Change or alter a background?

[ShannonHeat]

I am using photoshop cs2, and was curious to see if there's a way to change a background completely. I have a few that I shot recently, and the backgrounds were aweful (a wedding shot in a fireman's hall...lol) Brown paneling and neon beer signs.

If there's a way, and you know how, please help :)

:dunno

[ChrisJ]

Filter->Extract is one way to do it... it can be difficult to clean up properly, though, especially with fibrous items (like hair).

[ShannonHeat]

Is there a tutorial on this somewhere?
:bow
Filter->Extract is one way to do it... it can be difficult to clean up properly, though, especially with fibrous items (like hair).

[SitterS]

Is there a tutorial on this somewhere?
:bow

Shannon,
I have found so many tutorials on how to do things in photoshop just by searching the web. I have really learned alot on my own by doing this. Isn't the internet just fabulous:clap :clap


Shane

[saurora]

Shannon the best thing to do if you're looking for stuff on this site, is to do a Google search for filter>extract and then an Advanced search (within Google) on http://www.dgrin.com. You'll find scads of threads all in one place. :D

[wxwax]

You're essentially trying to create a Layer Mask.

They can be simple, or amazingly difficult. It all depends on your background, and on the complexity of the outline of your subjects.

There are a number of ways to create a layer mask, too many for anyone here to help you with, I'm afraid.

You'll really want to do some searches (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=Layer+Mask+%22CS2%22&btnG=Search) for Layer Masking/Masks.

[wxwax]

My bad.

You should also search under Making a Selection (http://www.google.com/search?q=making+a+selection+cs2&start=0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official) in CS2. Lots of ways to skin that cat. :deal

[Duffy Pratt]

Alternatively, if you are looking for an approach to a particular set of pictures, you could post a couple. The techniques used to mask will vary some based on the channel structure of the original. So having concrete examples could help get the ball rolling.

Duffy