When you guys take an image from one picture and insert it into another, what do you use to "cut" the orginal image? Do you have a digital tablet (if so, what kind), or are you that well versed in using your mouse to trace around the image? Or is Photoshop such a quality program that it limits one's limitations?
there are many tools in Photoshop and Corel PhotoPaint, that allows you to trace an image to cut out. In PhotoPaint, there are scissors, the lasso, and the one I like is the paintbrush type tool that allows you to set your nib width and using your mouse, trace the area you want to cut out. After you cut out the image, you can zoom in and erase or feather the areas you might want to clean up. Zooming in is invaluable when doing this function, the closer you are the better your cut will be. Also, lots of practice and tweaking. I have been using Corel PhotoPaint for several years now. I am no expert and by no means as adept as others, but it just takes practice.... good luck.
The way I do it and it does not work perfectly but it is well enough. I first choose a color that stands out from the part of the image I want to copy. I then color the rest of the picture - the part of the image I want in that contrasting color(see example below) Then I use the magic wand tool(I normally use Paint SHop Pro for my editing so I am not sure what the tool is called in photoshop) to select the part of the image I colored. Then I use the selection menu and invert what I have selected. This should leave you with the part of the picture you want copied selected. Then you just have to cut and paste and you're done. This is an example of the above. I have painted out part of the picture so I could use just the image of my friend dressed as Elvis(who incidentally , if he sees this he will probably be mad at me for posting this picture, but it was the only one I had readily available on my work computer) BTW RH I may send you one of these Elvis photos for PTI contest. CK
To cut things out in Photoshop, I use the magnetic lasso to select what I want, and then I cut and paste the selected image into a new document. From there, I either clean up the image (if it's a brand new document) or use the clone tool to clean up any leftover artifacts (if it's being pasted into an existing document). If you don't know how, I'd advise learning how to use the clone tool and blur tool. I find they can make the difference between crappy-looking images and professional ones (well, professional-looking, anyway).
Sent a link to the picture. It is a different one than the one above because I think it may be a bit better for photoshopping. CK
