Pen Tool Made Easy
Beginner | Rating: 5.46 Votes: 13
Views: 5930 | By: NonstickRon  |
| Category: General Subcategory: Photography | Date: 2006-02-13 13:05:23 |
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Well my previous statement that the pen tool was just as fast as the magic wand might not be entirely...uh...true. hehe. It DOES give you pinpoint control over your path however. It IS a lot more work than the magic wand, but if you didn't use a backrop for your image, its really the only way to clip out your figure. Also if you've spent a week painting a figure, whats a few hours getting a perfect clip? Here is a few tips I've put together. It was done with Photoshop CS2 but it should apply back at least a few versions, the pen tool has always been a basic tool of photoshop. I hope you guys love me, this took me awhile.
First of all here is my starting photo.
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irongollem
19 December 06 |  |
Rating: 7
You could also try a handy dandy plug-in to make nice cut-outs (i use vertus Fluid Mask) and more importantly, try starting with a picture in front of a monotone background (like a sheet of paper) this will help ease the pain!
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PTS
26 March 06 |  |
Rating: 7
As a photoshop artist, my two cents - nice article but the long way round to cutting out. Why not just duplicate the 'background' layer, turn off the original background layer, and cut around the mini using a small eraser brush? Then drop your digitally created gradient on a layer underneath it, and flatten. Less fussing around with clip paths and anchor points that way - quicker too.
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Jericho
08 March 06 |  |
Rating: 5
Seems needlessly complicated. The Magic Wand with the rare touchup is enough for me, and it takes seconds to do. Tons of detail and your method definitely gets the job done, but there's not much point in getting it quite so precise when you'd never notice at real size.
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spinningpond
06 March 06 |  |
Rating: 4
Copy it to a new layer and just use the erase tool holding down shift...
Or Just watch your background when you shoot (#2 rule in Photography...)
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Dragonsreach
05 March 06 |  |
Rating: 4
I hate to be negative about someone's efforts when it's obvious that you've gone to a great deal of effort to make this article. But firstly the whole problem you are trying to solve would be easier, if not nonexistant, if you'd taken the trouble to use a proper background. A sheet of A3 paper laid flat under the figure and curved up against an upright would have given you a clean backdrop on which to shoot the figure. In photographic terms thats called a scoop.
Secondly; you'd have been much better off recommending the Magnetic Lasso tool and using the Add and Remove section options. For our needs it's much easier to work with. You can then select inverse and put in a Gradient . Even with the most complex figure it's the work of perhaps half an hour if you are really being fussy.
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Tony Manero
04 March 06 |  |
Rating: 2
use magnetic tool
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mortalgod
03 March 06 |  |
Rating: 3
dude the pen tool take forevor, and yes the magic wand is far to inaccurate, but thats why the quick mask and/or magnetic lasso tool exist, save yourself the time and use the correct tools before posting a tutorial, and also i agree with freakinacage, this did not need to be 9 pages long!
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freakinacage
13 February 06 |  |
Rating: 3
dude, fix the page break thing (ask in the forums) and resubmit. i'm sure it's a good article but i can't be arsed to go through 15 pages at a sentance per page, sorry
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