Changing background colour of studio shots

Looking to change the background colour of a few shots I have taken. I don't mind the background colour, but I'd like to play about and see what other effects I can get from it.

This is as example of the sort of pic I mean

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/n9xU​6j

Here is how I would do it:

1) Use the quick selection tool to select the girl, when working around the hair watch for areas where the gray shows through and be careful no to select the gray. (You will clean it up in step 2)

2) Use the refine edge button to finish your hair selection. You will need to adjust the sliders in the refine edge dialog to select the hair to the best of your ability - A You Tube video may help here.

3) At the bottom of refine edge choose output to New Layer with Mask. This should put a new layer in above the layer you were working on. Also it will turn off the layer you were working from.

4) Turn the layer you were working from back on and use levels, hue / saturation and brightness / contrast to adjust the background in the original layer. Because of the mask in the other layer your adjustments will only effect the background. I would recommend writing down the changes you make so you can carry them through to other images.

I could not figure out how to download a high enough res copy of your image to be able to edit it. If you want to send me a full res I will edit it and post back a Photoshop File with the edits so you can see what was done.

Thanks for that.

Fall down at step 1...

Using the quick selection tool it seems to jump all over the place and selects the background too. I'll keep trying though.

How would be a good way to send a file?

Ok, so I tried the magnetic lasso tool to make the selection instead.

Hair is stupid...

Now you see why people looking to change or drop out the background use a background with a strong, non-skin toned color (like green or blue) - the ability to isolate the background and create a mask in this manner is called chromakeying, or using a "green screen". If your background is not a saturated color, but instead is somewhat neutral, then there is no "chroma" upon which to key. Typically, you want to pick a background that will be in stark contrast to the subject - most caucasian skin tones are red so the red channel of the image will be very light in the areas where skin and light hair live. If the background is green or blue, then the background will be dark in the red channel - this creates good contrast between the subject and the background and permits the red channel (the grayscale rendering of the red channel) to be used as the starting point to create the mask you need to separate the subject from the background.

You could try using the neutral background and lighting it with a gelled, flagged strobe to color the background and create this contrast, if you intend to key the background in post.

kirk

kirkt wrote in post #16837942
Now you see why people looking to change or drop out the background use a background with a strong, non-skin toned color (like green or blue) - the ability to isolate the background and create a mask in this manner is called chromakeying, or using a "green screen". If your background is not a saturated color, but instead is somewhat neutral, then there is no "chroma" upon which to key. Typically, you want to pick a background that will be in stark contrast to the subject - most caucasian skin tones are red so the red channel of the image will be very light in the areas where skin and light hair live. If the background is green or blue, then the background will be dark in the red channel - this creates good contrast between the subject and the background and permits the red channel (the grayscale rendering of the red channel) to be used as the starting point to create the mask you need to separate the subject from the background.

You could try using the neutral background and lighting it with a gelled, flagged strobe to color the background and create this contrast, if you intend to key the background in post.

kirk

I tried to use gels the other day to change the background colour with limited success. This was the same background as the other photo but with a gel.

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/mUCf​nt

Turn the flash power down on the background and see if that gives you more saturation.

kirk

Ha! Love it.

Hehe.

How did you get the flare from the light to go over him as well?

I used the Knoll Light Factory PS plug in.

Kirk

sancho1983 wrote in post #16837839
Thanks for that.

Fall down at step 1...

Using the quick selection tool it seems to jump all over the place and selects the background too. I'll keep trying though.

How would be a good way to send a file?

Bill's instructions in Post #2 were pretty good.

The Quick Selection tool isn't really that quick. It's relatively quick but definitely not a one-click instantaneous trick. You have to constantly vary the size of the pen cursor based on the size of your subject - but for a headshot, you can probably get by if you make it about 1/3 the size of the head. Do it in little sections, and don't be afraid to hit Undo to back up a step.

Then you have to use Refine Edge to clean up, especially around hair. Again, it's kinda tricky and takes some practice.

Quick Selection is usually better than the lasso, sometimes better than the pen... I'm terrible at the pen so it's always better than the pen for me.


As for the color:
I like to add a new color layer, set it to an appropriate blend mode (Multiply usually works for me), and put the selection mask onto the color layer.

Sorry, guess I should have been a little clearer, Nathancarter is correct you will spend some time with this technique to get your selection correct. You also might want to be sure Auto-Enhance is checked, it will slow things down a bit but it will allow the software to assist with the selection process.

Also, the further you stray from the original color the harder it is to hide the edits. I had shot some a while back with a white paper and I was looking for a darker gray than what you wound up with. The problem was with the size of the space I was shooting with I couldn't get far enough from the BG to control light spill. Anyway, I used the technique I described above and shifted the BG to the darker gray I had been going for originally.

If you want to send the file shoot me a PM and we will make arrangements.

Just a quick edit with the quick selection tool. If you're grabbing background, turn down your brush size. Also use the feather brush within the dialog box and brush right around the head.

Thanks.

That edit looks good king. I'm away for a couple of days but I'll send you a pm when I'm back northwoods bill

See post #8. Maybe #s 3 & 5, too: For those needing help making selections in Photoshop