Arthur Morris
05-28-2009, 01:30 PM
The short article below, written especially for BPN, will teach you how to teach yourself to use Refine Edge to control the appearance of the edges of the selections that you make and adjust. The article was featured in BIRDS AS ART Bulletin #290. Check it out for more tips and lots of great images with our legendary BAA educational captions:
www.birdsasart.com/bn290.htm (wlmailhtml:{77FAFFD2-E675-42EF-82DE-55A22E44257D}mid://00000497/!x-usc:http://www.birdsasart.com/bn290.htm)
REFINE EDGE TUTORIAL
When making adjustments to selected areas, it is important to consider how the edges will be rendered. For years, folks feathered their selections but the results were often hit or miss, and often unsatisfactory. CS3 (and CS4) offer Refine Edge, a much more sophisticated way to control the appearances of the edges of selected areas. The main idea is to avoid the cookie cutter look that comes with edges that are too sharp. The best thing about Refine Edges is that it teaches you as you work and allows you to see how the edge will look by clicking Preview on and off as you go.
Make your selection. Then, to best control the appearance of the edges, click Select/Refine Edges, or better yet, learn the keyboard shortcut: Alt/Control/R. The first thing that you should do is to click on the middle of the five ring symbols. This will turn the non-selected area black and allow you to see the edges accurately. Next, note the default values: Radius: 1.0 px, Contrast, 0%, Smooth: 3, Feather: 1.0 px, and Contract/Expand 0%.
Next, to help with the learning process, place your cursor over each of the sliders above. As you do this, an explanation of the effects of moving this slider will appear under the word “Description” at the bottom of the Refine Edge dialogue box. If it does not, simply click on the double down-facing arrow; it will become a double up-facing arrow. Work your way through each of the five items.
If you have followed directions properly so far, the selected area will look as it did in the original image and the non-selected area will be black. Before continuing with your Refine Edge-ucation, it is best to zoom in on an edge. Hit “Z” for the zoom tool and then draw a box around the area that you wish to enlarge; let the cursor go, and voila! Now, begin to play around with each slider or with the sliders in various combinations, and note the changes in the sharpness or the fuzziness of the edge detail. At some point, be sure to move each slider all the way from one end of the scale to the other; this will help you to understand what each slider does. Be sure to give it a few seconds to crank out the changes, more time if you have a slow computer.
If you will be using Protect and Defend Techniques (see in Digital Basics: https://store.birdsasart.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=252 (wlmailhtml:{77FAFFD2-E675-42EF-82DE-55A22E44257D}mid://00000497/!x-usc:https://store.birdsasart.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=252)), it is often best to have the edges only slightly blurred. If you are going to run Noise Reduction on the background, you would usually want a higher degree of blurring while at the same time contracting the selection of the background (using the Expand/Contract slider in Refine Edge) to keep the Noise Reduction from spilling over onto the subject. And if you are doing a Gaussian Blur on a layer mask you will want a high degree of blurring (hint: now is the time to up the Feathering setting). You can always erase the edges of the subject if the Gaussian Blur spills over. Once you have completed your edge refinement, click OK.
Next, view the image full size and see how it looks. Finally, zoom way in on one or two spots and check your results. If there is too much or too little blur, or if there are jagged edges or artifacting, you can always go back and start again.
By using Refine Edge you learn while doing, you can actually see what you are doing, and your results will be pleasing. And the more you practice the better your results will be.
www.birdsasart.com/bn290.htm (wlmailhtml:{77FAFFD2-E675-42EF-82DE-55A22E44257D}mid://00000497/!x-usc:http://www.birdsasart.com/bn290.htm)
REFINE EDGE TUTORIAL
When making adjustments to selected areas, it is important to consider how the edges will be rendered. For years, folks feathered their selections but the results were often hit or miss, and often unsatisfactory. CS3 (and CS4) offer Refine Edge, a much more sophisticated way to control the appearances of the edges of selected areas. The main idea is to avoid the cookie cutter look that comes with edges that are too sharp. The best thing about Refine Edges is that it teaches you as you work and allows you to see how the edge will look by clicking Preview on and off as you go.
Make your selection. Then, to best control the appearance of the edges, click Select/Refine Edges, or better yet, learn the keyboard shortcut: Alt/Control/R. The first thing that you should do is to click on the middle of the five ring symbols. This will turn the non-selected area black and allow you to see the edges accurately. Next, note the default values: Radius: 1.0 px, Contrast, 0%, Smooth: 3, Feather: 1.0 px, and Contract/Expand 0%.
Next, to help with the learning process, place your cursor over each of the sliders above. As you do this, an explanation of the effects of moving this slider will appear under the word “Description” at the bottom of the Refine Edge dialogue box. If it does not, simply click on the double down-facing arrow; it will become a double up-facing arrow. Work your way through each of the five items.
If you have followed directions properly so far, the selected area will look as it did in the original image and the non-selected area will be black. Before continuing with your Refine Edge-ucation, it is best to zoom in on an edge. Hit “Z” for the zoom tool and then draw a box around the area that you wish to enlarge; let the cursor go, and voila! Now, begin to play around with each slider or with the sliders in various combinations, and note the changes in the sharpness or the fuzziness of the edge detail. At some point, be sure to move each slider all the way from one end of the scale to the other; this will help you to understand what each slider does. Be sure to give it a few seconds to crank out the changes, more time if you have a slow computer.
If you will be using Protect and Defend Techniques (see in Digital Basics: https://store.birdsasart.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=252 (wlmailhtml:{77FAFFD2-E675-42EF-82DE-55A22E44257D}mid://00000497/!x-usc:https://store.birdsasart.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=252)), it is often best to have the edges only slightly blurred. If you are going to run Noise Reduction on the background, you would usually want a higher degree of blurring while at the same time contracting the selection of the background (using the Expand/Contract slider in Refine Edge) to keep the Noise Reduction from spilling over onto the subject. And if you are doing a Gaussian Blur on a layer mask you will want a high degree of blurring (hint: now is the time to up the Feathering setting). You can always erase the edges of the subject if the Gaussian Blur spills over. Once you have completed your edge refinement, click OK.
Next, view the image full size and see how it looks. Finally, zoom way in on one or two spots and check your results. If there is too much or too little blur, or if there are jagged edges or artifacting, you can always go back and start again.
By using Refine Edge you learn while doing, you can actually see what you are doing, and your results will be pleasing. And the more you practice the better your results will be.