Photoshop refine edge tool

Fistycuffs

I'm sorry if this is not the right place to post this firstly.
I was wondering if anyone has experience of the refine edge tool in PS and any insight to offer. I've learned to use it from youtube etc where it seems to work perfectly. However when I try to use it myself I find that the edge detection brush which should fill in missing parts of my selection, instead just fades the picture and leaves light smudges in areas outside the selection. It other words it just makes a mess and is no help.

I cant figure out what I'm doing wrong with it. Any advise would be very gratefully received.
Thanks for reading.

5uspect

I never bother with the refine edge tool. I usually use the quick selection tool to select my object and then hit Q to go into quick mask mode and refine manually.

Fistycuffs

Thanks for the response. I'm doing the manual refine at the moment too but I've a lot to get through and on all the tutorials I've seen refine edge brush seems to work perfectly,but it's just adding nothing to my work so I'd love to know what I'm doing wrong (and start doing it right and discover selecting doesn't have to be so painful)

ScumLord

If your selecting something that has a variable edge IE: hard edge then hair. You need to have the smart radius set so it can incorporate the hair within that radius.

It seems to be at it's best when your selecting people in front of a plain background on a high resolution image. It's not magic though it will require some extra work to perfect the selection. You can use the brush tool set to overlay (I think it's overlay) to brush back in edges too without brushing back in the background. I don't know how it works but it works.

I think it can be just as much work using the quick selection and refine edge depending on the image, it's not always the best/easiest way to select objects. Sometimes the pen tool is much quicker and easier.

I got "Photoshop Compositing Secrets" book recently and he has a few good tips in it. Of course using his photos you get perfect selections but he does go into how to set up a photo shot with Photoshop compositing in mind including the best way to light the scene.

5uspect

Fistycuffs wrote: »

Thanks for the response. I'm doing the manual refine at the moment too but I've a lot to get through and on all the tutorials I've seen refine edge brush seems to work perfectly,but it's just adding nothing to my work so I'd love to know what I'm doing wrong (and start doing it right and discover selecting doesn't have to be so painful)

Just went and had a look at the tool there now. It seems to work well on this image with some grass. You aren't using the 'Erase refinements tool' by any chance are you?

Hugh_C

Fistycuffs wrote: »

I cant figure out what I'm doing wrong with it. Any advice would be very gratefully received..

Where are your pictures coming from? You using jpegs or RAWs? You may be seeing compression artefacts if you're using jpegs.

H

Fistycuffs

Thanks for the replies everyone.

ScumLord wrote: »

It seems to be at it's best when your selecting people in front of a plain background on a high resolution image. It's not magic though it will require some extra work to perfect the selection. You can use the brush tool set to overlay (I think it's overlay) to brush back in edges too without brushing back in the background. I don't know how it works but it works.

I think it can be just as much work using the quick selection and refine edge depending on the image, it's not always the best/easiest way to select objects. Sometimes the pen tool is much quicker and easier.

I haven't really got to grips with the pen tool. I find it quite hard to use but I'll try it again.
Where are you selecting the overlay brush to paint in edges?That sounds handy.
I will give the book a go too. Thank you

5uspect wrote: »

Just went and had a look at the tool there now. It seems to work well on this image with some grass. You aren't using the 'Erase refinements tool' by any chance are you?

I definitely have the refinement tool rather that the eraser selected. Your selection there is very impressive. Those are the kind of results I've been seeing on videos but cannot create at all... even on straight lines hard edge areas. I seem to be using the same settings you'rre using looking at your pic. Did you select anything else anywhere I should try?

Hugh_C wrote: »

Where are your pictures coming from? You using jpegs or RAWs? You may be seeing compression artefacts if you're using jpegs.

H

I'm using jpegs as these are not photos I've taken, they are product photos and I don't really get a say in the photo taking.

Anymore suggestions welcome. Thanks everyone.

5uspect

Fistycuffs wrote: »

Thanks for the replies everyone.



I haven't really got to grips with the pen tool. I find it quite hard to use but I'll try it again.
Where are you selecting the overlay brush to paint in edges?That sounds handy.
I will give the book a go too. Thank you



I definitely have the refinement tool rather that the eraser selected. Your selection there is very impressive. Those are the kind of results I've been seeing on videos but cannot create at all... even on straight lines hard edge areas. I seem to be using the same settings you'rre using looking at your pic. Did you select anything else anywhere I should try?



I'm using jpegs as these are not photos I've taken, they are product photos and I don't really get a say in the photo taking.

Anymore suggestions welcome. Thanks everyone.

Can you post an example you're having difficulty with?

ScumLord

Fistycuffs wrote: »

Where are you selecting the overlay brush to paint in edges?That sounds handy.

When the brush tool is selected there's a mode dropdown box in the tools options that you can change.

I'm using jpegs as these are not photos I've taken, they are product photos and I don't really get a say in the photo taking.

Quite likely it's just the low resolution highly compressed jpeg that's the problem so.

ScumLord

Fistycuffs wrote: »

I haven't really got to grips with the pen tool. I find it quite hard to use but I'll try it again.

It can be difficult to get your head around, there are one or two keyboard short cuts you need to know to use it effectively. .

This guide seems comprehensive.

Learn to use the pen tool, once you get the hang of it it's quite easy and intuitive to use and you'll be very glad you learned as the knowing the pen tool opens up many new ways of doing things.

Fistycuffs

5uspect wrote: »

Can you post an example you're having difficulty with?

I can't post an exact example because they aren't my photos. I have been experimenting with different images to find an example and I'm finding it's happening less with better quality images so not much point positing those. Maybe it is a question of the image quality.

ScumLord wrote: »

When the brush tool is selected there's a mode dropdown box in the tools options that you can change.



Quite likely it's just the low resolution highly compressed jpeg that's the problem so.

So is it while you're in Quick Mask that you use the overlay brush or at what point? I've tried a different ways and it hasn't worked for me yet. It sounds a really handy tip though.

ScumLord wrote: »

It can be difficult to get your head around, there are one or two keyboard short cuts you need to know to use it effectively. .

This guide seems comprehensive..

Going to take note of those and try to learn how to use the pen. Thank you.




Thank you both very much for the replies. I'm going to try and see if I can get better quality pictures and try the pen tool . I have really appreciated the advice and input.

squareballoon

The Quick selection tool and Refine edge work really well together. I have a quick tutorial here

ScumLord

Fistycuffs wrote: »

So is it while you're in Quick Mask that you use the overlay brush or at what point? I've tried a different ways and it hasn't worked for me yet. It sounds a really handy tip though.

I'll look it up again this evening but I'm pretty sure when your painting onto the mask set the brush to overlay and it gets rid of that semi transparent grey fringe without doing much damage to the blank area of the mask.