Applying a background

[AeroClassics]

I cannot believe I cannot seem to figure this out. I have a picture and I want to replace the background with one of the canned backgrounds that came in PSE5. You find them in the Art and Effects stuff.

Can anyone offer a easy step by step description of how to do this? It cannot be that hard. But at this hour of the night everything seems hard.

Thanks,
Doug

[Daniel Bates]

You'll have to select and mask out your background - this might be a challenge depending on what type of subject you have. (Hair is a nightmare.)

There are a number of ways to select areas of the image, and the one you pick is largely a matter of personal preference. You can use the magnetic lasso, polygonal lasso, Magic Wand, etc... I don't know if PSE5 comes with layer masking functionality (it probably doesn't), but that's another way to do it.

[AeroClassics]

Drat! I have a picture of a nice Grandma and of course some of her hair is a flyin'! Trying to grab her with a lasso is a drag. The background is kids interacting with other kids. I have been working on turning this into a portrait that I can give to a friend (it is her Mother). I started this over on another forum and should probably have put it here. (http://www.texasphotoforum.com/forum...ad.php?t=79037)

I do not think that PSE has layer masking, of course it would help if I knew just what layer masking is ;-)

In PS in general or PSE specifically is creating a mask used to isolate the item you want by hiding everything else or is it used to subtract the item of interest leaving behind everything else?

Doug

[Daniel Bates]

Either. The mask is a greyscale 'map' that defines transparency.

[AeroClassics]

Oh! OK. That makes sense. Still can't seem to get Grandma on top of a canned background!

Doug