Maybe it’s just me, and MAYBE I’m too picky… but there is nothing that grinds my gears more than when I see a blurry, fuzzy, choppy, or jagged cutout on a layout.
There are MANY ways to do this in Photoshop, and Adobe is constantly working on improving their tools to make it even easier.
But, in my opinion, the best way to ensure a clean cutout is to use the Pen Tool (utilizing curves when needed).
Why the Pen Tool?
Simple.
The Magic Wand is magical and everything but unless you have a VERY clean solid background, it will not be able to distinguish tones well enough to select the right areas. See below for an example of a perfect time to use this tool.
The Quick Selection tool is actual hot garbage. (It works great for other things but NOT cutouts!) On an image where the background and foreground have similar tones, you’ll never be able to get it clean enough to work.
The Lasso Tool can’t get close enough or sharp enough. Oftentimes you’ll spend twice as long cleaning it up than you would by using the Pen tool in the first place.
Note: One of the tools mentioned above in coordination with the “Select and Mask” menu options can yield good results. Sometimes it’s needed when editing hair – especially frizzy, fluffy, or curly hair.
Start strong
Focus is Everything
The number one thing you need to make sure your students understand is that you cannot cutout a blurry photo. There is no amount of Photoshop you can do to fix a blurry photo. It’s way easier to edit photos for lighting and color correction than it is to save a blurry photo. Nailing focus is an integral part of photography in general, but it’s especially important to keep in mind when shooting for a cutout.
All Body Parts Needed
Secondly, make sure all essential limbs are in the photo. Of course, if you’re only cutting out from waist up, the feet don’t matter. For a full-body cutout, make sure all elbows, feet, legs, arms, and head are fully visible.
Remind photographers that subjects shouldn’t be standing in grass, as you’ll be editing out individual blades of grass and that’s just no fun.
Also make sure they consider the cutout and how it will look without a background. For instance, if you cutout a jumping photo and the person’s legs are curled up directly behind them, they will look like an amputee. Unless they’re actually an amputee, they probably won’t appreciate that too much! But had a photographer just stepped to the side slightly and captured the exact same photo from the side a little more, it would be totally fine.
Editing Directions
Copy and paste these right into Google classroom or your school’s assignment platform!
- Open image in Photoshop
- Select the Pen Tool
- Zoom WAY in (CTRL +)
- Click on an outside edge as a starting point
TIP: The more points you add and the closer they are together, the cleaner the cutout will be.
TIP: Do not make your path right on the edge of the subject, as there will be a slight halo effect around the cutout from the background. Place your points juuuuust inside the subject’s border. - For the second point, click and hold. Drag your mouse out to curve the point, following the curve of the subject and unclick when it’s aligned.
- For continuous curves, you can keep click+dragging around the subject. Anytime you have a change in the angle of the curve, you need to tell it to reset. To do this, just hold ALT (mac) or OPTION (PC) while clicking for the next point. If you do not do this step, your next point will be WILD, curving back to the last point. Not a cute look.
Note: Sometimes students struggle with this. If you run into trouble – just make each point with a single click and don’t worry about curves. You’ll need more points and they should be closer together, but the cuout will still look smooth. - Move along your subject creating a path around the outer border.
TIP: Zoom out sometimes when needed to make sure you’re following the outermost border, as sometimes it can be confusing when you’re so zoomed in.
For now, ignore inner cutouts. (Example, if the subject’s hand is on their hip, and inner cutout would be the triangular space between their arm and body. - When you get all the way around the subject, click on the first point to close the path. The points will turn from white to black (or empty to filled in, depending on what version of Adobe CC you’re working in). If you do not close the path, your cutout will be reversed.
- Right-click and hit “Make Selection.” This will turn your path into a selection. Feather radius should be set to 0. Click OK to make the selection. You will see black and white “marching ants” around your subject.
- Hit CTRL + J. This will make a new layer from your selection.
- Hide the background layer with the eyeball icon.
- Do a little happy dance as you marvel at your latest creation – you have a beautiful new cutout! Congrats!!
Inner Cutouts
Using the pen tool again, go around the area making points with curves. Close the path. Make selection – but now – instead of CTRL + J, just hit delete. This is deleting the selected area from your new (cutout) layer.
Subject vanished?!
If your background is there and your subject is gone, this is likely because you didn’t close the path. But all is good, we can save it! CTRL Z until you get to where your subject is selected and you see the marching ants. You’ll also see marching ants around the entire photo, meaning the background is selected instead of your subject. Go to Select at the top menu, and hit “Inverse.” Proceed with step 10.
Saving your cutout image
FOR PRINT: When you’re completely done, save image as a .PSD (Photoshop Document) if you’re putting it into another Adobe software.
FOR WEB: If using it online, downsize the image so the filesize is manageable and change the resolution to 72, then save as a .PNG to preserve the transparent background.
IMPORTANT! If you save as a .JPG, your background will be white and not transparent!
Saved as .JPG on accident and now you’re mad at yourself because you have to redo it all? Have no fear, Magic Wand is here! This is a great instance to use the Magic Wand tool, as the entire background is 100% white. Click anywhere in the white area, inverse your selection, and continue on with step 10.
What if I’m not done?
TIP: If you are not done with your path and need to close the document (like if the bell rings in the middle of your cutout), save as .PSD. You will lose the partial path if you save as any other file type. When you reopen, just click your last point to re-engage the path and keep going.
Make it a lesson
Plan on 1 shooting day, and 2-3 editing days.
Instruct students to shoot the following, and then use the above directions to cut them out.
- A Headshot: Make sure it has proper lighting (not in a school hallway underneath fluorescent lights, but maybe outside or at least facing a window).
- A full-body action shot: Make sure all limbs are in the photo and all are in focus. Example: someone running or jumping.
- A full-body posed shot with hands on hips: Make sure subject is not standing in the grass. (Practice for inner cutouts)
- A group photo of 3+ people: Make sure they’re all standing next to each other and parts of all subjects are touching to create ONE cutout. If they are standing separately, each individual person will be another cutout.