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Canon DSLR Challenge | all galleries >> Challenge 63: Surrealism & Illusion (host: Cindy Diaz) >> Challenge 63: Exhibition > 12th Place
Clearly Trapped
By Roberta Fair
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05-SEP-2004 Roberta Fair

12th Place
Clearly Trapped
By Roberta Fair

Canon EOS 10D ,Sigma 15mm f/2.8 EX Fisheye
1/125s f/13.0 at 15.0mm iso400 full exif

other sizes: small medium original auto
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Guest 21-Mar-2006 18:34
The pieces are wonderfully shot and the composite very effective. -Michael
Guest 15-Mar-2006 07:24
Roberta and Traveller - I have a tip: using masks is even better than the eraser. What you do is fill and paint with black on a layer mask instead of using the eraser tool. The advantage is that you can press 'x' on the keyboard to reverse the fore- and background colors (which should be black and white) if you happen to erase some parts that were not supposed to be ereased and paint things back in, by painting with white instead on the mask. Here is a link to a tutorial on making composite images - among other things it takes you through layer masks:http://www.magicpixel.com.au/magicpixel/html/composite1a.html
Canon DSLR Challenge15-Mar-2006 00:21
Thank you soooo Much Roberta! I figured in the back of my mind that this was a lot of work, that you carried out with excellence. I've printed your explanation for future reference. Thanks again, really. Oh, this is a great image and smart too. Best Wishes, Traveller
roberta14-Mar-2006 22:24
Hi Traveller,
I use the magic wand tool to select the white background. I play around with the tolerance setting too. I don't want to select any pixels from the model. Then I use the eraser tool to erase most of the white background. Then I deselect the white background and zoom in and use a very small eraser to carefully erase around critical edges. High contrast areas like the black shirt against the white background are easy to take care of in the first step with the magic wand tool but her hair, fingers and feet take more time. I try to match the hardness/softness of the edge of the eraser tool with the hardness/softness of the model's edge which can only be seen well by zooming in really close. I am not a photoshop expert so there might be an easier way to do this! The white background makes it much easier and faster than a cluttered background but it still takes time.
Best regards,
Roberta
Canon DSLR Challenge14-Mar-2006 15:22
Dearest Roberta: Is there a way to turn a solid background, such as white, transparent? Is that what I'm missing here? Sorry, but still curious. Best Wishes, Traveller
Canon DSLR Challenge14-Mar-2006 00:52
Thanks for the response, Roberta, I think I got it, but to be honest, not really...lol

How did the white background help you cut out your daughter? How did you so perfectly repmove the white background from around her fingers, for example? Once she is cleanly cut out, I can take it from there. But, did the white background allow you to use the magic wand tool, or the magnetic lasso tool...just how did you get her cut out? I think that was my question, how to do such a very, very clean extraction?

Thanks for considering this further question. Best Wishes, Traveller
roberta13-Mar-2006 04:38
Traveller,
Thanks for your comment! I placed a large sheet of white roll paper outside on the ground. I climbed up on top of a cedar play structure (ramp with a large slide) and took a pic looking almost straight down using a 15mm fisheye lens. Then I took a closeup picture (while standing on the ground) of a glass flower vase from the same angle using the white paper as the background. I removed the white background from my daughter's picture in Photoshop then placed her inside the vase. I airbrushed a few shadows near her feet.
Canon DSLR Challenge12-Mar-2006 11:14
Roberta posted a brief description here.
http://www.pbase.com/cslr_challenge/image/33466969 -- Victor
Canon DSLR Challenge12-Mar-2006 11:04
Roberta, this is soooo interesting, but naturally so like the most common thing in the world, what I am in-artfully saying, is that the PS work is so good, that this seems entirely possible.

So how did you do it?????...lol Best Wishes, Traveller
Canon DSLR Challenge11-Mar-2006 15:03
Well Done! We would all like to bottle our teens at one time or another . . . lol. Cindy
Photogenix11-Mar-2006 04:50
Wow!!! Dont know how you did this...love it.
- RK