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  1. #1
    Join Date
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    Default Dropping out a background with Photo Tool > Select Colors to Enhance

    I've been doing some experiments to see if I can create an effect of shadows on an uneven surface in my stereograms.

    Normally I use a black background and the Photo Tool > Select Colors to Enhance feature to select and make the background transparent.

    But in this image there was a very dark edge to the beveled letters that was not working. So I added a color that does not appear in the pattern and made that color transparent.

    It worked flawlessly.

    The attached image has 6 layers with several transparencies.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Purple Background.jpg 
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ID:	124932   Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Shadow.jpg 
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ID:	124933  


  2. #2
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    Mar 2009
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    Default Re: Dropping out a background with Photo Tool > Select Colors to Enhance

    It sounds like a very creative solution to a well-known problem in removing backgrounds but I can't quite follow the steps.

    I noticed that the letters in the left image all have various degrees of deformation but the ones in the right image all seem straight. Or is that an optical illusion?

  3. #3
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    Default Re: Dropping out a background with Photo Tool > Select Colors to Enhance

    I noticed that the letters in the left image all have various degrees of deformation but the ones in the right image all seem straight. Or is that an optical illusion?
    The letters are the same in both. The letters are conforming to the background which is lumpy. The depth image for the characters is the same as for the shadow but a but lighter to make the letters come forward.

  4. #4
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    Default Re: Dropping out a background with Photo Tool > Select Colors to Enhance

    Interesting effect.

    So, what steps did you take to add the purple and then remove it?

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jul 2015
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    Currently New York State
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    Default Re: Dropping out a background with Photo Tool > Select Colors to Enhance

    How do you add a background color if you had not already made the original background transparent? I may not be fully understand what you are trying to do.

    Ray

  6. #6
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    Default Re: Dropping out a background with Photo Tool > Select Colors to Enhance

    Ray better worded my question.

  7. #7
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    Default Re: Dropping out a background with Photo Tool > Select Colors to Enhance

    My wife always refers to explanations like this as "talking to the cat."

    The objects (text) were added to a solid color rectangle to make the repeating wallpaper texture.

    The transparency was applied to the bitmap created with the texture.

  8. #8
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    Default Re: Dropping out a background with Photo Tool > Select Colors to Enhance

    Ah, you are saying that the text was not on a background but only had a shadow?

  9. #9
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    Default Re: Dropping out a background with Photo Tool > Select Colors to Enhance

    The shadow for the text was a separate stereogram made with a darker version of the background pattern.

    The actual text was exported with the lavender background color. Then the lavender color was made transparent with the Select Colors to Enhance and appears over the shadow, which appears over the background pattern.

  10. #10
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    Default Re: Dropping out a background with Photo Tool > Select Colors to Enhance

    I've reworked the image since posting yesterday, and I may make more changes before it is done.

    Below are some of the steps.

    I used a darker version of the background to make the shadow using masks and then applied Bitmap Feathering to soften the shadow.

    Then a texture with the text and green background created a stereogram of the text. The background was erased to make the text float above the shadow.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Click image for larger version. 

Name:	1.jpg 
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ID:	124939   Click image for larger version. 

Name:	2.jpg 
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ID:	124940  

    Click image for larger version. 

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ID:	124941   Click image for larger version. 

Name:	4.png 
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ID:	124942  

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	5.jpg 
Views:	63 
Size:	67.3 KB 
ID:	124943  

 

 

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