Cool Sigs....

I think it looks fine the way it is.

 

that flower has made into a proper sig ten times better than the first one.
nice.

 

again, awesome.

 

That's fuckin stunning toolz!!

:icon10:

 

no doubt, who is that?

 

Mariko...

http://forum.phun.org/showthread.php?t=307361

 

Tayaub request:

 

sweetness.

 

You just raised the million dollar question.
Truth is there is no best way since it all depends on what pic you're using and what new background you're using.
Most problems concentrate around the hair and the strands of hair from a pic.
These are best cut by using dodge and burn tools on the highlights/midtones/shadows in various strenght levels (100% - 10%) using masked layers. Applying this technique in various layers will get you a nice cut-out picture you can use on any new background.
However this action takes hours ... and I mean like 10 to 20 hours. It's a very tedious process and you'll need to do it on HQ pics since you'll have to zoom them out dramatically to work on.
There's tutorials on this on the netz but it's pretty advanced stuff and it takes quite some practice to get it right.
There's also some plug-ins like Vertus Fluid Mask and Mask Pro 4.1 which bundle those actions in more easy to use tools but the fact remains that the more time/effort is put into it, the better the result.
Don't be discouraged, PS has a long learning curve but it's phun to do and very rewarding when you get it right.

 

In my opinion blending a pic with the background is all about colors, try making/taking a background that has the same tones as the pic you're trying to blend in.... If that's not the case then play with the hue and saturation of the pic and the background to match them up. Or use the gradient map technique I described in the photoshop-thread.

The blur tool is a very handy one here too... While the technique described by the cunt factory is very good, it also takes AGES. I think it's too much trouble for a picture of 400*100 pixels. I cut my pic pretty roughly and then blur the edges with a 5px brush. You'll probably need the undo key a few times till it looks good, but it'll get the job done.

Another trick is smudging. I'm not realy good at it myself, but here's a pretty basic tutorial: http://michalv.deviantart.com/art/Easy-Smudging-Tutorial-93549102

Keep practising!

 

For the fine blending/edging, I'm using the eraser brush to get the cleanest edge possible and avoiding those hard or jagged lines. Back-stepping is inevitable but the time spent is worth it in the long run, IMO. You just need to experiment with brush sizes and opacities. The Magic Wand and Magnetic Lasso have their uses too.

No matter what method you use, natural looking hair can be a pain in the ass to accomplish layered over a different background, especialy if you dont have the luxury of choosing (If the customer asks for something specific). Its damn near impossible to be "perfect" without the technique TFC described. You may have to sacrifice some of those "fly aways" yet still be able to get a natural look.

 

Thanks for the tips guys, the hair is definitely the hardest part to deal with. I tend to choose pictures with straight hair to make it easier and cut them out using the polygonal lasso tool.

The only problem with some of the tutorials I've found is there to advanced and hard to follow, I think I'll keep it simple for the time being to avoid confusion.

 

Best advice is use the smudge and blur tools. They are by far ans away the easiest. Thats what I use......every time.

 

Jay is using those bug gifs as his sig. I wont be able to open his posts now. I cant stand those things.

 

hahaha

 

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

BUGS B GONE!!!!!

 

*orgasm*
Nice one Billy your the best, forget the naked women mmmmmmmmmmmm cls