Design Tip: Extracting Images from Their Backgrounds in PS

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Photoshop is another of those design tools that has a seemingly endless learning curve. If you’ve ever tried to mask out an irregularly-shaped image (like a head of human hair) from its background, you’ll appreciate this tutorial from YouTheDesigner.

“Masking out images with complex edges from their background in Photoshop can be daunting for some designers and Photoshop users — especially working on images with very detailed edges and textures that even Photoshop’s pen tool, at its finest, can’t handle,” writes Patrick Ellasos.

He goes on to explain “an old but reliable method of masking out complex images using Photoshop’s channels. This is a great tip for all the newbies and even for intermediate users out there so heads up!”

The technique involves using Photoshop’s channel utilities, tweaking the contrast and creating a “mask” channel to silhouette. It looks like a solid technique and the accompanying photos should give you a good reference to work with.

Give it a try and make something gorgeous!