Challenge: Extracting with Long Fur

This tutorial shows a great way to extract background from long haired cats and allow the fur to remain looking the same rather than the glow it tends to get when using lasso type tools

and a long haired cat to practise on (but feel free to use one of your own kitties)

Take the colour out of that layer, by clicking Image > Adjustments > Desaturate.. and then duplicate it again.

this part i cant seem to do , when i click on imiage it dosnt give me the option to do adjustments then desaturate? if i go on to filter i can find adjustments but it dosnt say desaturate?

never mind sorted that bit out , but cant do the rest lol gonna leave this one.

This one is a little more advanced so maybe you come back and try it after you have had more practise

and we don't have a nice white background like they did to start with!

Would you like me to post some 'beginner challenges'?

only if the others dont mind , that would be great , thanx

In the mean time, for those with Elements, check out this (it may help the reg PS people too as it has more pics)

Ok had a go at this....the aim is to put the cat with all its fur in full glory on a different background, right?

I followed the instructions and used the pic you provided....when it came to adding the background to the adjustment layer, only the cream carpet in the original pic changed into the new background (I chose a marble background).....not the top blue bit of the original background. When I used the radial gaussian blur...the edges of the fur did re-appear (before the edges were hidden and all i could see of the cat was the area that was painted in the overlay mask bit). So, when I did the gaussian blur, I could see how the fur edges have been preserved. However, the pic looked silly as the only thing that had changed was that the cream carpet had become marble lol. Was that supposed to happen or is the entire background of the original pic supposed to be replaced with the new background? Not sure where I went wrong...layers not in the right order? I didn't mask adequately? Or I have just lost the plot totally? lol

I'll have another go tomorrow. I see the point of it...but in future can I just add fur back on using the smudge tool..pretty please with a cherry on top ? lol

You can do it however you like, just an option for those who hate the lasso tool (Personally I prefer it )

Maybe try with the pic in the second link for your try - the white background is much easier to work with

senility, stupidity or just plain thickness, I can't do it, I have completely lost the plot and am going to sit in a corner and suck my thumb.

Don't sell yourself short Anne. Take a break from it, clear your head, take a deep breath and try again.

Originally Posted by Anakat

senility, stupidity or just plain thickness, I can't do it, I have completely lost the plot and am going to sit in a corner and suck my thumb.

Click to expand...

Magnum's pic is not as easy as it looks, did you try the eye candy in the second link?

I think I've got the basic idea of this. It could be better, but I was just so thrilled that the instructions worked, that I HAD to put this one up. I used my favourite model Paul in this because he has hair that is always kind of messy at the ends. Also, it had a basic grey background, although not a white one.

Even though I have regular Photoshop, I followed the instructions for Photoshop Elements, because it is a MUCH better and MUCH easier tutorial to follow. The regular Photoshop instructions was nearly impossible for me to follow. So, if you're having problems I suggest following the Elements tutorial. Anyway, here's my first and probably ONLY effort doing this, because it is HARD.

Here's the original:



Here's My version:

Originally Posted by icklemiss21

Magnum's pic is not as easy as it looks, did you try the eye candy in the second link?

Click to expand...

No he is not my type
Now if it was http://www.compleatseanbean.com/
Or Alan Rickman

ok i tried following the photo elements and still cant do it lol i get stuck after doing the black paint thing lol . im giving up on this one , maybe in a few weeks i will try again lol.

Here I decided to use the Male Model from the Tutorial. I think this one came out better than my first attempt with Paul. I followed the instructions for Photoshop Elements to create it. Even though a few things on Elements are different from Photoshop, this tutorial is easy to follow in Photoshop,itself. Then I duplicated the layer and used soft light and gaussian blur to give it a sort of dreamy effect.

Eye candy? lol. Eye candy with the annoying anti-photoshop hair more like lol

his breath is probably better than Magnum's though

Just to show that I put my sulk to good use I went and did some crochet.


Complete with dirty cat footprint right in the middle

thats lovely. lol at the cat print mine does this with my cross stitching. i think there trying to tell me they want to help.

Thats fab Anakat! Crochet too? Is there to no end to your creative talents Im in a 'extracting fur' sulk too...Im putting my sulk to good use via a spending spree on ebay. I have been avoiding Mr Eye Candy, I admit...but I will force myself to do it today lol