comping/montage work. Because the image comes in as a "Smart Object", interpolation takes place just once, regardless of the number of times you use "Transform" to alter the size.
I too think it is a great job but … there is something that seems (only in my humble opinion) to grate a little bit were I doing to composition and that is: people on chairs/seats.
Most other people are standing with neat selections that create good dynamics.
Of the four seats that are visible I’d be tempted to take another four pictures of them standing up else tweak the composition to hide the chairs. It seems to be too busy and dark under the seats so a retake is …
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