Team photo

[blackwaterstudio]

Need some help with the team photo I did, it was my first but the team is well pleased with the shot. They don't care that people are in the background but it does bother me. Can someone explain how to edit those people out? Maybe make the entire background black?

Here's the URL to the large
Team Photo (http://jdsphotography.smugmug.com/photos/16069869-L.jpg)

[blackwaterstudio]

bump

[fish]

Clone them out. Looks like it should be pretty straightforward, since the background is simple. If you have any specific questions about how to clone, PM waxy. :D

[blackwaterstudio]

Yea I don't know how to clone.

[cletus]

Yea I don't know how to clone.
jds,

If you can hang on for a day I'll try to help you out with this one.

[blackwaterstudio]

jds,

If you can hang on for a day I'll try to help you out with this one.
Yea no problem. Thanks

[wxwax]

Ya, you should be able to clone. Can't wait to hear if Cletus has some good tips. I blow up the photo big time, and apply a middling size brush with a middling opacity. And I try to attack the clone area using difference points of origin, to avoid a pattern showing up when I zoom back out again.

[tmlphoto]

I cloned and painted the background (quick messy 5 min job) You could do much better with a little time. I sampled the background color with the eye dropper in PS CS and then used that color to paint the background. you could probably get a better edge using a mask also. Not sure if I like the dark background versus just cloning out the people tho.
http://tmlphoto.smugmug.com/photos/16246149-L.jpg

[blackwaterstudio]

Thanks, that looks good but I think they want to keep the background, the glass kinda add's to everything :)

[cletus]

jds,

Sorry it took me so long to get a response for you.

Here's what I came up with. I maybe spent 30 minutes working on this with about half of that time spent experimenting with ideas that I didn't use.
http://ab0wa.smugmug.com/photos/16392391-L.jpg

My idea was to take a section of the blue background without people in it, make several copies of the section and then stitch the copies together. I could then use the stitched background to cover up any background sections that had people in them.

Since the background needed to be behind the players and coaches I selected all the people in the foreground using the laso tool. I then copied them onto a new layer. I then started placing the new background sections on a layer under the players and coaches.

Here is the basic background section I used:
http://ab0wa.smugmug.com/photos/16392392-M.jpg

And here is the foreground selection (saved as a channel and then copied into a new file):
http://ab0wa.smugmug.com/photos/16392393-L.jpg

Looking forward to hearing your comments!

If you have any questions be sure to let me know.

[wxwax]

Dang, nice work Cletus! :thumb I never would have thought of doing it that way. Actually, I'm not sure I could even after reading your description.

[cletus]

Dang, nice work Cletus! :thumb I never would have thought of doing it that way. Actually, I'm not sure I could even after reading your description.
Ahhh, I thought that description might be a little rough. I had to rush it before heading out for dinner. I guess I should go back and touch it up.

The reason I used the approach I did was the fact that there really wasn't a good source for cloning the people out. All of the sections of blue background where either covered up by people in the foreground or there were obvious patterns that would stand out if they were cloned.

[blackwaterstudio]

Cletus looks great, but way over my head, I really need to learn PS CS better, I currently have a book called The Photoshop CS book by Scott Kelby so I'm hoping that will help me out some.

[cletus]

Cletus looks great, but way over my head, I really need to learn PS CS better, I currently have a book called The Photoshop CS book by Scott Kelby so I'm hoping that will help me out some.
Good book. I think you'll find it very helpful.

[blackwaterstudio]

Good book. I think you'll find it very helpful.
Thanks, I have so far learned to make my own action, which helps for when I do the hockey shots. :clap