Changing the background of a picture

[soulkeeper]

Ok, so I'm pretty much an amateur in photography and Photoshop, but I know that removing the background of a picture has been the question of many of us. So far there are different ways, but one thing I can tell you is that the most important tool you'll need is patience.
Here's one of the pictures that I have changed the background. It might not be perfect, but is one of the best results I've gotten so far.
I'll be posting the steps I used for this later on today.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a313/gothbackg/Photoshop/Artwork/Personal/29.jpg

[Unreal_Nature]

In my opinion:

If the shadow is from the bounce light off of the floor, it should be darker nearest the object (the person), brightening to the same tone as the rest of the bounce lit wall as it goes farther away. That wall (and thus the shadow) is getting fill light from all sides.

In addition, you should have considerable edge blur as distance from the object increases, because of the width of that light source (the floor).

I look forward to seeing your techniques.

-Julie

[soulkeeper]

Thank you for the feedback. I agree with you, and like I said I'm pretty new to this. So yes, I still have to work on the details to make it more realistic.

[Unreal_Nature]

I didn't mean to imply that you had not done a good job; you are far from being a beginner. I don't think very many people would have realized that the shadow would come from the bounce and not the direct light. Also, it looks like you got the shadow stretch right (in the distortion of the cast shape).

I'm really, REALLY happy to find another compositor in these forums.

-Julie

[PhotosGuy]

Great start! Keep at it!

[soulkeeper]

Thank you once again for the comments and feedback. I truly appreciate it :D

So, I'm not very good at explaining things, but I'll do my best to explain what I did to remove the original background.

These are the two images I used (which I put together to save space).
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c103/soulkeeper31/photoshop/samples.jpg

Basically I suggest if you're going to remove the background of any of your pictures, to use any photo where there's a difference of colors between you and the background, cause just imagine how hard would it be if I had a black wall on the back while wearing black clothing.

So, what I first use is the Quick Mask option located on the tools palette. Click on the dark square, meaning you've changed to Quick Mask mode.
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c103/soulkeeper31/photoshop/quickmask.jpg

Always make sure to press the letter D so you change the forground color to black and back ground color to white on the tools palette.

Select the brush tool with 100% softness. I suggest to use a big size brush since you will zoom in as much as you can on the image to have a closer look to the edge of the object or person you want to select.
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c103/soulkeeper31/photoshop/brush.jpg

Once you're ready start painting over the person/object and you'll notice it will get a redish tone on it. Don't worry, this is part of using the Quick Mask tool. Don't worry about going over the edge cause you can always press the letter X which switch the forground color with the background and once the white is on the forground is like erasing the red color on the image. Then press X to switch back to black color on the back ground so you keep painting over the person.
Once you're done paiting, you will press the Quick Mask button (the one with the lighter square) and press Ctrl + Shift + I which will invert the selection you've made (you can also invert the selection by clicking on the menu Select > Invert), you will see that what you painted on red is now selected.

If you press the Delete button now, whatever is not selected will be gone.
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c103/soulkeeper31/photoshop/quickmotion.gif

Now you will copy or move this layer to the new background you want to use. If you need to retouch the edge of the person or object you just created, use the erase tool, i suggest to use a 50% softness, zoom in and use a big size brush wherever is possible, that way you wont create that shiver look on the edges.
The rest is of the process varies based on the background you're using and the illumination. For the one I used, I used a low opasity erase tool on the edges to create the impression of the intensity of the light behind me. I added a very soft orange color on my back as a result of the reflection from the wall. I lowered the levels of my image again because the light behind me is stronger than the light coming from where the picture was taken. And last but not least I duplicated the layer of my body painted it in black, lowered down the opacity and stretched the layer to use it as the shadow.

Again, sorry for the poor explanation!

[Unreal_Nature]

Your explanation is fine. Very easy to follow.

One suggestion, if you are interested, is to look up layer masks in the Help menu. They are a incredibly useful (essential) for compositing.

-Julie

[soulkeeper]

Actually, now that you mention layer mask I was reading other posts here in the forum and I have to agree with you. I haven't work with layer mask except for one excercise I did once and I forgot how to use it and how important it is. Thank you for the tip :D

[PhotosGuy]

You had some nice, hard edges to work with & in that situation, I've found this to be a much faster way to cut things out for me:
Selecting areas in PS. (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=39994)