Computer Graphics with Photoshop - Inverse feathering question

Author

Inverse feathering question

Scudo

2005-11-27, 6:14 pm

Let me try and explain......

I have a picture of a face
I have used elliptical marquee tool to encircle the face
I then use select inverse (to make the outside of the circle all white,using
paintbrush tool)
Question.....

How do I feather/fade the boundary of the elliptical shape. (where the white
background joins the circle)

thanks

Harry Limey

2005-11-27, 6:14 pm

"Scudo" <me@nospam.fictional> wrote in message news:cIgif.92069

> How do I feather/fade the boundary of the elliptical shape. (where the
> white
> background joins the circle)

When you inverse - go to 'select' feather and enter a number, then delete,
unless I'm missing something here?

Bill Hilton

2005-11-27, 6:14 pm

I have used elliptical marquee tool to encircle the face
>I then use select inverse (to make the outside of the circle all white,using
>paintbrush tool)
>
>How do I feather/fade the boundary of the elliptical shape. (where the white
>background joins the circle)

What I'd do is make the selection and then do Select - Feather to blur
the edges, and *then* invert (if you invert first you'll find the edges
of the image also get feathered), and then instead of "using paintbrush
tool" I'd do Edit - Fill with white.

bothsides@att.net

2005-11-27, 6:14 pm

Bill Hilton wrote:
>
> I have used elliptical marquee tool to encircle the face
>
> What I'd do is make the selection and then do Select - Feather to blur
> the edges, and *then* invert (if you invert first you'll find the edges
> of the image also get feathered), and then instead of "using paintbrush
> tool" I'd do Edit - Fill with white.

Doesn't feathering blur both sides of a selection's edge? If it does, it
will not make any difference whether feathering is applied before or
after inverting the selection. But I could be wrong.

Bill Hilton

2005-11-27, 6:14 pm

>> What I'd do is make the selection and then do Select - Feather to blur
[color=darkred]
>Bothsi writes ...
>
>Doesn't feathering blur both sides of a selection's edge?

Yes.

>If it does, it will not make any difference whether feathering is
>applied before or after inverting the selection. But I could be
>wrong.

You are wrong, as you can easily see by simply trying it. If you draw
the circle and feather you are feathering both sides of the circle (or
ellipse) but not the boundary of the image. If you invert first you
are feathering both sides of the circle and also feathering the edges
of the selection at the boundary of the image rectangle. Try it and
see ...

Bill

tacit

2005-11-28, 6:16 pm

In article <cIgif.92069$Es4.48499@fe2.news.blueyonder.co.uk>,
"Scudo" <me@nospam.fictional> wrote:

> I have a picture of a face
> I have used elliptical marquee tool to encircle the face
> I then use select inverse (to make the outside of the circle all white,using
> paintbrush tool)

You're doing it the hard way. Do not use the Paint Brush tool to fill in
a selection with white.

Many newcomers to Photoshop really struggle with the simplest of all
operations: trying to figure out how to fill a selected area with some
color. Some newbies mistakenly think that the Paint Bucket tool is
designed for that; other newbies paint and paint to do it.

In Photoshop, you fill a selection with the foreground color by holding
down the Alt key (Mac: OPTION key) on your keyboard and pressing
Backspace or Delete.

> Question.....
>
> How do I feather/fade the boundary of the elliptical shape. (where the white
> background joins the circle)

Make your oval selection.

Feather the selection using the Select->feather command.

Then select the inverse.

--
Art, photography, shareware, polyamory, literature, kink:
all at http://www.xeromag.com/franklin.html

bothsides@att.net

2005-11-28, 6:16 pm

Bill Hilton wrote:
>
>
>
> Yes.
>
>
> You are wrong, as you can easily see by simply trying it. If you draw
> the circle and feather you are feathering both sides of the circle (or
> ellipse) but not the boundary of the image. If you invert first you
> are feathering both sides of the circle and also feathering the edges
> of the selection at the boundary of the image rectangle. Try it and
> see ...

Oops, I stand corrected. I was thinking only about the circle and not
the boundary. Hate those who are always right. <g>

Bill Hilton

2005-11-28, 6:19 pm

> Bothsi writes
>
> Oops, I stand corrected. I was thinking only about the circle and
> not the boundary

Actually you were right when you posted earlier "it will not make any
difference whether feathering is applied before or after inverting the
selection" and I was wrong when I said the outside boundary would
feather as well, causing problems. I tested it after writing the
previous post and saw I was wrong ... so (words my wife loves to hear
above all others :) "you were right, I was wrong".

I can remember feathering the boundary before but I think I had to draw
the selection box inside the image to do it, that is, doing a 'select -
all' won't allow you to apply the feathering.

> Hate those who are always right

Yeah well, I guess I'm definitely not in that group ...

Bill

bothsides@att.net

2005-11-29, 6:14 pm

Bill Hilton wrote:
>
>
> Actually you were right when you posted earlier "it will not make any
> difference whether feathering is applied before or after inverting the
> selection" and I was wrong when I said the outside boundary would
> feather as well, causing problems. I tested it after writing the
> previous post and saw I was wrong ... so (words my wife loves to hear
> above all others :) "you were right, I was wrong".
>
> I can remember feathering the boundary before but I think I had to draw
> the selection box inside the image to do it, that is, doing a 'select -
> all' won't allow you to apply the feathering.
>
>
> Yeah well, I guess I'm definitely not in that group ...

Whew, got me worried for a while. I only made one mistake in my life:
there was once that I thought I was wrong, but it turned out I was
right. This will be the second time. Aging must be catching up.

This thread should go into the NG Hall of Fame: two posters admitting
that they are wrong!

BTW Bill, you meant you don't test your posts first before publishing?
Shame on you! <g>