GIMP Version: 2.8.4
Operating System: Mac OS
OS Version: 10.9.1
GIMP Experience: Beginner Level

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Hi,

I am trying to extract an image from a photo and I have done that using the Free Select and also the Scissor Selection methods. The picture is a pot plant. When I used feathering the actual plant didn't come out sharp but the pot planter was not bad. I then did it again but this time didn't feather it. The result was a nice sharp edge on the plant (which I wanted) but the pot planter has jagged edges. How can I correct this or what can I do to achieve a nice image please?

I find that the best method is still by hand. Free select tool and feather the selection, but only by 1 pixel. When rendering a subject to paste it into another image, those sharp edges are really undesirable as they will make it stick out like a sore thumb. If you got really high contrast between your subject and the background, and in addition your background is a uniformish kind of color, you can try to desaturate and mess with the levels until you have a mask of sorts you can use as a layer mask. This often works well for hair or fur, trees and such. Here's a tutorial from Jolie to give you an idea of what I'm talking about.

That's a great suggestion Ek22.

Also, if you can post the image, others my be able to suggest other alternative methods.

You could also try by isolating the pot and the plant parts of the image on separate layers and select them individually.

Thanks for all your help EK22 - I am about to try it now.

Robyn

Thanks also to Wallace & Odinbc for your suggestions as well - I actually thought I put the link from dropbox in so I don't understand. I am new to all this.

That's a great suggestion Ek22.



Thanks Wallace...will try this too.

You should be able to upload an image file now that you're over 5 posts. Even xcf files can be posted as attachments. It probably didn't let you link because you're so new to the forum.

1 Look always the selection in quickmask mode (the tiny square at the lower left of image window open quickmask)
Quickmask use a red overlay at 50% opacity that most of time is fine BUT are cases where is better change it ,i.e. because the image contains similar red )
Only quickmask show the real selection,the marching ants show only a approximatio

Also in quickmask you may select details of the selection and apply filter on it...at example to feather only the part of selection showing jagged edges

About feathering...apply gaussian blur on the quickmask (or to a selection saved in a channel) is identical then feather:
feather of 5 is identical to blur the mask of 5

I almost always use the PATHS Tool and create a Selection from that PATH.
Then feather the selection to your taste.
Most important, take your time with the PATHS Tool.

This is the original photo.

extracted with the matting tool based on RGGJANs tool in gimp-2.8.11 (onkel hatti version)
and a refining of about 5-7 minutes.

I used the free select tool with a radius of 1 and a feather of 1 to cut out the image. I then used the eraser to smooth the edge of the planter stand on the left hand side. It's not perfect but much better than the original one I did. Now how do I get rid of those white sunlight shadows on the pot please, which were in the original photo?

I would use the clone tool to get rid of the sunlight on the pot.

I tried to get rid of the white marks with the clone tool using CTRL Click - found out it is actually COMMAND Click on my Mac. Didn't look very nice so wonder what else I can do please?

Here's what I did using the "clone tool"... It's not perfect though.

I tried to get rid of the white marks with the clone tool using CTRL Click - found out it is actually COMMAND Click on my Mac. Didn't look very nice so wonder what else I can do please?[/quote]
Here's what I did using the "clone tool"... It's not perfect though.
[/quote]

Hi Wallace,

It looks better than mine and it's quite nice. I am at the moment using the Heal tool to see if it makes any difference. How long did it take you to achieve that?

It didn't take me very long, maybe 5-10 minutes or so. I also used a layer mask to remove some of the unwanted edges that were on the outside of the image. Did a little blending of red too on the plant where the white spots of light were.

Is it possible to give me the steps and the settings of what you used to get the image to this standard please? As I am new to all this and as I have been working on this most of the day, I am getting to the stage where I could just leave it. I am like a bull in a china shop with this at the moment...I could have my settings all wrong?? Haha!