How should I be editing out the shadows that I still get even with a light tent, two side lights, fill flash from the back and front flash. (don't tell me to get a light box! It's on the want list.) :-D

Honest, there are about a dozen ways I've found, but paint bucket leaves edges. Brushing them out take forever. Dodge works on small sections. Removing a color can also remove it from the parts I want.

I have Photoshop 6 (came on a used computer), Elements 2 (came with the camera) and Image Ready 3 (found on a donated laptop). I assume that the basic editing tools to remove a clean area around something exist in all of these and most remain the same in the newer versions.

What's the best and most efficient way to do it?

There's something about drawing a line and snapping it to the edge or dragging it. I don't even know where that is, or which software.

I don't have hundreds of dollars for a Photoshop class, so I'm pretty much giving in and going with the latest version Elements, including the video editing software, which appears to do everything I need to do for Micro. But I may be wrong!

All I'm trying to do is make better isolations from images that I didn't get perfect in camera. I'm guessing this is a common problem.

One step at a time.

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Im not an expert, but I would use the dodge tool, you can play around with the hardness etc. I have quite a steady hand so I find this works for me lol.

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To clean up shadows from a white background, I use the Burn tool, set the drop down to highlights, and depending on the strength of the shadows I will go from a really bad background (gray) at 50%, to light shadows around 6 to 8%, when you get near your subject, drop it to 2% and you can overlap midtones, without damaging the edges.

I alter the size of the brush, starting with big areas at 340 pixels, reducing as the area gets cleaned up down to 5 to 10 pixels.

Best of luck, have you tried an exposure compensation, similar to compensating for snow or sand, that might help to slightly overexpose.

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If it's over white, you can use the airbrush tool, set to a low flow rate. Make sure you don't get the object over the edges - make sure you make proper selections first, before you start airbrushing the background.

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I forgot, I do that sometimes too lol. Sometimes I will draw around the object if the outline is really tricky, I find that working at 200% or more sometimes helps me.

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I use the dodge tool too same as Pichunter, although those were some good tips on how to get the edges to look realistic as I tend to struggle with that sometimes, when I do a really bad isolation...

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And I thought it was just me and I was missing something easier than doing it by hand.

Taking the picture right the first time would be the best answer. :-?

Just picked up Elements 5 and have Dummies for elements 3. Also Photoshop 6 plus book, (picked up at used book store). Elements 2 came with the camera. Somewhere between that mix, maybe I can figure it out.

Until then, I'll be dodging.

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I use all of the above plus Levels depending on the individual image. The best way to learn PS in my opinion if you do not want to take formal lessons (and who does?) is to just to do a search on whatever it is you want to do at the time. There are loads of tutorials on the web for just about everything.

Christine

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I use the pen tool for some of my isolations. Takes a lot more time than other methods but gets rid of all the shadows. Still don't save a clipping path, I will have to start doing that.

Articles - Photoshop Clipping Paths | iStockphoto.com

This one took a while.

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