Place a Subject Seamlessly on a New Background
Making composite images that look realistic can be a complicated task. Here, Matt shows you how to make a quick, clean selection, and then how to merge it seamlessly into a new background.
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Related Tags: compositing, quick selection tool
Paul
November 19, 2011 at 4:50 pm
Just an excallent techniques.
Vivian
November 19, 2011 at 6:14 pm
Cannot wait to try this! Superb tutorial.
Jo
November 20, 2011 at 3:14 am
This should be compulsory viewing!! Fantastic.
Helen
November 20, 2011 at 6:29 am
This has got to be one of the BEST tips ever!!!!! Thanks for this, Matt!
Greg
November 20, 2011 at 2:57 pm
Fantastic! Love it.
Julie
November 21, 2011 at 12:55 pm
This is a great tip. Thanks, Matt….
luca
November 22, 2011 at 4:09 am
a killer tips…
thank you guys for all your so valuable work
Deena
November 22, 2011 at 4:46 am
Awesome tip!
ruth
November 22, 2011 at 1:18 pm
Very helpful.
Marilyn
November 22, 2011 at 3:18 pm
Bravo! Thanks for this little gem of a tip. I’m just learning to extract and believe me, this is magic.
James
November 27, 2011 at 3:31 pm
I have just downloaded the latest quicktime.. I have windows 7, but when I click on the triangle to view a video I get a blank black screen . any suggestions.
Rudy
November 28, 2011 at 12:37 pm
Matt is the best! (as usual)
John
November 28, 2011 at 11:02 pm
I love this video, but unfortunately I come to a screeching halt at the point where you “tear the image off the dock”, about 1/2 way through the video. Mine does not have a frame around it like yours does in the video, so that is where I stop. What do I need to change to be able to bring in the 2nd image without pasting it over the layer mask.
Thanks John
Michael
December 13, 2011 at 9:50 am
John, I have the same question. But what works for me is I just drag another open photo in the project bin into the other picture thats currently open. It may not be the right way but it works. I ‘m a newbie to elements. I just bought #10 version of elements.
I was able to complete the project by using the drag and drop.
Mike
Lee
November 30, 2011 at 1:59 am
I also appreciated this tutorial.
However, what really struck me, Matt, is what an excellent teacher you are: style, clarity, tone of voice. It’s a pleasure to watch your tutorials.
Robert C
December 2, 2011 at 8:52 am
Keep them coming, Matt, you are number 1
David
December 4, 2011 at 12:45 am
Not sure why this works, but just that it works is good enough for me. I keep picking up and learning little bits and pieces about brush blend modes and uses for them. It would be awsome some time to perhaps have a whole series on brush blend modes. Powerful tools, just not a lot of matieral about them.
Robert
December 4, 2011 at 7:50 am
Great tip, thanks Matt.
GORDON J
December 4, 2011 at 1:48 pm
This is awsome!
Laura
December 4, 2011 at 2:08 pm
Terrific finessing technique that I don’t recall seeing elsewhere. It’s a keeper. Thanks, Matt.
Brian
December 4, 2011 at 5:18 pm
Very useful! One of the best tutorials I’ve seen!
Kornelis
December 5, 2011 at 9:12 am
Matt:
This is one of the best videos on this subject that I have seen but I have elements 8, is there anyway to do it with this version.
Joyce
December 5, 2011 at 12:55 pm
Love this tutorial, thanks so much!!
Stephen
December 5, 2011 at 6:40 pm
I only recently started using Elements. I had to do this (as an exercise) 3 times, before I grasped all the points. Now that I understand, I like this a lot!
Tony
December 6, 2011 at 6:40 am
Thanks for sharing this very good idea!
Donna
December 9, 2011 at 7:33 am
Wow! I love that. …hope I will remember it when I need it.
Derrick
December 9, 2011 at 12:11 pm
Great video. This will save me countless hours of work. I replace the sky in my pictures all the time, and I will be using this tip often going forward. I found the video to be useful, well presented and very informative.
JoAnn
December 16, 2011 at 8:21 am
Thank you for this great video. Please have more like this. Need good video on cloning in Elements 10. Also need great videos on gradients. Use videos all the time.
Carolyn
December 20, 2011 at 8:01 am
This is fantastic. I know I will have a lot of uses for this technique and my copying of subjects will be less obvious in photos. Thanks, Matt!
Mary
December 29, 2011 at 4:35 pm
Thanks so much. I do digital painting and this will make some of my projects so much cleaner looking. Great tutorial.
Clarke
January 10, 2012 at 8:01 am
This tutorial was fantastic. It required so many operations!! Thanks Matt Clarke
Karen
January 11, 2012 at 6:26 am
Best video ever,I always struggle with removing things from their backgrounds. Will use this so much. As usual you guys provide great information and ideas. Keep em coming. Love them.
Maha
January 14, 2012 at 8:17 am
OMG! You just solved one of my most frustrating moments I’ve had with fringing. Thank you so much! Awesome tutorial!
