| Adobe Photoshop Basics | |
Download this zip file for all the images you need to complete the exercises for Lesson 7. (Mac users can use Aladdin's free Stuffit Expander to extract the zip file.)
Scroll down to begin exercise #8...
|
||
|
||
The contents of the Graphics Software site are copyright © Sue Chastain and About.com. These pages may be printed for personal reference, but they may not be distributed or republished for any purpose without prior written permission. Please see the About.com User Agreement for more information.
Exercise 8 - Background Eraser
(Photoshop 5.5 and up only)
In this exercise, we'll use the background eraser to remove the background while preserving the drop shadow, then we'll drop a new gradient background in.
Open the original image from the last exercise.
Use the background eraser to remove the majority of the background but don't remove the shadow under the car. The beauty of this tool is that you don't have to do a lot of work to preserve the shadow under the car.
Drop in a new white background and clean up the stray pixels with more background eraser and the regular eraser tool.
Use the eraser at a very low opacity to touch up around the edge of the drop shadow of the car. A loose, feathered lasso selection around the shadow area and then gaussian blurring can be used to smooth and even out the shadow even more.
Use erase to history to add back bits of the car that might have been taken out with the background eraser.
When you're satisfied, switch to the background and fill it with the chrome gradient.
Do a little more shadow touch-up if needed.
Next > Exercise 9 - Custom Brushes
