Selective feathering?

[diniel]

Sorry, not very clear. I feathered the Buckingham Palace image so its edges fuzzed away. Of course, while drawing the line along which I would Slice the original picture (along the top of the building), I was a bit further from the top of the building than I needed to be, to give room for the feathering. The left, bottom and right also feather away, revealing a few pixels of the background image around the edges.

[OklaEd]

Thank you for the response gentlemen ...

Charles,
Obviously that is a pretty good work around, but what I'm usually confronted with is a photo of a person ... and several areas around the face and body need more or less feathering to make the image look right.

Dmagician,
That's what I was looking for ... a clipping mask, similar to a paint program, that would allow one to work on an area. I guess that's a bit much to ask for in the vector world.

Daniel,
I like your approach. I was thinking along the same lines ... only without the clipview. Cut out a portion of the photo ... duplicate it ... feather the duplicate and lay on top of the original.

Miguel,
I Understand what you are saying, but I don't know that I need that much control. A simple (if there is such a thing) mask that would allow selective editing would work for me.

[cazza42]

Hi,

I had a go at this technique with a photo I took of my sister.

I duplicated the bitmap and moved it to one side. Then I used the freehand tool to "cut" away the background, in small pieces. Around her hair I feathered the drawn shape before selecting both the bitmap and the shape and doing a combine/subtract shapes.

When all the background was removed I gave the whole cutout figure a small feather.

Going back to the original picture I used XPE to desaturate and blur it. Positioning the cutout on top almost gave the finished result, but as mentioned before, the feathered edges around the outside allowed some background to show through. I then grouped everything and drew a rectangle on top then did the combine/intersect to get the completed effect.

http://www.x-calibredesigns.co.uk/Workshops/linda.jpg

[OklaEd]

Nice work Carol,

You keep calling yourself a "Newbie" ... but you're well beyond that now. The effect is good with the exception of a little green grass to the right of the coffee cup and a "white spot" to the right of her right ear which seems to be overlayed on top of the chair. You did a nice job cutting the hair, much better than my last attempt.

[raynerj]

Ummm guys?

Why bother with a clipview. Just drop a transparent rectangle over the part you want to "clip". then output just the clear rectangle.

See attached pic. The "transparent" rectangle is a red partial transparincy in the example.

[diniel]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Why bother with a clipview. Just drop a transparent rectangle over the part you want to "clip". then output just the clear rectangle. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Could do, this was part of something else though

[raynerj]

Hi Daniel,

Output or Create bitmap copy what is the difference? You can't send it to a print shop with a clipview...

[cazza42]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by OklaEd:
Nice work Carol,

You keep calling yourself a "Newbie" ... but you're well beyond that now. The effect is good with the exception of a little green grass to the right of the coffee cup and a "white spot" to the right of her right ear which seems to be overlayed on top of the chair. You did a nice job cutting the hair, much better than my last attempt. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks OklaEd,

Can;'t believe I missed the area near the coffee cup. Ooops. By the way, if I'm right in assuming the bit you mean, the white area on the chair back beside her ear is the ribbon tying the cushion onto the rocking chair.

With regards to the Newbie bit in my signature, I have to admit to not remembering how to change it. Any tips?

[cazza42]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by JohnR:
Ummm guys?

Why bother with a clipview. Just drop a transparent rectangle over the part you want to "clip". then output just the clear rectangle.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hi John,

I'm not sure about the clipview either. In my portrait I just drew a rectangle over the bit that I wanted to keep and subtracted it from the bitmap.

[diniel]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> Output or Create bitmap copy what is the difference? You can't send it to a print shop with a clipview... <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I know what you mean, but it remains editable this way. It's only to go into a half a dozen hotel lobby areas for a customer, so no print shop involved, I colour laser printed it onto A3 and guillotined it http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif