Saving 'extracts' as PNG's

[Justinr]

I've been asked to do some product shots and the customer would like the items extracted from the background and saved as PNG files. I can't say I've  had much success in working out how to do this. I'm using CS2. Any pointers appreciated.

[Rand47]

I'm no expert ergo I'm pretty sure there's a better way than my cluge - but here's my workflow on this:

After my original image is extracted, I create a new document with the appropriate dimensions, etc. and a transparent background.

I drag and drop the extracted image into that new document.

I use the quick select and/or eraser tool to get rid of any "white" that is masking the transparent background.   Usually only takes a minute or so.  I now have the extracted image as I like it on a transparent background.

File - Save As - PNG

I'm done.

Rand

[Justinr]

I'm no expert ergo I'm pretty sure there's a better way than my cluge - but here's my workflow on this:

After my original image is extracted, I create a new document with the appropriate dimensions, etc. and a transparent background.

I drag and drop the extracted image into that new document.

I use the quick select and/or eraser tool to get rid of any "white" that is masking the transparent background.   Usually only takes a minute or so.  I now have the extracted image as I like it on a transparent background.

File - Save As - PNG

I'm done.

Rand

Cheers for that, I've been wrestling with it most of the day and have concluded that Chroma Key is the only realistic way forward.

Thanks for the input anyway.

[Rand47]

Can't disagree with you there!  My method was born of desperation on a particular job that was spec'd "after the fact." 

Rand

[MarkM]

From your question it's hard to tell which part of the process is giving you grief — the question title makes it sounds like you're having problems saving as PNG. Is it just a matter of creating the PNG files or the actual extraction process? Have you already created the masks or paths to extract the items? If you'll be doing this frequently it may be worth upgrading Photoshop. I don't really remember CS2, but somewhere along the way photoshop added some pretty useful tools like "refine mask" that makes many of these tasks much, much easier. Even extracting people and their hair from a background is now (somewhat) painless.

[TonyW]

I too am unsure of what part of the process is the most troublesome. Assuming it is the extraction my opinion FWIW.  Getting it right and as close as possible looking good in camera by having an image well defined and seperated from the background is half the battle before worrying about particular tools and how to extract the image - there are many methods.

IMO Green or Blue screen can be more trouble than it is worth for stills, great for TV and video though.  The main issues seem to arise from not lighting the background adequately, not enough seperation between subject and background leading to troublesome colour spill, needing yet another correction.

A mid grey screen may be all you need properly lit seperately from your main subject.  Depending on the subject it is sometimes possible to dispense with hand building a mask and instead use layers, blending modes to isolate your subject then remove the background by various methods. 

For small objects in a studio for example (fully controllable lighting) you may be able to get enough seperation between subject and background to take two images one of the subject lit to taste and one of the subject as a silhouette.  The silhouette serving as an accurate mask when the two combined.

Depending on the complexity of the subject outline the tools of choice may be either the Pen tool or the Extract tool (I think both available in CS2)