Is there a way to "protect" part of an image?

[BillG]

I am a new user to Primate and have just processed my first 20 imges with great results.  I am even getting through the images quite a bit faster than when I started a few hours ago.  I am a Primatte newby and a Photoshop CS4 advanced rookie, new to layers and masks.  My current project is cutting out a formal pose of winterguard performers and putting them on a custom background that I have created.  I am using the green screen and none of the uniforms have come close to the green so far, but I have just found a group of images where the necktie and part of a hat is almost an exact match for the green screen.  Is there a technique that I can use to "protect" the necktie?  It does not touch the screen and is surrounded by a white shirt.  The hat is a different story.  The hat has bands of different colors, one of which is green and that does touch the green screen background.

Any and all advice appreciated.

Is there any other forum where Primatte use is an active topic?

Thanks for your help.

Bill Gaze
BGSportShots

[anarchist-babe]

Hi Bill,

That's a great question and there is an easy workaround. Before you choose Primatte from the Filter menu, you can use Photoshop's tools to create a mask around the green area that you want to isolate. For instance, circle around the green area with the Lasso or Marque tool.

Whatever is INSIDE the mask will be recognized and worked upon by Primatte, so you will need to invert the mask using the Select>Invert command. Once you've done this, open up Primatte and you'll see that as you work in the Primatte interface, the plugin doesn't touch whatever is outside the Photoshop mask.

Regarding the hat's green touching the background's green, probably the only way around this issue is to draw a careful mask with the Photoshop tools. If you'd like to email me an image or two, I can give you further assistance by eyeing up the photos or doing a quick experiment. My email is debbie@digitalanarchy.com.

I do know of a new forum called chromakey.com. A great photographer and friend, Neal Martin, recently set it up. However, I don't know much about its operation or response time.

regards -debbie

----------------------------
Debbie Rich       
debbie@digitalanarchy.com
Digital Anarchy
Filters for Photography & Photoshop
http://www.digitalanarchy.com
----------------------------         

[AnarchyJim]

You can also use the History Brush to deal with these problems. I'll post a video tutorial later today on how to do it.

cheers,
Jim Tierney
Digital Anarchy

[BillG]

Thanks to both of you for your response.  I look forward to the history brush tutorial.  I was thinking that being able to use the history brush in this kind of situation would be a great capability.  Good tool so far-lots of things to learn.  I have a total of about 500 images to do, so I am on a steep learning curve-something akin to drinking from the proverbial fire hose!!

Thanks again.

[janmanzer411]

Hi Bill,

That's a great question and there is an easy workaround. Before you choose Primatte from the Filter menu, you can use Photoshop's tools to create a mask around the green area that you want to isolate. For instance, circle around the green area with the Lasso or Marque tool.

Whatever is INSIDE the mask will be recognized and worked upon by Primatte, so you will need to invert the mask using the Select>Invert command. Once you've done this, open up Primatte and you'll see that as you work in the Primatte interface, the plugin doesn't touch whatever is outside the Photoshop mask.

Regarding the hat's green touching the background's green, probably the only way around this issue is to draw a careful mask with the Photoshop tools. If you'd like to email me an image or two, I can give you further assistance by eyeing up the photos or doing a quick experiment. My email is debbie@digitalanarchy.com.

I do know of a new forum called chromakey.com. A great photographer and friend, Neal Martin, recently set it up. However, I don't know much about its operation or response time.

regards -debbie

----------------------------
Debbie Rich       
debbie@digitalanarchy.com
Digital Anarchy
Filters for Photography & Photoshop
http://www.digitalanarchy.com
----------------------------         

Thanks a lot for sharing this, even thought I didn't ask the question. It helped me a lot.

[Clifford.Cad]

I am thankful to all of for discussing this thing.