PS Question - DPChallenge Forums

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II

11/23/2006 02:36:25 PM · #1

Hi Guys,

I am useless with PS...really useless...a few weeks ago a friend told me how to use the Quick mask thing to select an area I wanted to edit. Well now I can't work out how to add parts to the section I want to edit :o(

I am using PS CS2 (although I don't know why...I should be using PS for beginners lol)

So can anyone tell me how to add more parts to my selection?

If its of any use I am using the magic wand thing and then pressing Q gets me to the Quick Mask thing....after that....I'm lost...

Oh and all you PS Guru's can stop laughing now!!

Cheers,

Natalya

mamba

Canon EOS-350D Rebel XT

11/23/2006 02:40:39 PM · #2

haha i wouldn't worry about it. I don't have a clue when it comes to these things either so this thread will be helping me aswel.

Judi

Canon EOS-5D Mark III

Canon EF 17-40mm f/4.0L USM

11/23/2006 02:47:58 PM · #3

Awww sweetie...no one is laughing. You see, we all have questions that might seem silly to others...but not to you. So let's see if we can help you.

-Select the area with the magic wand (or whatever tool you like)
-Hit Q to activate Quick Mask and your selection is transparent whilst everything else is red.
-Choose your Brush Tool (B) and make sure your foreground colour is white (X on the keyboard to swap the foreground/background colours).
-Choose your preferred brush and size ( '[ ]' on the keyboard to change sizes).
-Start painting and you will see those new areas become transparent.
-When you have finished hit the little white camera to make the area into a selection with marching ants. As per this screenshot.

I hope that helps.

Message edited by author 2006-11-23 14:48:36.

Canon EF 17-40mm f/4.0L USM

11/23/2006 03:00:58 PM · #4

WOOHOO!! That's it Judi!! Now if only I knew how to get the dancing banana in here...damn I'm useless!

The X key and the little white camera...they were the bits I was missing...

THANKS JUDI!! :o)

Judi

Canon EOS-5D Mark III

11/23/2006 03:16:22 PM · #5

No worries...and here's your dancing banana....or....bananas!

Message edited by author 2006-11-23 15:20:04.

Photologist

Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM

11/23/2006 09:46:31 PM · #6

.

Here's another quick mask question. Let's say I need to select one object in a photo. I can do what you've described. I can also just select the item (and hold down the Shift key to add to that selection).

It seems that painting on the red mask area is not as precise as selecting with any of the lasso tools or the magic wand.

What is the difference? When would I use the quick mask and when would I want to just select the areas I need?

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

11/24/2006 03:26:17 AM · #7

Originally posted by lesgainous:

Bump for all those PS experts out there :o)

Message edited by author 2006-11-24 07:08:32.

dwterry

Canon EOS-1D Mark III

11/24/2006 08:29:24 AM · #8

Painting with quick mask CAN be as precise as the other tools... all you need is a small brush with a hard edge.

As to which is to use best, you get a feel for it. Use one tool as much as you can for awhile. Then use another, then another. You'll get a feel for the strong points of each and you'll probably find that you switch between them depending on the image or the task.

I'll use the magic wand when the color of an image stays pretty constant. Sometimes I use the Select Color tool up in the menus instead (more often if I'm using it to select highlights or shadows). The magnetic lasso works well for following edges. The regular lasso lets me get large areas quickly and so does the quick mask.

Of all of the tools, I think I use quick mask and magic wand the most. But I do use all of them, it just depends on the task at hand.

Pentax DA 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AF

11/25/2006 04:59:46 PM · #9

Is swearing allowed in the forums? Just incase it isn't $%*Â£&~...

OK, so I got the X and the little white camera thing all sorted in Quick Mask thanks to Judi...now why oh why can't I edit without leaving behind a lovely halo around my subject? :o( Can anyone offer me any hints/tips on sorting this out?

I'm already for giving up on this Photoshop stuff :o(

faidoi

Pentax K10D

11/25/2006 05:03:12 PM · #10

Feathering ?

Canon RF 24-70mm f/2.8 L IS

11/25/2006 05:48:10 PM · #11

Originally posted by faidoi:

Feathering ?

Thanks Welland. Sorry for all the VERY basic questions guys but thanks for your help :o)

kirbic

Canon EOS R5

11/25/2006 06:00:48 PM · #12

Originally posted by talj:

Here yoiu have a basic PS conundrum. If you make the edge quite hard (no feathering) you need to be *very* accurate as to the selection edge placement. Usually, a pixel or so inside the edge of a darker object works best. Add a pixel or two of feathering to make the edge a little less obvious.
to do so, exit quickmask mode, then from the menu Select>Feather and choose the number of pixels to feather, then hit OK. You can also apply a gaussial blur whil in quickmask mode, has a similar effect.
Also, you can move the selection edge by using Select>Modify>Expand or Select>Modify>Contract.

Edit:
An alternative to messing with very sharp mask edges is to use a very soft edge. I'm talking tens of pixels, or even a hundred or more pixels wide. Often this works much better for gentle adjustments than going for a "hard" selection.

Message edited by author 2006-11-25 18:02:20.

Carl Zeiss 50mm ZE f/1.4 Planar T for Canon

11/25/2006 06:10:49 PM · #13

Originally posted by kirbic:

Thank you so much for your reply Fritz :o) I think I have got somewhere with the feathering thing :o)

I seem to be ok with my editing when I am being talked through step by step and I have learn't so much the past few months, but...a lot of my images have very little PS work so I think I need to keep asking questions and experimenting! :o)

yanko

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

11/25/2006 06:25:00 PM · #14

In addition to feathering you can also lower the opacity of the brush you are using to avoid hard edges. Works well when you want to have some parts feathered and other parts hard edge.

Message edited by author 2006-11-25 18:25:41.

11/25/2006 06:35:14 PM · #15

Originally posted by yanko:

In addition to feathering you can also lower the opacity of the brush you are using to avoid hard edges. Works well when you want to have some parts feathered and other parts hard edge.

Thanks Richard :o)