Barbara
January 14, 2012 at 9:17 am
You’re the man, Matt! I’ve tried a dozen different approaches to eliminate fringe/halo, but this is undoubtedly magic!! THIS is what I’ve been looking for! A million thanks! (You’ve saved me HOURS!!! (Just this morning alone!))
Gwen
January 17, 2012 at 3:26 pm
After this video I feel that I can really do this. Thanks!
sandy
January 17, 2012 at 6:56 pm
I am a new subscriber and new at photoshop. Great video!!
Kathryn
February 1, 2012 at 8:47 am
This is just an amazing technique! Outstanding job, as always, with the presentation.
Willem
February 2, 2012 at 6:07 pm
Great tutorial, can’t wait to try it
Alfred
February 3, 2012 at 3:49 pm
Great stuff. amazing knowledge and metnod of ‘delivery’ “Ben”
Jill
February 6, 2012 at 9:14 am
I have Elements 8 and would love to know how to do this. Any chance?
jose
February 15, 2012 at 4:50 pm
Thank You Matt, this video is one of the Best on how to move one image into another background.
esther
February 16, 2012 at 6:45 am
please please help. ive watched this video almost a dozen times and its not working. when i click on overlay in the palette box the picture that i dragged in disappears.when i leave it on normal i get red on the areas i am brushing… or when i try using the brush it doesnt work….please someone help me out!! thanks
Ray
February 16, 2012 at 12:48 pm
A great tip / technique, but in my opinion you rushed over the crucial part. You spent a lot of time showing us the selection process in great detail (adding a bit here, subtracting a bit there) – but when it came to the actual step of adding in the new image, it was way too quick – that part was covered in just a few seconds, and I found it hard to follow – and that was one of the key steps in the whole process.
Nancy RC
April 29, 2012 at 1:39 pm
Ray I agree. That crucial part was skimmed over. Without knowing where he got his other background from, ie: Finder or another program, and how to import it, the process stopped there for me! I have asked him to clarify that point.
Peter
March 14, 2012 at 10:27 pm
Excellent video and PDF cheat sheet. Only problem I have is when I click & drag the image with the selection and layer mask to the new background, the layer mask doesnt go withy the image. Just the selected part of the image. What am I doing wrong? (I’m using PSE version 9).
Cheers
Peter
March 20, 2012 at 4:00 pm
Update on my own comment! Can now apply the image with aselection AND layer mask to new background. How? Page 31 of March/April Elements Techniques. “Tips and Tricks” — Move (multiple) Layers to another Docuent. This approach (Layer>Duplicate Layer) brings the layer mask as well.
Cheers
Doris
March 20, 2012 at 1:03 pm
Excellent tutorial. Just what I needed to know.
Andy
March 26, 2012 at 7:13 pm
Matt was using a Mac and the tear and apply is not used in Windows that I can find. We also are missing how to get overlay to work as in the video.
Nancy RC
April 29, 2012 at 1:37 pm
where are you dragging your background picture (baseball field) in from? from another program? from Finder? How do you bring it in and where do you bring it from? What is the process? That is a crucial part and it was not covered. All you mentioned is that you brought it in. That left a big gaping hole in the process for me. Thanks
Lynn
April 30, 2012 at 9:46 am
Well, Nancy, what I did was just open both photos at the same time. I left the new background photo in the bin until I was ready for it, then brought it into the work area and did the drag move. You could also open a couple of different background photos (even while you’re working) till you find the one you want to use. I just hop to Files->Open because I don’t use the organizer a whole lot.
Lynn
April 30, 2012 at 9:37 am
Great tutorial! –And the cheatsheet was a big help because I didn’t have to jump from monitor to monitor stopping and starting the video.
Best of all –NO MORE “ALIEN GREEN” GLOW!
Thanks, Matt!
Karen
April 30, 2012 at 1:35 pm
This tutorial is absolutely fantastic. Oh why have I not been checking this website more frequently lately. Could have used this on a picture that I spent who knows how long on extracting out about two weeks ago. I can not wait to try this one! Thanks and keep them coming! Just downright awesome.
Eleanor
May 5, 2012 at 6:08 pm
I was able to follow up until the step of clicking on the mask layer and changing to overlay. My picture disappeared in the background. Any idea? I cannot go further because Icannot figure out why my subject keeps disappearing…. I am using PSE 10
Eleanor
May 5, 2012 at 6:21 pm
I found my answer. I actually went to the advance spreadsheet and he explains it. I think the video said to click on the mask overlay box and change the mode to overlay. So when I clicked on my mask overl box, I changed the layer to overlay. Its not the layer you change… its your brush mode. I could see where this was a mix up.
8. When you zoom in close to the edge of your subject, you’ll notice a
glowing fringe. To fix this problem, click on the layer mask. Select the
Brush tool, make sure your foreground color is black and go to your tool
options bar. Change the Mode of the brush to Overlay and start painting
over that glowing fringe. It will start to go away, but keep your subject
intact.
Thanks … love the videos.
Upallnite