Photoshop selection question

[dicky109]

I've noticed when I use the selection tools in photoshop 7, it often leaves a dark outline on light backgrounds and a light outline on dark backgrounds, which I then have to work at to remove. Tried various settings but same results.
Any suggestions to avoid this?
Thanksfor any suggestions.

[chris.bailey]

Which selection tools are you talking about? I assume you are using something like the magic wand tool and that is leaving a few stray pixels behind. If so you can improve it a bit by using the anti-aliasing tickbox and a bit more by zooming in to the selection and then Choosing Select>Modify>Expand and pick one pixel. Do this until the selection just covers the edge of what you are trying to pick up.

If that fails you will need to use one of the extraction tools or draw a pen path and convert that to a selection.

[PacAce]

I've noticed when I use the selection tools in photoshop 7, it often leaves a dark outline on light backgrounds and a light outline on dark backgrounds, which I then have to work at to remove. Tried various settings but same results.
Any suggestions to avoid this?
Thanksfor any suggestions.
A selection tool by itself does nothing to change the actual image. It only selects a portion of the image and then "outlines" it. For the image to change you actually have to preform another action on the selected portion of the image. What are you doing to the selection that's causing you to have the problem you described?

[gary_hendricks]

As mentioned by chris.bailey, turn on anti-aliasing prior to selecting the area.

[dicky109]

As mentioned by chris.bailey, turn on anti-aliasing prior to selecting the area
For the image to change you actually have to preform another action on the selected portion of the image.

Sorry, I should have been more specific. Wand is one of the tools that I use, however, the anti-aliasing is turned on. Oftentimes, I need to use several of the tools, wand, lasso(es), rectagular, etc. to choose the selection. Usually, the adjustments I make to those selections are levels and/or brightness-contrast.

From your comments, my assumption is that the adjustments I make are what's causing the outline, however, how would I avoid that if only adjusting part of the image? As you can probably tell, I've worked in PS, but am certainly not a guru!

Thanks for the help

[PacAce]

Sorry, I should have been more specific. Wand is one of the tools that I use, however, the anti-aliasing is turned on. Oftentimes, I need to use several of the tools, wand, lasso(es), rectagular, etc. to choose the selection. Usually, the adjustments I make to those selections are levels and/or brightness-contrast.

From your comments, my assumption is that the adjustments I make are what's causing the outline, however, how would I avoid that if only adjusting part of the image? As you can probably tell, I've worked in PS, but am certainly not a guru!

Thanks for the help
To keep your effects from inadvertantly affecting areas you don't want, you have to make sure that your selection is as acurate as possible. To do that, make a general selection of the area you want. Then zoom into the area at 200% and then use the polygon selection tool to more precisely select around the edge of the area you want. Do this small increments at a time. You can keep adding to the selection by pressing the shift key and then making more selections. To remove parts of the selection, press the Windows key on the PC or the Option key on the Mac first, then select out the part you don't want.

Make sure that feather at the top below the menu are is set to 0 so that you can control your selection precisely. When you are done with your selection, if you feel that you need to apply a little feathering to the selection, you can do so with the Select > Feather... command. Usually a feather of 2 or 3 pixels will suffice but you can adjust that to suit your needs.

[dicky109]

... you have to make sure that your selection is as acurate as possible. To do that, make a general selection of the area you want. Then zoom into the area at 200% and then use the polygon selection tool to more precisely select around the edge of the area you want....

Make sure that feather at the top below the menu are is set to 0 so that you can control your selection precisely. When you are done with your selection, if you feel that you need to apply a little feathering to the selection, you can do so with the Select > Feather... command. Usually a feather of 2 or 3 pixels will suffice but you can adjust that to suit your needs.

Leo,

Thanks for the detailed answer, however, that's pretty much what I've been doing.

After zooming in on some of the original JPEG's from my G-1, I can now see the outlines present on parts of images before I've done any processing in PS. The processing hightens this effect further. I guess I'll have to look closely at these areas in the future prior to doing any work, and eliminate them at the beginning of the workflow.

Its strange that this appears. I wonder what in the G-1 causes this, or has it reached the end of its useful life, or is it universal to all digital cameras?

Thanks again for your help.

[sparker1]

Using an adjustment layer can be very helpful. For example, I sometimes use a levels adjustment layer to lighten or darken the entire image, then use the eraser tool (with soft brush) to erase the parts of the layer not needed. This can result in a more gradual adjustment to the area requiring it. This technique works well where the sky is overexposed, but the foreground is good. You can also use the gradient tool to give you a gradual transition of the adjustment layer.

[PhotosGuy]

After zooming in on some of the original JPEG's from my G-1, I can now see the outlines present on parts of images before I've done any processing in PS. Maybe caused by in-cam sharpening? It would help a lot if you'd post a 100% crop of a pic.
For more help with selections, see: Selecting areas in PhotoShop
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=34606

[chris.bailey]

I often should portraits against a white or Chroma Green background and then change the background later. I have gone from white to black quite successfully. I dont find any of the auto selection tools to be that successful and use one of the colour channels to create a mask for the face and hair and then add in a pen path to select the body. Other wise you will always get stray pixels from the orginal background that show out. It takes a while to do. When I get a free hour or so I will post up the methodology to the tips.